Top 11 Sandstorming Articles of 2005
As a result of all the changes to Sandstorming, it has been harder to keep an accurate track of the site’s traffic data from last year, and I was unsure how I was going to approach this article because of this.
One thing that we have been able to track though is the number of comments. So, whilst these may not be the best or most viewed articles of last year, they’re certainly the ones that created the most response.
And why “Top 11″ you ask? Well I started writing the Top 10 ages ago, and one of the later articles from 2005 got a bit more popular and made it into the list. I didn’t want to delete my awesome journalistic efforts, so I just added one more.
Anyways, here it is. The Top 11 Sandstorming Articles of 2005. Enjoy.
11. Firefox Fanboy Push
Comments: 24
Author: Johnsee
This article was mainly written to get some more money going to the site. Everytime someone downloads Firefox from that link, we get a dollar (hint, hint). Oh, and it was also written to get the good word of Firefox out amongst the serfs of course.
Interestingly, it sparked an argument amongst some avid (read: ignorant) IE users who didn’t know any better, and Firefox users rushed to defend their browser. Hell, even I had a spray at them.
10. The Bali 9, sacrificed by the Australian Government
Comments: 27 (24 on old site, 3 on current site)
Author: Julz
Whilst this article has only garnered 3 comments when you click that link, we had made a change over about halfway through the year from Blogger to WordPress. With this change, we were able to keep all the articles we wrote, but none of the comments.
At the time, this was a HUGE amount of comments. This was also Julz’s first article he wrote for Sandstorming, and it more than justified our decision to bring him on board the SS team.
9. Schapelle Corby Sentenced to 20 Years
Comments: 30 (30 on old site, 0 on current site)
Author: Julz
Julz’s second ever article. Somehow he always manages to get heaps of comments by stirring shit and posting opinionated articles about the most controversial topics in Australian news. Julz’s formula goes like this:
Australian Drug Rings + International Politics = WINNAH!
Follow-up articles:
Schapelle Tshirts!
Schapelle Corby 1 Year On: Does anyone care any more?
Corby’s up the proverbial creek, without even a body board to float on
8. The Google Operating System, and why it’s virtually here already
Comments: 30
Author: Johnsee
This article made the front page of digg.com. Some people thought it was ridiculous, some saw it had potential. Either way, it generated huge debate, and still gets linked to other blogs occasionally. Johnsee now openly admits he was speaking out his arse the whole time.
Follow-up articles:
Last week: Google OS. This week: GoogleNet.
7. Chuck Norris Responds To Random Facts
Comments: 35
Author: Doc
This was a follow-up article to our extremely popular “Random Facts about Chuck Norris” (#1). I wrote it after one of the commenters, Megan (you’ll read more about her later) said Chuck Norris mentioned the Random Facts on his website. I had to see for myself so I went to his website and lo-and-behold there it was!
I also decided to explore his site and do a little write-up about it as well. As a result, I got “flamed” by Megan for making fun of him again. Ah well, can’t please everyone I guess.
Follow-up articles:
Young Chuck Norris
6. The O.C. Season 3 Premiere Leaked
Comments: 37
Author: Doc
Most comments on this article come from idiots who read “The O.C. Season 3 Trailers and Spoilers” (see #2) asking for people to email them instructions on how to download episodes of The O.C.. I swear these people must believe that there’s a website out there called www.downloadyourfavouritetvshowhereforfree.com, and that they just don’t know about it yet.
We also submitted this one to Digg, but it didn’t do quite as well as our first article about a leaked season premiere (#4). Guess Digg readers aren’t huge O.C. fans. Who would of thought?
5. MSN Messenger 8 - Get it NOW!
Comments: 82
Author: Johnsee
This one was popular because Johnsee offered to give out free beta invites. His inbox soon became flooded and he ran out of invites to give away. Ha-ha. He now has like 10, but has stopped giving them out cause he can’t be fucked.
The rest of the comments are made up of idiots who could not follow instructions for tipping out water if they were written on the bottom of a bucket.
4. Family Guy Movie Leaked 2 Months Early (with screenshots)
Comments: 97
Author: Doc
This was our first ever article to make the front page of digg.com. It also made it into their Diggnation podcast (check out the clip of it here [1.35MB]). Amazingly, it was the first article we ever submitted to them as well.
I still can’t believe that Sandstorming was the first to properly break this story, and just how popular the article became. It was an incredible feeling knowing so many people had read what I had written.
Much of the credit should go to Johnsee, who when he saw my MSN name “Downloading Family Guy movie 2 months before official release date!” did a quick search and discovered that there was barely ANY news on it at all, and no one with screenshots. It was decided then and there that Sandstorming would be the first.
I quickly rushed a story, and Johnsee attached a few screenshots to go with it. We then posted it on a number of forums, but most importantly, digg.com. The rest, as they say, is history. It served up over 22,000 hits in the first four days.
Because of the intense popularity of our article we had to cover our asses a bit regarding the legality of it, so a few edits were made to the final story, including a disclaimer that “Sandstorming does not condone piracy of any form.”
Also, if you listen to the podcast, Kevin Rose says that Digg gained a huge spike in traffic because of this article, so if you’re reading this Kevin we’re still waiting patiently for that royalty cheque.
3. 250 KM/h Crash Pictures
Comments: 181
Author: Johnsee
This also made the front page of digg.com. It still continues to circle around the net on various blogs, and it would have to be our most popular article over time. The images came from a forum site, but no one had actually written anything up about them.
The comments on it turned into a large debate over the authenticity of images, with people who had actually seen the car IRL joining in. Really shows how much this article got passed around.
2. The O.C. Season 3 Trailers and Spoilers
Comments: 337
Author: Doc
Quite frankly, I’m embarrassed that this came in at number 2. Pretty much every single bit of traffic came from teeny-boppers Google searching and wanting to know when The O.C. season 3 was starting in Australia. I’m not sure how they even managed to use a search engine. Their spelling and grammar is not only horrenduous, but painful to the eyes.
Despite having stated in the article that there was no known date yet, people continued to ask. As a result, I also got very angry in this one. Read comment #137 as an example. Also, whilst the cybersex was amusing at first, it now pisses me off to no end.
On a more positive note, season 3 has just started in Australia; meaning although more people will probably find there way to this article, the idiots asking when it will start should stop. But let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.
Follow-up articles:
The O.C. Season 3 Premiere Leaked
and now….
1. Random Facts About Chuck Norris
Comments: 340
Author: Johnsee
This was one of our most surprising hits. Johnsee saw it on a forum site he regularly reads and got a good laugh out of it, but was unsure if he should post it on Sandstorming. Amazingly, it is now our most commented article, with a whooping 340 comments and still going strong!
While most of the comments are just facts people copied and pasted from the generator, keep an eye out for comments posted by “Megan” who originally went by the name “Me”. She actually took offense to the article and starting bible bashing us all. Hilarity ensued.
This only managed to steal the number one spot a few days ago. Thank God (I mean Chuck Norris) that it did. Otherwise The O.C. might’ve no longer been famous for it’s beautiful people, but instead for the only county in which every citizen has personally recieved a roundhouse kick to the face by Chuck Norris.
Follow-up articles:
Chuck Norris Responds To Random Facts
Young Chuck Norris
So that’s it. The year’s best (well, most commented on) articles of 2005. Stick around this year as they’re only bound to get better, and if we don’t change statistics programs then maybe I can judge them by something better than the number of comments they received.
Oh, and one more thing. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDSTORMING! The domain Sandstorming.com is now officially two years old today!
