rummaging...

A welcome, of a kind

Rummaging was a blog that ran between Feb 2004 and June 2005.

It was mostly about eBay auctions. Not because of any special affinity for eBay, but because I wanted something to write about that wasn't politics, or my cat, or the stuff of teenage diaries. eBay was funny back then, rather than a little bit sad, like it is now.

It achieved that teeny tiny definition of success that can only be found on the Internet, so I leave it here as a little archive of what the internet was like back then.

Current, gentle blogging of a very different kind goes on here, whilst I can be found here as well.

The shark: jumped.

Yesbutnobutyes (a vicky pollard blog?) has called it. Rummaging has jumped the shark.

With the emergence of so many blogs about eBay bids, they (claim) to have registered www.bizarreblogsaboutbizarrebids.com - - your number one online source for sites that talk about ebay bids.

I've been called passe on the same day as finding out that the Guardian is nicking my ideas.

I need to find something new to write about.

The trap is sprung!

A while ago, I wrote this post about to see if I could get my share of all that porn traffic out there.

Thanks to the new revamped MSN search, rummaging is now on the front page for the search 'gay sex pictures'.

Which is a victory of sorts, though it suggests that Google don't need to worry about Microsoft's search technology for a while yet.

How bored are you?

Just noticed a load of traffic (I think the official webterm is a 'shitstorm') coming in from Yahoo, where this site has been listed in the attachments section as 'the best of the web'.

Now, if you've gone through the rest of that Yahoo page already, I'm guessing you're in the office, killing time and looking for distractions. Is there nothing on Popbitch?

But my question is - and please answer in the comments - just how bored are you?

In at 32932

This interactive presentation of the the top 86,000 words in English has "rummaging" at  32,932. One better than "meps" (which isn't a word) and one below "wilkes" and three below "tesserae".

So, it really isn't a word that gets used very much.

That said "blog", "ebay", "barf" aren't in there at all.

Whilst "workless", "recrossed" and "conquistador" are in the bottom three.

Who are you?

Time for a little market research, dear reader.

Who are you? What are you looking for? What should I be covering?

In fits of boredom, I have stalked my readership through my sitemeter, finding them at bloglines, kinja, technorati and google, but I don't feel I really know you. 

Would anyone miss rummaging if it went away?

This is something of a cri de coeur, I admit, but I feel my attention drifting. I'm a week or so away from running out of steam again - an frequent occupational hazard caused by my hummingbirdesque attention span.

Like the unpopular kid in the playground who rents friendships by handing out sweets, I have gmail invites for those who want them. So comment away or send me email.

Sex: censored gay boobs

I find it very strange when I look at where rummaging's traffic comes from.

I'm slightly ashamed by the amount of traffic being generated by the "crazy frog" story, posted last week. Though I'm starting to get an idea why MTV run it all the time.

I'm also baffled why so many of you want to read about John Travolta's house - the Jumbolair - which was covered in March last year.

Then I was reading this forum about popular search terms on blogsearchengine.com and I thought, if you can't beat em, join em.

Hence the headline, comprising of four of the most popular search terms on the internet.

(By the way, sorry if you clicked on this link expecting porn. There really isn't any here. Certainly no pictures. What would a "censored gay boob" look like anyway? I probably don't want to know.)

Fishing for ideas

In a craven attempt to drum up ideas for stories, I have gmail invites for anyone who sends in an idea, an auction or some feedback that is featured on the site.

Come on people. I'm doing all the work here.

Email me on rummaging@gmail.com.

Rummaging

Rummaging is an occasional blog focused on bizarre eBay auctions, celebrity property news, islands in the sun and fantastical travel destinations. But mostly bizarre eBay auctions.

Imagine wallpaper* magazine written by agoraphobic toddlers with ADD and no travel budget. That's us. And we've just run out of Ritalin.

Our target audience is supermodels, globe-trotting diplomats, leading surgeons and astronauts, but we're nowhere near that.

Its actual audience are bored people in offices looking for distraction. It competes with actually working, reflecting on the choices you made in your life, staring out of the window, browsing monster.com, thinking about resigning and refusing to be held accountable for your own choices.

You can advertise on rummaging if you want. Email us for info on our traffic, visitor demographics and ratecards. We'll also swap links with other sites we like. Email us about that too.

(Just a quick note: We have no idea what a ratecard is, how you put one together, or what the numbers on one might look like. But rest assured, if you email us asking for one, we'll google it quick-sharp and have something back to you within the day.)