Wow. Thank you, readers. And thank you, WordPress.

I added the new WordPress share buttons to my posts just yesterday and already you, the readers, have thought enough of my stuff to share it 73 times. That means more to me than hits, which could be accidents or visits so brief that nothing is actually read. A hit could also mean that you read something but didn’t like it or didn’t find what you were looking for.

Your comments tell me you’ve actually read something and were interested enough to respond; I cherish your comments. But comments take time, and you might like something but just not have the time or desire to leave a comment.

“Like” buttons and ratings, which I’ve occasionally included, have their own drawbacks. They are fun to see — when readers use them. But inevitably I take them down because I feel that, more than anything else, they draw attention to how few readers use them. (It takes so little to make me feel inferior or insecure.) Besides, if someone “likes” an old post, I likely won’t even know it because WP doesn’t have a good reporting system for “likes.”

The sharing, though, is in a class by itself. To me it means you read something here and liked it enough to tell others about it. That’s about as good as it gets for a blogger — knowing that readers like your stuff enough to share it with others.

Thanks, folks, for sharing.

___________
P.S. It became clear several days after this post that WP was having a problem with the counters on the share buttons. Apparently my total of 73 was generated erroneously. Today is August 31 and the total has not changed. Oh well …