The setup for
this year’s top-stories lists is the same as last year’s. As before, the top stories by views and votes are first listed unfiltered; then only with stories updated in 2023; then just with BRK stories. As previously, the lists are weighted by diversity of IP addresses, so that stories that are getting attention from a wider range of visitors get more of a boost in the rankings.
It feels like this was a year for continuing stories catching people’s attention and imaginations. Several of the top-ranking stories from this year were sagas stretching over several updates, amping up the stakes and deepening the connections between the characters. There was a great mix of new writers and experienced hands, bringing a variety of interest and perspectives. Readership remained high in 2023, reaching 5.9 million story views, compared to 6.0 million, 4.9 million, and 4.5 million in 2022, 2021, and 2020.
As for my own stuff: as usual, it’s never been a surprise or a matter of chagrin to me that I don’t top the tallies on my own website, since as an author my views and votes are distributed across the scores of stories I post every year: the 82 chapters I wrote this year were distributed across 41 stories (compared with 96 chapters/47 stories in 2022, 106 chapters/49 stories in 2021, and 86 chapters/37 stories in 2020); and Metabods is about alternative erotica, not just my brand of it.
There were a few stories I was working on for months, some of them still ongoing, and those have generated a lot of attention, votes, and views (notably the long-term commissioned stories “Casey’s Mancock,” “Mountainheart,” “Sexi-Phi,” and “The Right Blend”), so it’s gratifying to see them ranking well. But there are a few one-offs mixed in with them, like “Stadium Brew,” and I love seeing one of those charting like a boss just from one go in the updates.
It’s been a great year in my book. I’ve had a lot fun writing and running the site in my first post-quarter-century year, and I’m looking forward to new and exciting things in 2024.
