The PittBlather site has been up and posting for a year today. Disturbingly, that means a little obligatory self-congratulations and reflection. It seems to be a blogospheric thing where you point out the anniversary of not getting sick of continually posting and updating your blog. I am a bit of a traditionalist.
It’s safe to say this has been a 12 month period of tremendous upheaval and change on so many levels for me. From the new site, becoming an editor/blogger for FanHouse at AOL, a house fire, Dennis joining the ‘Blather, new son, heart issues for the infant, frightening veneer of credibility being attached to me, some new opportunities and possibilities that appear to be opening up for me.
There’s a reason I don’t like to get reflective. There’s been a lot of s**t the last year and I honestly hadn’t thought much about all of it in one period until I started writing this. Yeesh.
So much of the good has happened because of this blog. It really is stunning. I owe everyone who comments or just reads a great deal. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it, even if this has been a labor of love.
One of the big things I’m very happy about is still not needing a registration system for comments. That’s something I just don’t like having to do on other sites, and hated the idea of having to do it here. Thankfully between the spam filters, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of you don’t put me in a position where I have to consider it, the commenting system remains in place. Only 3 bans in the 12 month period is completely in the tolerable area.
The blog since the move to its own site last August has steadily increased in popularity. For the year, the site has averaged over 1,000 unique visitors a day. Most encouraging is that the past two months — some of the deadest times for college sports has seen the 2nd and 4th most hits this year. To actually see more hits in the summer than during the seasons is something (or it could just be reflective of how disappointed and depressed everyone was over the football team). When the blog first started, it was a shock when the hit count went over 100 for the day.
Here’s hoping for a football and basketball season that actually exceed expectations. Thanks once more to everyone.
Penn State still sucks.
Bruce in Maryland
If Dan thinks it’s tough getting Pitt news in Philly, try living in “Happy Valley”! Thank goodness for Chas and this site. Keep up the good work.
Everyone, pass the word to all of your Pitt friends out there. We can easily get to 2k next year.
OHOWIHATEOHIOSTATE
From “Happy Valley” Oregon (where most fans are Oregon football fans, and now Oregon State baseball fans), thank You and Your family (who allows you the time and freedom to do this) for a job WELL DONE!
All my best for the next year!
Congratulations!
Hail to PITT!
-al-
We appreciate the hard work you put in here.
What exactly do you have to do around here to get banned anyway?
Thanks to you and all who write here. I live in the heart of PSU country, so this site is like therapy for me!
You are totally deserving of every bit of cash-backed-man-love that this site brings you.
You da man. Dennis is pretty cool too, haha. Keep up the great work guys!
This post is a day or so old so I don’t know if you’ll still be reading the comments, but anyway, I suspect I have been one of your oldest readers. I remember when it was the same 5 or 10 names showing up in the comments the majority of the time. I haven’t had the chance to keep up as much as I’d like to recently because I’ve been working too much, but nevertheless I’d like to congratulate you on the success you’ve had with the site.
