Recently, new Jewlicious commentor client innocuously remarked, “The other thing is that now it seems to me that 2/3 of the comments are posted by the Jewlicious staff. So now it looks to me like a family kinda blog.”

While we certainly are a big, happy family of people who mutually respect and have gotten drunk with each other, I was talking on the phone with Laya today and we noticed, “Hey, this client person is right. Almost all the comments on Jewlicious are us talking with each other.”

It’s true. We have 12,000 readers a day (admittedly, about 8,000 of those are just us refreshing our browsers), and about 12 regular commentors.

So I ask you, Jewlicious readers: are ye not Jews? Are you some kind of new genetically engineered Jews who thanks to science have no opinions? Are we not being controversial enough? Does there need to be more pictures of scantily clad shiksas?

Remember: not commenting makes ck cry. And you don’t want to see ck cry, ’cause he does it like a little bitch.

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michael

91 Comments

  • just to be pedantic about it, refreshing your browser does not count as a new visitor.

  • I think the subject matter is one of the problems. Also I am not sure what type of numbers you are seeking. If you look at Gil Student’s blog for an example. he is able to present constant interesting Jewish material, scholarly for the most part but in a light and interesting way.
    It appears to me that you are a site that is very Zionistic and pluralistic. Well that means first of all, the Diaspora Jew, who has no real deep idea to make Aliyah, or have that much of an interest in the minutae of Israeli life, e.g. “Dirty Israeli Hippies are Hot”, will not find much interest in the Israeli subjects. Then because you are not a defined site in terms of religious stream, and that is cool, but you will lose alot of people who are decidedly of one mind set either way.
    Then again I asked this another way, what is the reason that people go and post on blogs anyway? Many blogs are based on problems, like Jewish singles. Or the example I gave like Gil Student, where you can learn some Jewish content.

    In your case here, I think the content is not targeted enough.

    Please contact me for additional professional opinion.

    Peace,
    Jobber

  • too much name-calling
    too much gutter talk

    it gets boring after a while

  • I think the subject matter is interesting, but for me the main issue is that I’m ill informed on issues of both orthodoxy and Israel, which seem to be big points here. I don’t really know what’s going on “on the ground” as some of you might say and therefore I don’t feel as though I have anything to contribute to the quarrels that errupt here. Except of course that yes, “dirty Israeli hippies are hot”, from what little you’ve shown me.

    Another thing is that I have limited time to spread comments in the blogs of the world on a daily basis, and my addiction to LiveJournal still takes precedent. =)

  • Gil’s got a fun blog, full of do-it-yourself ideas, like how to properly prepare instant coffee on Shabbos… How many times do I find myself with a kli sheni cup thinking: “if only I’d had my coffee already. Then I’d remember if the coffee goes in the water or the water goes in the coffee…”

    Seriously, though. I think the solution lies in going out and getting drunk with the rest of us, your readers. Y’know, “Jewlicious @ the Bar.” Cash prizes are nice, too.

  • The randomness of the topics are cool and what make this blog interesting. There is a very clique-ish attitude though which makes it kinda pointless to post.

  • I like your blog a whole bunch. Does that count? I don’t have more of a comment now, but crying is no fun.

  • You guy’s are doing a fine job, I don’t expect you to be the Washington Post/NY Times of Jewish topics, to me you guy’s are more like the Entertainment Tonight/Access Hollywood of Jewish topics, but in a good way. Entertaining, Interesting, Random and Fun.

    Although, I do feel the clique thing also, you guy’s are so huge, your like Mega J-blog-G-d’s, and us smaller blog’ets can be a tad intimidated.

  • Muffti should note quickly that Jewlicious has a bit of a tendency to slowly swallow its frequent commentors and turn them into posters – like you!

  • It is hard to comment on every blog, sometimes people say what I wanted to say. There is only so many times that you can say “what he said” and look cool. 😉

  • muffti! you got your gringo ass up pretty early considering last nights shenagans. Is ck up? did you get my message? can you make sure he looks at that?

  • I’ll second Litui’s comment… I’m not informed enough to really jump in to the discussions for the most part, but I’m definitely learning a lot and enjoying what I’m reading – including the jabs and quarrels. I say keep up the good work!

  • Michael thanks a million! I feel really honored that just after 2 days on Jewlicious I get quoted in da post. And great marketing move too! It is like a double ruse. You write that maybe we keep readers away and then …click and you have all this readers to relate to something instantly.
    ck! They dont call you blobmentor and webulizer for nothing – it was a good idea to upgrade michael to … family memmber(?). no,sorry you would rather say posse gunman?
    Since my comment was used I feel like I have my 5 minutes so I can say what I ve meant.
    It s only 5 minutes because I am sure this is how long muffti is ussually busy ignoring, no?

    My comment was more of a observation than a challange.
    You are definitely Jewish enough. I would say that you are merely 100% kosher but you are 613% Jewish. And i think this is what drew me here. I dont want to label anybody but you do appear as family (or a posse depending who you ask). A jewish family. A typical neurotic Jewish family – thanks G-d. Ofcourse the post themselves are secondary and it is more about debating each other. Sometimes hard to join if yoo actually not a person that likes to be called (to use milat hayom of yesterday) slutface.
    I do understand the cliqueness – you guys live big parts of you lives in this blog and a lot of you are blessed to be really prolific. I dont think I ve ever written more words in one concious stream then this time. So you are exclusive somehow and so what? You are not a fakkateh NYT but rather more like a table in a good bar wher group of friends sit and talk their heads off. And anyone can join if he/she doesnt mind to get drunk or be mercilessly challaged. and sceamed at. on the other hand is there a place on your blog for a peaceful disscussion or they all have to be a slam?

    Anyway I love Jewlicious and you got me before michael put my qoute up.
    You are atrractive (some of you even phycically on the pic. No, I didnt mean TM’s pic.) because you are so real yet in virtual world.
    and to end this. If one looks at Jewlicious with the Claude Levi-Strauss tribe definition then you get very interesting picture. You have get the chief and the oracle and the tribe’s beauty, the rebel, and the american dream “career” guy. and obviously necessary silent rest.
    I ll stick around.

  • Hey don’t get me wrong, when I was still living at home, my mother used to IM me to turn off the stove.

  • Since the hirhurim blog was mentioned, let me point out that there, too, most of the posting is by a regular crew of readers.

    I think you’re doing a great job – after all, everyone’s ripping off your ID and mix!

  • I dont mind privet messging here at all. Although there are moment that reading Jewlicious is like wathing reality show.

  • Laya, why i dont get appologies?! hehehe
    By the way judi is 100% – the drinking is the solution.

  • i have a hate/love relationship w/jewlicious. i cant blog too much b/c i m just more of an im kinda yid. so as long as u tolerate that and dont force me to have any political beliefs i agree with client and stick around.

  • I don’t post comments because it’s more fun to watch than to risk making ass out of myself.

  • If it makes you feel better, this is the only blog I’ve ever posted a comment on. If you asked me before I saw jewlicious (a few weeks ago) if I would ever post a comment on a blog (aside from blogs in my professional field where my work is discussed), I’d say no, not my style at all. But I feel so entirely comfortable w/the authorial voice here, that I have in fact posted a few. Andl look: here’s another one.

  • “It’s more fun to watch” is, I believe the entire guiding principle behind both reality TV and blogs with personalities. It’s about the human drama, the clash of opinions of people from different backgrounds and ideologies…

    client, I really liked your comment about us being 613% Jewish, and I think that should be our new slogan.

  • Sometimes its better to not say stuff when you don’t really have anything to add. I read something to that effect somewhere, forgive me for not knowing where. I thought it was a good philosophy, so therefore, I don’t always post to the discussions I read. But I do try to read everyone’s points throroughly, albeit some might be a little too angry, satirical or polemic than they should be.

    Another reason I don’t post is because sometimes I know stuff on a particular topic that isn’t being mentioned, but I don’t know off the top of my head the sources which back it up, and I don’t really have time to read all of the discussion AND find all the sources AND write out my argument. Which of course would be, the right thing to do. Not the expedient thing to do, but the correct thing.

    So don’t be upset if a lot of people aren’t posting…it doesn’t mean that they don’t like your site or pay attention to those who do post.
    ( =

    Shavuah Tov,

  • esther! You are very kind but out of my whole own-legth-record breaking comment all you like is the slogan??

  • Didn’t say that was all I liked. It was just what I liked best.

    Suffice it to say, I’m glad there are new people visiting and sharing their voices here. It’s all about community, which benefits from diverse voices.

  • i just check in to see if dave is still alive, and/or procrastinating.

  • i read! but i dont post alot…mainly because i cant be botherd, or i have nothing THAT intresting to say… kinda like what bob dole said.

  • yeah Boii! where is dave in all this?..curious to see what he has to say!! ..

  • I used to comment every once and awhile, but then I found some people to be ignorant, selfish, homophobic, and otherwise intolerant in their replies, and I thought OK this isn’t the place for me. The problem with the Jewish Community to me is that there really isn’t enough looking outward, outside the Jewish community and improving social justice for everyone, especially in the U.S. The most often heard issues when I would be a regular visitor here were interfaith marriage and the situation Israel. There was hardly any talk about contemporary issues that did not pertain only to Jews but to everyone. I thought maybe there was some truth to the stereotypes sadly, that the children of Israel don’t really care for the world outside themselves and their issues. I read Jewish periodicals and all they had in them were self-congratulations and talk of the petty issues of what a Jew is supposed to look like and about the horrors of interfaith relationships, in addition to the arguments of which sect is the best. I picked up a periodical from the Episcopal Church and what did I hear about in them? How the Church effectively worked to abolish capital punishment, how it works to fight racism, and how it works to help civil rights for gays and lesbians and every other group that lives in this country.

    I had a choice of where to send my charitable contributions this year, Jewish charities or the Episcopal Church, based on the work they had done, based on the issues I cared about, and guess where my contributions went?

    I guess my anger manifested itself into not coming back here, and certainly not posting since I can’t seem to handle the other posts. However, since the new layout occured and the new posters are more inclusive and less petty, I have been happy to check back in this blog more often. I still don’t really comment, however.

  • Oh I did love that post by michael about the Israeli cheese and the 80’s being alive and well. that was wonderful

  • Lookit Michael frontin’ like he all that! You may recall that Michael was under my care on the Jewlicious trip to Israel. He was an ideal trip participant and it was so cute how his Mommy would call every day. He’d panick if he missed one of her calls because then she’d assumed we killed him or something and blog here asking where he was and could someone please help her find him. It was endearing, really. So adorable.

  • Hmm, this is an odd post. I’ve never figured Jews to be reticent. Well, have no fear: Jewlicious has plenty of gentile readers who are ill-informed about the issues confronting the Jewish community today– which won’t stop ’em from leaving half-baked comments, like this one.

    And if things really get slow, us gentile types could even start posting. Gary H and I could work on something Episcopal. How ’bout “Henry VII: Religious Progressive Or Sleazy Womanizer?”

  • ck You have to admit that michael comes from a chashuv family. His mother blogs as you said so he wasnt completely nobody bofore you have started to mentor him. And now look his clever enough to creat some extra space in Jewlicious for these in the twilight.
    I dont agree with Gary H. This is not a newsroom. This bunch of people that talk about it what provokes them or rather what they think is going to provoke other members of the family(I meant posse ck). It just doesnt mean (I hope) that they dont care for anything else. But this is blogosphere where they can be as exclusive as they please. Which on the other hand has a down side for those on the outter rim. If you dont like then post a valuable comment and maybe once in a while you wont get dissed at? I ll be there for you. And you do your research well I am sure you ll find enough good Jewish causes to give money to. You dont have to get back at Jewlicious by giving money to church.

  • Sorry, that’s Henry VIII. Henry VII was NOT a heretic, and any implication to the contrary is deeply regretted.

  • I don’t agree with Gary about the outward looking part. Jews give much more in contributions to causes completely unrelated to Judaism; work in great numbers for causes, especially with respect to social justice issues, that have no direct link to Judaism; museums and institutions such as the Wiesenthal Center, the Holocaust Museum in DC and virtually every JCC in most urban centers have programs for the general community (Wiesenthal is an anti-tolerance center, the Holocaust Museum talks about 11 million victims not 6 million, and the JCCs are open to anybody who wishes to visit or join).

    This happens to be Jewlicious, so we rarely reach beyond Jewish topics, but that is far from myopia or lack of interest or concern. It is merely what this corner of the Internet is about.

    Tom, just be sure never to make that error again. We take British royalty very seriously here.

    https://jewlicious.com/?p=651

  • Hello people. I don’t know who any of you are and I’ve no idea as to what are the inside-joke references in your posts.

    But I’m definitely someone else and I’m leaving a comment. I hope this helps with the statistics.

  • Hudi, hello yourself! We welcome someone elses here at Jewlicious. And half the time, none of us understand our own inside-joke references either. So dare I say you’re in good company?

  • I’m not even sure what the issue is. Most blogs have one basic subject matter. Here you try to have many issues going on a one time. Not all of them have interest.
    For example, the Shomer Negiah girl, she gets a few comments per day, the Hassidic Rebel, http://www.hassid.blogspot.com, he posts a new article every couple of weeks.
    Also there is no hard core lefties on this site to provide the real debate.
    In terms of your direction it was mentioned that you would have parties and stuff, that would be a good thing.

  • Yeah,

    The tech stuff is what causes much of those stats I bet. I have seen blog threads started that I would have had tremendous say about, just real late, late to the point of staleness. The reason I have to reload, reload and reload again… just to get one little blog to pop up just once and then to go through that again when I go into windows or something or to see the latest comment fresh in its order. That is just the community of Jewlicious personality these days.

  • I have to say, discovering this website was a real revelation. Thanks Jewlicious for providing me with hours of reading material (each day at work) and thought provoking articles. Seriously.

    I have to say though, that being on the other side of the world – ie, not anywhere near the US, UK or Israel – sometimes I feel just a little jealous of you all.

  • Can’t talk. Noshing.

    And yes, Jewlicious @ the bar does sound fun. Jewlicious should do a North American tour, visiting the major cities in each of the states and each of the provinces, and maybe Mexico, and should be hosted by each Hillel. Or BBYO. Either one works.

  • Oh, ck, is it really true? Did he really panic if he missed my call? I’m so farklempt (if you don’t know what it means, e-mail me). But then, of course, you would be panicking too if you were lucky enough to have me as a Mommy.

  • Me, us? A revelation? We at Jewlicious are happy to have revealed ourselves to you, and we will continue to do so unless otherwise mandated by law. Welcome, and if you’d like to organize a Jewlicious Down Under field trip, I’d be happy to attend…

  • I read pretty often, but I don’t often comment, sorry. But if you did Jewlicious @ the Bar (in LA) I would SO be there. And I’d even comment about it. If I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself @ the Bar, that is.

  • And PS, Michael’s mommy…don’t worry about your son. He’s got CK learning some new words and is showing us the world through his newly Jewliciousized eyes. And his first posts here were received with the internet equivalent of thunderous applause. So go ahead: you officially have a License to Kvell.

  • tm i hate to disagree with you (i also hate hating) but i hope u are wrong – Jewlicious is not just a corner of internet. how is it posssible that with queen, princess, grandmuftti and the middle this is just another suburb? i m here b/c i was told by one rabbinical authority that this is the epicenter and the vibes just go from here everywhere else in galus. or at least something like this.
    so u can bith the corner and the center (the middle), now u tell me where we at?

  • tm i hate to disagree with you (i also hate hating) but i hope u are wrong – Jewlicious is not just a corner of the internet (or jnternet). how is it posssible that with queen, princess, grandmuftti and the middle this is just another suburb? i m here b/c i was told by one rabbinical authority that this is the epicenter and the vibes just go from here everywhere else in galus. or at least something like this.
    so u can be both the corner and the center (the middle), now u tell me where we at?

  • annabel lee, i dont know what about jewlicious @ the la bar but if it s not too big of a stretch maybe you join next jewlicious@ the beach II it s coming to yr town!

  • hm… well, I once had a love affair with Jewlicious, but once ck stopped replying to my emails after we spoke on the phone (indeed, making me feel like some kinda dirty stalker) and when I also got no reply from the Jewlicious staff when I filled out the contact form… well…. my love waned. Perhaps you are more involved in conversations,interests, and making each other and not the audience?
    *shrug* Maybe. I still find you guys hilarious, I just feel less interested in interacting

  • er… and by “making each other” I meant “making each other laugh”. heh. By leaving out the “laugh” part it made it sound like you were mackin’ each other. oops. sorry.

  • i think the remark has been made before, a lot is about israel and orthodoxy, which is interesting, but not that much I can comment about. Besides, I might be the odd one out, I am not from America, don’t live there either and I feel there is some kind of (cultural?) obstacle.

  • dwash you r not so odd. i m not frm america either. ck is marrocan smith frm canada, couple of people sit in israel, there are some down-under. i think by not not contributing u make the obstacle real. culture obstacle? i barely zpeak englisch and so many time have no connection to what is talked about here. bot this is jew-blog so u come, u kvetch and make it yours just a little bit more. if it really is 613% jewish then there is gotta be a place here for u and me.

  • celestial, if you’d like us to beat up ck, we’re more than happy to sic Michael on him. Yes, we would really do that for you. (Or at least I would.)

    Annabel Lee, I invited you to Jewlicious @ the Beach I, so maybe you’ll consider II as it looms closer.

    And Dina, there’s no reason we couldn’t do Jewlicious @ the Bar NYC. Get your people on the phone with my people and we’ll talk…

  • Excuse me, but the bar idea was mine, as you may recall. Seeing as I do not live in NYC, you’ll just have to come up with your own damn idea.

  • I admit I was naive and got fooled.
    This post is like a zoo that Jewlicious created to keep all those unhappy in an artificial enviroment that reasambles the real discussion. If you look carefully the regular jewlicious crowd is somewhere else and they just come wathing their e-pets from a distance. They have thier own discussions that interests them and that is where they at. I cant blame them. This post became very boring and unless you are ybocher who wants make everybody happy about themselves then there is nothing to commment on. So true – if I dont want to take side or better engage myself in the disengagement dispute and i dont want to neither bash homosexuals nor the ultra-orthodox then maybe I will be better off having a real beer in the “real world”.
    I guess I am having anti-Jewlicious day today.

  • hey why is this guy bashing jewicious? i think you do need to go get a beer n just chill..If you dont like the fact that jewlicious isnt reporting on world problems that dont concern jews then maybe “jewlicious the jewish blog” isnt for u..but stay because their really kl neway..
    n im not from america n dont feel left out-just jealous sometimes.
    Thats all i have to say..

  • Muffti and I and a friend are going to the beach like in a minute. That’s kinda Jewlicious… at the Beach, no?

  • jessi. The comments like maybe it is not for you.. doesnt appeal to me so much. If it s 100% kosher and undoubtly Jewish (I hold it is 613%) then it is for me.
    And I ve never complained that Jewlicious doesnt report about the Jewish problems. They do, it s just things that I dont necessarily relato to the extant of writting on it.
    But no worries mate! I m not going anywhere for good as I ve warned before I ll stick around and keep making my kind of comments whenever and wherever I wish to do so.
    ck! You guys can swim???

  • The answer is SOME PEOPLE HAVE LIVES, FOR GOD’S SAKE!!!!! Duh! Like, who in their right mind is going to actually COMMENT on a blog…Jsirpicco’s calculations show that on al the stupid Jewish blogs out there, there are about 25 people commenting, endlessly, to each other….usually about sex, or their WARPED UPBRINGING! Luckily, the rest of the Jewish people is busy working, making money and controling the world! But hey, it keeps jsirpicco off the streets and out of your homes 🙂

  • client — ck can swim, but only with his water wings, and he’ll only go in the deep end if muffti holds his hand.

    jsirpicco — who says we’re not controlling the world one post at a time?

  • michael. Your father-son relationship with ck is really entertaining and thank you for feeding me. 🙂
    jsirpico. If you are busy controlling the world then how come you actually had time to write few words to unworthies.

    btw that gay debate is really intersting.

  • Ever hear of the those great gedolim who could write answers to questions with BOTH hands, be on the phone and answer a person’s MOST INTIMATE private questions at the same time?

    That’s Jsirpicco, Multitasker!

  • Hey, why do you have to bring gedolim? Is it about disengagement again?

  • Wine Guy, as soon as J@tBII is set, I hope someone will let us both know about it. Otherwise, I have no further info.

    OK, i’m done commenting on this post. Some more entertaining/tragic dating-related posts to come.

  • Okay-my two cents…

    1) Does it get clique-y? Yes. A few jokes about Mufti getting drunk at Mardi Gras=amusing. Endless chats b/w Jewlicious bloggers about how much the other one drank here or there=boring. That is what IM is for.

    2) How about Jewlicious @Beach or Bar in Israel, aka-not just a Birthright crowd?

  • wow the amount of comments grow fast. Ybocher, thanks for your reaction, but even though I am trying to accept your invitation to kvetch more, I find it hard, as I feel there is not that much I can directly relate to. When you look at the list of blogs, it is all very american. And no, I don’t mean to criticise America, I mean, life here is slightly different. I am very active within all the jewdo’s, but my community is small, so we can’t be too progressive, complain too much or simply don’t have all the choices you guys have! (okok, I admit making it sound worse than it is). Why isn’t there more diversity on jewlicious, in a way you can also reach European, Asian, African and Australian Jews. It’s just very clicky, hard to really grasp it. What were the original aims of jewlicious?
    Hope I am not getting across too harsh, I mean, something is good about it, I keep coming back!

  • Also you should let people post topics. That’s the next thing. After a while the anti-establishment veneer that you permeate, starts to seem smarmy and phony.

  • Hey. I’m not Jewish. I comment here ocasionally. I love pics of fully clad Jewish gals (don’t worry, ck, I have no intention to marry one).
    I guess it’s a good thing you don’t have hundreds of regular commenters. If you had most of the readers would simply skip the comments, and you would spend precious time reading them instead of writing posts.

  • Hey Celestial, don’t worry about the missed emails. He does that to me as well. Your presence here was always warmly received.

  • awwww…. thanks themiddle.
    Between you and Esther I am FEELIN’ the love!
    So which of you clowns is in charge of answering those who write in using your handy-dandy little form? coz the only thing worse than getting a response saying you couldn’t help me was getting NO response at all. OUCH! Love your audience like you want them to love you!!

  • Celestial, I didn’t even know we had a form. However, by the power vested in me as a poster here, I hereby appoint Laya as queen of the forms and encourage you to love her as she would love you.

  • Middle, I think your power-trippin a little on the appointing people rabbi’s, pope’s and queens. Or did you appoint yourself vice president in charge of appointing without me realizing it?

  • I am a lowly civilian, but as such, I get to appoint and unappoint all the bigwigs. I wouldn’t presume to appoint myself a VP, I can’t even edit my own posts these days.

  • u guys are too enjoyable posse. i m compromising on my sleep again. this is crazy i cant live like u! thnx G-d my battery is about to die.
    tm thnx again it was electrifying expirience to agree w/u on smth!

  • To answer your questions: no, no, yes, and yes.
    And please lose the jewish slang, since I don’t speak Ivrit. Or at least translate.

  • Middle, my nouvelle regime is doling out jobs. For you– Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Yes, that’s right– the first Jewish Grand Inquisitor!

    How’s THAT for symbolism?

    (OK, I admit a lesbian was my first choice.)

  • Um, Tom, can you provide a job description? Are there large hot pokers involved?

  • Actually, I read this site because the articles are so heart-wrenching, makes my life seem quite damn good. Oh, and Im dealing with insomnia. So the whole non narcotic sleeping aid stuff. J/K. You guys ROCK!!!