I was planning on doing something special for my 10,000th post on the blog but I just realized today that I passed that marker a few months back without even realizing it. As of this post I’ve published exactly 10,329 posts on the blog and since it launched around 11 years ago, that averages to more than 3 posts a day if you ignore the weekends. Considering this is Kuwait where very little goes on I still surprise myself on a daily basis that I’m still finding stuff to write about.
The blog back in 2005
I used to think I was lucky that I was finding content on a daily basis and it was only a couple of years back did I realize that hold on a second, maybe this isn’t luck, maybe I just have a skill that allows me to discover stuff. I think it’s probably a combination of my creative side, mixed in with my extreme curiosity for things and probably a bit of ADHD and OCD on the side to top it all off.
The blog back in 2006
Another interesting figure, 199,363 comments have been posted so far, this doesn’t include deleted spam which is amounts to around 2.5 million.
The blog started off as a side project to another blog I had and was never meant to last this long. I have no idea when I’m going to stop blogging, but that day will most likely be sooner than later. For now I’m still here.
36 replies on “Milestone: 10,000 Posts”
Mabrook ya Mark – from one of your earliest followers and a huge fan 🙂
(PS. Hope you haven’t forgotten, I still want to ride with you when you review the G 63 6×6 AMG)
Hook me up with a 6×6 or even a 4×4² and I’ll take you for a ride with me lol
LOL cheeky
You do an amazing job of keeping us informed about all things Kuwait. Thank you so much for the time and energy you put into the best blog in Kuwait…don’t ever stop!
Congrats Mark!!
Your blog is a great place to visit!!
What’s the reason you say you are likely to stop blogging sooner rather than later?
cuz i’m working on an exit plan
You should find an apprentice and handle them the mantle once you’re done and keep the blog going. The fact that I won’t be able to troll one day makes me sad.
Why not keep a good thing going?
Exit plan you say?
Planning to sellout to the likes of yahoo, facebook, Private equity funds or other portals (Arab Times)?
For sure, the blog will not last without you being on the buyers’ team.
If you do find an extremely attractive offer, take it but on the condition that you will run the blog (at a price). This way, you will be very rich and we will not leave the blog.
Good luck Mr. M
Problem with a site like yours is that there is no feasible exit plan if you leave. It’s a personal opinion blog written by you, which as you said is a creative process rather than simply mechanical.
If the blog loses its main author and voice, the hits fade and intrinsic value amounts to nothing as net traffic subsides and the financial arm (advertising) dissipates with it.
You’re leaving Kuwait I guess ? US or Canada then ? We’ll miss you !
I have to disagree with you there, the blog isn’t about me anymore, it’s grown a lot bigger. The 248AM you’re defining hasn’t existed in years. Today the blog has become a source of curated informative and entertainment related posts. People come in here to find out about new things in Kuwait and if I’m sharing these posts or someone else is, it wouldn’t make a difference. I don’t think anyone would be able to tell if I was posting or someone else was on my behalf. Last year I spent nearly a month in LA while posting normally daily and nobody even knew I wasn’t in Kuwait.
Yes I get your perspective, but as has been mentioned by other people, 248 is used as a Kuwait resource tool to find out what’s happening around town. Leaving for a month or two isn’t the same as being disconnected from life in Kuwait completely.
Example: a new cute quinoa joint opens around the corner , it’s not like you’re going to come all the way back to review or report on it. Simply stating a new place is open with no personal input is the same as a newspaper ad and people are more interested in a story than being sold something – which is the secret to 248 success.
I’ve noticed there are several other contributors to the blog who do a good job reporting on niche sectors like legal and gaming – but that’s a tiny reason to follow 248 as a whole.
There are two aspects I’ll answer here.
Firstly regarding me living outside while still posting about Kuwait, you gave an example of a new quinoa joint opening. First I don’t have to be in Kuwait to find out about a new place opening. Right now I find out about new places from various sources, friends, instagram, snapchat, whatever. I don’t drive around Kuwait looking for new places that opened obviously. Secondly about my personal take on restaurants, if you’ve noticed for the past few years I’ve barely reviewed the food in restaurants, I’ve mostly been reporting that there is this new XYZ restaurant in town that opened and serves ABC kind of food. Thats mostly because of the various diets I’ve been on which doesn’t allow me to eat whatever I want so I don’t think its fair to review a place that way. But it doesn’t matter since the most important aspect of these posts would be me introducing a new place to my readers, my personal take/opinion on the place plays a secondary role not a primary one. Now I’m not saying I am planning to continue posting if I leave, I’m just saying its not that difficult to do and worst case I can always come in to Kuwait every months for a few days make my rounds and leave.
Now the second aspect is how easily the blog can be structured to work without me. Blogs don’t have to be based around a single person, mine is because I’m a control freak but it’s not that difficult to structure a blog around various writers. Majority of the big blogs are structured that way, Jalopnik, Engadget, Gizmodo, BoingBoing whatever.. The blog over the years has become less of a blog and more of an entertainment source, similar to Time Out and the like and less about me Mark. So it doesn’t matter if its John Doe or Jane Doe posting as long as the content is interesting and informative.
Again, I’m not saying I’m considering selling the blog. I’m just saying if someone was to takeover the blog they could actually expand it and make it grow even bigger than I can or am willing to do.
Get your point and good luck on your next adventure. So when is the farewell then, seems like it’s advanced stages. Will be a sad day for Kuwait’s blogging era
*realized today that I past…
> passed
thanks fixed
Hey Mark, I have been in Australia three and a half years now and I still enjoy reading your blog. Kinda keeps that connection going that I had with Kuwait. All I can say is Congrats and Good on you Mate!
Mabrook Mark
You have actually become a cultural reference in/for Kuwait 😀
Congrats. Keep up the Good work.
Any plans for a Giveaway on 200,000 comment?
10,000 and kicking! Keep it going Mark! My day begins with checking your Blog and ends with it too, even when I am not in Kuwait. God Bless!
Same here…3 times a day
Congrats and thanks Mark. You do really well with the content here in Kuwait. Your blog was super resourceful when I first moved here and still is.. comments can get pretty interesting too 😀
Congratulations! You do a great job in keeping the country informed and hopefully you’ll keep doing so!
Do you filter out each spam message personally? That sounds like a full time job.
nope i have a plugin that does it for me
What is the background behind the blog title: “2:48am”. It is brilliant because it sticks in the mind.
it was the name of my end of year university project. years later when i was launching this website i just looked through the domains i wasnt using and i had mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com and stonedversion.com, ended up going with 248am
If I may ask, tell me how 2:48am works into your past academic project. Thanks for the past reply.
I needed a name for my end of year project and it was 2:48AM when i was working on it, i liked the way the combination of numbers and letters looked like plus it symbolized my university life, up late at night working on stuff so ended up calling my project 2:48AM.
What university did you go to, dude, and what course did you do there? if this is not asking for too much, that is..
*thumbs up* It is a curious name. Thanks for your work. Your success as an expatriate blogger in Kuwait could be an academic case study on its own. It is fascinating to think about the conflating factors, populations, governance, and historical context of your emergence and rise to prodigy.
congrats Mark love your blog
“maybe I just have a skill that allows me to discover stuff. I think it’s probably a combination of my creative side,”? Do you write Trump’s speeches too?
I didn’t get it
Hey Mark, congratulations on the milestone.
How about some interesting stats like – what is your most popular post?
Which post has the most comments ever?
Could be interesting