Come for the Babes, Stay for the Snarky Goodness!

Not a video link. Ignore the arrow! Heh.

Welcome to all of you who have recently discovered "Proof Positive"! It's going to be a slow news cycle this weekend. All of the bombshells were unloaded Friday, hoping they'd be forgotten or "old news" by resumption of business on Tuesday, so I thought I'd do a little "inside baseball" here.
We recently got a little spike in traffic here. Okay, we got a substantial spike in traffic, due to one link from Roger Kimball of Pajamas Media, henceforth know as the "Patron Saint" of Proof Positive. Heh.
And the amazing, and pleasantly surprising thing to me, was not that a big dog like Pajamas Media can throw you a link and you get a lot of traffic, but the number of people who came back afterward because they liked what they saw. (Or enjoy laughing at our feeble efforts? But, anyway, you're back!)
The increase of traffic that is not directly from that link is substantial. (And you know who you are!)

Which, in a roundabout way, brings us to the babes! One of the purposes of posting pictures of the pretty ladies, aside from their obvious aesthetic qualities, is that they attract readers. And once attracted, many of them come back. Robert Stacy McCain codified this in his famous Rule Five of "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year" back in 2009. But, I knew the principle before Stacy wrote about it because it worked for me (The principle, not the Million Hits!)
The first political blog I ever read was NRO's "The Corner". I used to devour it, every post. I learned a lot from The Corner. Then, one day in 2008, as I recall, Jonah Goldberg made some reference to a blog in North Dakota, of all places, complete with a link. It was Say Anything.
At the time, Rob Port, in addition to the political stuff, was running a feature he called "Friday Night Babe". (So ladies, if you think the "babe" appellation is sexist somehow, blame Rob!) I don't remember if Jonah linked to the "babe" or just to another story on a Friday night, but I bookmarked the spot and sometimes, even on a Friday night, I'd come back.
What I found, alongside the pretty girl, was lively and insightful commentary on the issues of the day. And liberals futilely arguing their talking points, like fish in a barrel. I was hooked. I made my first comments on a political blog there*. Shortly after, I was posting an occasional guest post in Rob's Reader Blogs. Before long I was a regular contributor...and it all started with one link, aided and abetted by a pretty girl's picture, and I stayed for the snarky goodness!

I first got into the "babe" business by resuscitating Rob's feature. He'd started it as a bachelor, and after he got married, the ring through his nose, er, around his finger, cut off his circulation. I picked up the standard and have been carrying it ever since. (I kid, Mrs. Rob! I'm a kidder!)

But, whether you first stopped to admire the pulchritude, or see a video or read the commentary, we appreciate you stopping by. And be honest now! How many of you started reading this because you saw the picture of Audina above?
Some of you were even hoping I might even let her phone number slip! It's right here in my Rolodex...it's (562) 555-....

*And because so many of the commenters there shared my first name, I picked a pseudonym, a nom de cyber, if you will, later shortened to "Proof". I picked it to stand out from the crowd, so that anything I wrote, would be clearly attributed to me and the wackadoodle things said by others, would not. Who knew I'd be doing this after all these years? So, for the time being, I'm "Proof". Just as soon as I become a household name, I will make the transition to my real name, like Datsun becoming Nissan. Until then, bear with me! Thanks!