# My blog post went viral! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 16, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459 "2011-12-16T22:41:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/1 "2011-12-16T22:41:27Z")
I’ve been wondering what I want to be when [my kids] grow up, and “writer” is definitely on the table, so I figured why not start a blog and commit to writing five days a week. I chose skepticism and mothering, because that’s where my experience and my passion are. Well, I stumbled upon a poorly researched, incendiary screed against infant sleep training in Psychology Today. I [dissected](http://skepticalmothering.com/2011/12/13/the-dangers-of-being-insulting-and-misleading/)it, and boom! people have been sharing my article like gangbusters! I admit to feeling all giggly when I see perfect strangers linking to my site and saying, “this is great!” Surprisingly I haven’t had more than one negative comment. I realize the flipside of writing something popular is that lots of people will likely hate on you too. But for now, the attention has been very positive! So, is there any potential for actual money in writing on skeptical mothering issues? Probably not, but we’ll see how this goes. If nothing else, it’s really good practice, and I’m getting some good information out there to people who can use it. Oh, who am I kidding with this humble stuff. Right now my actual emotional state is about like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MgNcE8mRM0). ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/2 "2011-12-16T22:49:24Z")
Ooh! Cool! Who knows whether you’ll receive a pot of leprechaun gold for writing this, but you should! More please. Lots lots more. I’m bookmarking your blog. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/3 "2011-12-16T22:59:35Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > Oh, who am I kidding with this humble stuff. Right now my actual emotional state is about like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MgNcE8mRM0). You have every right! Congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/4 "2011-12-16T23:12:01Z")
Very well written argument! You deserve the praise! ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/5 "2011-12-16T23:22:46Z")
Can you submit it to Psychology Today and see if they’ll publish it as a rebuttal? ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_Jackal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clockwork\_Jackal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_Jackal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/6 "2011-12-17T00:43:35Z")
Wow congrats! I know there’s some money in writing articles, but I don’t think you can get rich off it. But still, pretty awesome! ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_Jackal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clockwork\_Jackal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_Jackal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/7 "2011-12-17T00:46:17Z")
Oh you know what, I don’t think there’s lots of money in writing articles for magazines but have you considered doing a blog with google ads? I’m pretty sure there’s good money in that, ask Pioneer Woman or Perez Hilton. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/8 "2011-12-17T01:10:37Z")
Hm, if you get in with the Skepchick and such there might be a future in that. What you want is to get a lot of blogging done and then have someone offer you a book deal… ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/9 "2011-12-17T01:23:40Z")
Congrats! I’ve bookmarked your blog, so count me as a new fan. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/10 "2011-12-17T01:35:46Z")
Well done! A guy I worked with got a Tweet retweeted by several people, then by Digg (IIRC), then it was featured on “Tweet of the day”. Hundreds of thousands of hits. Two days later Stephen Fry retweeted it and his hits went into the millions. He was over the moon. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/11 "2011-12-17T01:36:28Z")
That is a VERY well written article, and something I was interested in anyway. Great Job!! I am also bookmarking your site; if this is the kind of stuff you write, I can’t wait to read more! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/12 "2011-12-17T01:47:35Z")
Good on you - though I might characterize your response as “in before anyone else with a lick of sense.” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/13 "2011-12-17T01:49:18Z")
Just finished the post. Fantastic demolition work, well presented. (I think it would have benefited from fewer perjorative adjectives and nouns - “screed”, “fantastic” and so on - but otherwise spot on.) Have you yet heard from the author? ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/14 "2011-12-17T02:03:12Z")
It’s good to know all that edumacation in English and Law has had some impact on my writing quality! I haven’t heard from the author. I will be sending it to Psychology Today, along with a promise to rewrite it with less snark if they’re interested. To be fair, the evident irritation and sarcasm is largely due to the fact that I had literally just written a measured and professional post about the misinformation from anti-CIO authors (the previous post on my blog), and then I came upon this article that was so insulting and obnoxious, to the point of implying that parents whose babies cry \*at all \*are stupid and their children are losing brain cells due to their incompetence. It was written in anger, and I don’t deny that. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/15 "2011-12-17T02:05:53Z")
Why not present it as a letter to the editor? Or do you want to try to earn $$? ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/16 "2011-12-19T06:34:44Z")
I’m due in July, so all I have to say is pretty please keep posting! ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/17 "2011-12-19T15:14:08Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Why not present it as a letter to the editor? Or do you want to try to earn $$? That’s a good idea! I still need to trim the snark quite a bit, but it should work. Now to search out the contact info . . . **iftheresaway** , congratulations, and thanks! If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/18 "2011-12-19T16:37:34Z")
Your blog looks awesome. I posted a link to it on Facebook today 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/19 "2011-12-19T17:40:09Z")
Good for you. The world can do with more Skeptical Mothering. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459/20 "2011-12-19T20:02:12Z")
That was awesome! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blog-post-went-viral/606459.md?page=2)