$36? Ok. So maybe it was the guilt. Or perhaps I just needed to find something new to write about. Or possibly I just was curious to see what happens. I haven't contributed to Tony's car fund, never made a donation on his blog and I didn't buy his inaugural busblog book. Yet I read his site regularly.
So when he started what seems to his annual “link auction” I thought to myself, “once again, there goes Tony with a unique idea”. Now I know Tony is not immune to employing traffic building tactics for his blog. Hell, his Anna Kournikova photo essay catapulted him to fame and gave his weblog hosting service indigestion. I mean come on. Nude pictures of famously pretty women are guaranteed to mark a spike in traffic. Me? I get pretty good traffic. Nothing like Tony. He admits at times that he needs more, though. But remember, nothing he writes is true. For me, I'm not a traffic whore, per se. I want people to come here to read, think and spend time. Meet new friends. Hook up with old ones. Not simply to look at pretty picture — of women. Though my recent provocative strip tease photo essay was linked around the blogosphere and caused my traffic and ranking to climb dramatically. But nothing like Tony. Don't get me wrong. Tony's other photo essays don't all rely on shots of sexy women. Some are quite good and insightful.
Curiously, I checked his link auction the other night. I wondered. How much would someone pay to be linked on his blog? At the time I think the high bid was around $30. So I punched in a bid. I mean the last time I saw Tony we compared notes on the Slippery Shrimp at Yang Chow in Chinatown (slide show movie). I figure the next time we'd be dining together I'd buy the wine. And it certainly would exceed the $36 level of this link auction. So what the hell. I never thought I'd be the winning bidder. But it happened. I did.
But let's think about this. How many of Tony's visitors will find anything as provocative or titillating in the Digital Tavern as they may find on Busblog? I mean I don't typically post pictures of sexy and seductive women. I'm not a huge sports fan and I don't like to write about it. I rarely watch TV, and my photo essays tend to go like this (5mb download so be patient).
But that's beside the point. Maybe Tony's readers would like my essays or posts on McDonald's, ClearChannel,even European Football and Hungarian girls or where to have sex in Romania? Truly, there's something for everyone here. Even if they don't find something here, I'll rest a little easier knowing I've made my contribution to Tony and his excellent and most creative blog. Thanks and keep it up — rather — keep at it Tony!
