Once in a while, I like to take a look at the types of searches that have led people to this blog. Some are fairly predictable, though they probably don't get the searchers quite what they were looking for."Social Stories" is a popular search, and one which surprisingly doesn't always lead to the person clicking away in horror. Searchers for Social Stories have tended to read 2 or 3 posts beyond the one which carries that tag. Sometimes a reader lands here looking for ABA therapy or even chelation. They don't tend to stick around as long."Autistics in the army" pops up several times a week, and there are still a few people wondering if autism is responsible for the Virgina Tech tragedy. Others are apparently concerned about toe-walking, echolalia and "lining things up".
I like to write about t-shirts, as they are a mild perseveration of mine and something I view as a simple advocacy tool; I get a fair number of folks shopping for autism or Asperger t-shirts. Eventually, I may get my act together as far as creating some. I assume my interests in drawing and squares are responsible for the readers who come here seeking an architect or city planner.
I get a surprising number of inquiries for "Formica pattern". I should post more of these; it could lead to a job designing counter tops, I guess.
The runner up for my favorite so far is "percentage of people who hate mustard". I've seen this one twice. Is this an assignment in some condiment obsessed school district or what?
The very best one and the reason for this post was today. Someone was searching for an "Asperger gnome". Who are you, searcher, and what were you looking for, really? I hope you found it somewhere. You made my day.
The number one query that lands people to my blog is something to the effect of "how to draw cats". Go figure!
ReplyDeleteHi, Bev,
ReplyDeleteInternet searches are funny things, aren't they?
The very best one and the reason for this post was today. Someone was searching for an "Asperger gnome".
My first thought was that someone had mistyped "Asperger genome," but I like "Asperger gnome" much better. (I may have one of those on my lawn ;-)).
Tera
About half of the searches that land folks on my blog are really perverted. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewhat about the travelling one in Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (a very spectrumish movie in a lot of ways) who (I think) re-started the whole gnome-fad?!
ReplyDeleteI did write a silly post about gnomes, so I understand exactly why this search landed here. It's the idea of someone looking for such a thing as "Asperger gnome" that amazed me so. I suspect it has to do with Gnome software, but I don't know.
ReplyDeleteBWH,
What are you writing over there? I've never seen anything suspect on your blog, maybe some references to dating and stuff. I'll have to check it more closely. Very surprising...I hope no one comes around here looking for "wild lesbian gnome sex" or anything!
PP,
I couldn't get that link to work.
I'll do a search for it.
Natalia,
Thanks for letting me know about that movie. It sounds very much like something I'd enjoy. I'd heard about it but didn't know the name before.
(Right, here goes my second attempt, hope ALL of the URL of my link appears this time!)
ReplyDelete"Asperger Gnome" made me think of this article, "The Role Of Gnomes In Waldorf Kindergarten"
http://www.waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/GnomesInKindergarten.html
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education had some strange ideas about lots of things, including autism!
How irritating, the link doesn't work 'cos a bit of the URL is STILL missing - the last bit of it after the last stroke is supposed to say;
ReplyDeleteGnomesInKindergarten.html
Hope this helps. Alternatively, you could just Google the title of the article...
BWH: P'raps "big", "white", and "fountain head" are enough, eh? :P
ReplyDeleteasperger gnome. i see a funny cartoon in my head just thinking about it :)
ReplyDeletei get 'social stories' a lot too. not sure why. my number one search phrase of the week is 'plumbing tape', with 'crazy cat ladies' not far behind. the plumbing tape people leave right away. people looking for autism or geek stuff stick around a while. crazy cat ladies can go either way.
thanks for the geek link :)
Phillida Phoenix,
ReplyDeleteThat wass some very interesting reading, definitely worth the multiple attempts! I spent quite a bit of time reading the Waldorf (salad?) philosophy and criticisms. I had assumed the gnome story would be satire! Very bizarre stuff indeed. Thank you.
A question: how do you find out what searches people have used to get to your blog?
ReplyDeleterachel,
ReplyDeletestatcounter.com has free counters you can use to keep track of your traffic. It's invisible, too! There are other services like this too, but I don't know about other free and invisible ones.