On Sunday, it will be my 4-month anniversary of posting comments here at Giz, despite being a long-time reader. Reflecting back on my first few weeks of posting, I am amazed at how I managed to get a star, let alone promoted or approved.

Ah, blog adolescence, how quickly you fly by.

#whitenoise

@Gordonium:
Apparently, last Tuesday was my 2 year anniversary of posting comments here at Giz.

Questions for everyone:
When did you start commenting on Gizmodo?
Jan 26th 2008

How many comments have you made?
2050 (approximately) as of today.

What was your first comment?
This was mine - [gizmodo.com] (Not very exciting)

#whitenoise

@Gordonium: I've been commenting for somewhere in the area of a year and a half now and it took me longer than your whole time here to get my star.

You young whippersnappers. You don't know what it was like back in my day. We had to comment 26 hours a day uphill both ways in the snow. And the Editors pelted us with rocks.

Oh, and you had to pay $100 for your star. And that was back when my monthly wage was a nickel!

#whitenoise

@Scotland:
Started about 3 months ago.

October 28th

340-ish comments.

My first:
In response to "Google and the Deadly Power of Data"-
[gizmodo.com]

#whitenoise

@OCEntertainment: Ouch, old man. All I had to do was give Steve Jobs a public blowjob.

/obvious satire

*cowering in fear of teh banhammer*

#whitenoise

@Gordonium: April 17, 2008 was my first post.

[gizmodo.com]

Nine months after that I posted again. Then about 2 posts a month until a few months ago.

Currently just shy of 400 posts.

Still no star. :-p

#whitenoise

@Scotland: Somewhere between 1200 and 1300 comments.

My first post was in response to Bertone77's amazing pun, "The soldier, who survived mustard gas and pepper spray, is now a seasoned veteran," from the following Care BEAR article.

[gizmodo.com]

Sticks Calhoun was kind enough to approve my li'l ol' pun.

#whitenoise

@OCEntertainment: Pfft! Is that all?

#whitenoise

@OCEntertainment: Uh, Excuse me sir, its time to take your medicine and change your depends.

Sorry folks, sometimes the geriatrics get away from the attendants here at the nursing home.

Please ignore any rants that he may go off on.

*Whispers behind cupped hand

He's not all "there" if you know what I mean.
#whitenoise

@Scotland: First post was on April 30th, 2009. I have about 2,350 on all of the Gawker sites (6.2 posts per day).

First comment:
[gizmodo.com]
"November 1972. Apparently, it was also the first published image of a compressed .jpg file."

I was starred on 12/17/09 (7 months, 17 days and 1,200 posts later) for this comment:
[gizmodo.com]
"It's a very relevant rant, one that shouldn't be limited to just a wireless company, but the telecom industry as a whole. When have they not been about profit?"

In the 9 months since I started commenting, I have been banned from one Gawker site and approved on most of the other (but not starred anywhere else yet).

#whitenoise

@Gordonium: I feel like a huge noob, but I can't seem to find my post stats at all.

Though I lurked for a month or two before creating an account and finally deciding to post.

I believe that was in August?
I don't know....

At work, everything is a blur now.

#whitenoise

@Jux: How does one determine these stats?

#whitenoise

@m4ximusprim3: By being bored. That's the only way I found.

First, I went into my profile, and clicked the "next" at the bottom of my first page of comment history, and on the next page where the URL has a "start=10" I changed the number until it didn't display comments. So if I changed it to "start=1000" it would show my last 1000 posts and onward. I tried "start=3000" and the comments were blank, meaning I had gone to far. Trial and error got me to the "start=2350" which showed my first post.

Then, I just used an online calculator for the number of days between that date and today (or the date of the comment I was starred on).

There's probably an easier way that's going to make me feel foolish, but I didn't have much else going on.

*edit: just realized this method is flawed. Your profile shows you replies too, not just your comments, so I dunno how many I actually have. Just a combination of 2,350 posts and replies to those posts I guess.

#whitenoise

@Jux: Makes sense to me. The only issue is that I commented exclusively on consumerist for a long time and those posts are gone, so my count is aritificially low.

Anyway:
First comment October 15, 2007 (this foreshadows the greatness to come):

"sweet jeebus, i want super potato."

Comments (only on current gawker.com sites, consumerist comments are gone): 3489

#whitenoise

@m4ximusprim3: Love that first post.

On a side note, you ever lurk around TFW2005.com? The name looks familiar.

#whitenoise

@Jux: nope. This is my XBL gamertag, steam tag and I played counterstrike in CPL for a long time under this name, so maybe video games?

#whitenoise

@m4ximusprim3: Eh, it's a Transformers geek board, probably someone else with that name.

#whitenoise

@OCEntertainment: how do you find out when you started and how many comments you have?

#whitenoise

@OCEntertainment: nvm, May 31, 2007 was my fist comment! somewhere along the lines of 1350 comments/replies. No star for me :/

#whitenoise

@Jux: Haha, I figured it out the same way. Apparently my first Gawker Network post was on June 28th, 2007 in regards to a Kotaku article about Guitar Hero 80's. In that first year it looks like I posted very infrequently, then started full-force around July 2008. That's also when I first posted on Giz.

In retrospect, I think that was also right around the time I bought my first Mac... Hmm.

No clue when I was starred, but it was very shortly after the system was implemented. I'd like to track down the specific post but I don't feel like sifting through all these pages.

#whitenoise

@Scotland: I went back and promoted your first comment for ya. For posterity ;)

#whitenoise

@Gordonium: The use of anniversary for commemoration of elapsed months always bothered me, since the term is inherently tied to years. I like to use meseversary.

#whitenoise

@Scotland: I've been following a few Gawker sites (the Giz, Lifehacker...) for a while, but I started commenting on May 1, 2008! OMG, I can't believe how lame my first comment was [io9.com]
AND IT WAS APPROVED! Now that get all my Giz through RSS feeds, I don't comment as much (~108 total comments, if my count is right).

For a while, I thought I got the banhammer, since I couldn't login to my profile. But I guess I can now... Hey, I have a follower? When did that happen??

#whitenoise