Today at 00 GMT (5PM PST) a new month started. Every time a new month of statistics starts being logged by WordPress for Watts Up With That, I say to myself, “there’s no way I’ll get this sort of traffic again”. And yet, again I’m surprised that WUWT not only met last months stats, but significantly exceeded them.
Thank you again, loyal readers.
Click for full sized image
It was one year ago that I moved from the Typepad blog to WordPress, and as you can see from above, the growth has been steady, except for one month, April. which had a slight dip.
For September 2008 the total was 846,193 page views, up from 667,215 page views in August 2008.
But there is a caveat, I think the real numbers are just shy of 800,000, because on the weekend of 09/20 and 09/21 I got quite a bit of unexpected traffic that I’m not sure is real or not. During that time, we got a lot of Spam on one particular older entry comparing UAH, RSS, HadCRUT, and GISS, but not anywhere near the numbers specific to that post, shown below:
Blog Stats Increase due to DOS “something”
Saturday 09/20 23,486
Sunday 09/21 25,319
Monday 09/22 1,006
Total: 49,811
You can read about it here in this entry
I checked with WordPress support, twice, and they assured me that the numbers are real, saying:
Hi,
Our stats expert has had a look and found no evidence of a DoS or anything untoward. He says “the most plausible reason is an email newsletter featuring the URL, or else some other non-browser app loading the URL such as a feed reader. I have not been able to find any evidence of of a DDOS attempt or other “foul play.”
Separately, I’ve checked our security logs and see no other signs of activity that would normally indicate a blog under attack.
In short: we’re quite sure the traffic is genuine and doesn’t correspond with an attack of any kind.
Kind regards,
Alex
WordPress Support
Even so, I’m unconvinced. I got not one single comment added on that posting during the onslaught of traffic, almost 50,000 page views, which tells me the numbers aren’t real, no matter what WordPress support says.
Therefore I have decided to take the step of publishing an “adjusted” set of numbers this month. The difference is that instead of inflating the numbers, such as GISTEMP and USHCN adjustments do, I’m reducing them to what I consider a truly representative value for the month.
Raw WUWT September numbers: 846,193 page views
WUWT Spam Uncertainty numbers: -49,811 page views (from 09/20 to 09/22)
Final Adjusted WUWT September numbers: 796,382 page views
Still, not too shabby.
Adjustments, adjustments … it is a slippery slope I tell you.
Soon you’ll be running your numbers through a “robust” algorithm and discovering that every other page view on the internet is teleconnected to this site so should be counted.
Mark my words! 🙂
Lots of things to think about… firm, but not too firm, moderators… blog owner’s integrity… and some really professional and thoughtful commenters.
The world is coming to know Mr Watts.
Thanks,
Mike Bryant
This is a unsolicited call for a few contributions [I give to WUWT every month]. If those interested in this site could give just a small donation every month, WUWT could move up to the professional WordPress version, which costs $500/month. Anthony certainly puts in a lot of his time, gratis, to support this site.
The truth is worth supporting, IMHO. For only the cost of a couple of Big Macs a month, we can negate Al Gore’s propaganda — and his $300 million propaganda budget.
There is no coercion here, only a request to help get the truth out. Click the “Fling Funds” icon on the right if you can help. Thanks.
Sincerely,
~ Smokey
Anthony,
I think that 49,810 of those hits were because I kept checking in to see if there was another sunspot. I can’t tell you who the other guy is.
Congratulations and may you preside over this blog for many years to come, or at least until we have this all figured out. WUWT is a daily read, actually more like hourly read, but you get the picture.
I’ll have to find a large enough rock for engraving that, to prevent loss of raw data to future researchers: “Raw WUWT September numbers: 846,193 page views”
You need not be so modest. You have a quality site with valuable information that even we lay people can grasp. You are doing a wonderful job providing a reputable source for those of us who think anthropogenic global warming is a vehicle for people like Al Gore et al, are to pocket loads of cash. Yes, the climate is changing but the science is not yet settled as to the cause. Thank you so much for all you do.
In my opinion, the trend is a clear indication that Anthony’s “approach” to the subject matter encourages thoughtful consideration of this important debate.
I have to agree with the previous comments. Anthony, your blog is a credit to ‘real’ science. I check in daily to see what news is presented. It is refreshing to see people dedicated to true scientific inquiry examine the biased news of the day. Keep up the good work. The truth is always and absolute defense, and your blog delivers the truth on a daily basis.
Smokey (20:30:54) :”This is a unsolicited call for a few contributions . . . . .”
I’m disappointed in us WUWT’ers I guess I’m naive, but given the value received, “support” via “Fling Funds” should easily cover this. My whole debate with Anthony regarding the PayPal button was driven my “knowledge” that we would support this important work if he would just put the “silly damn button” on the blog..
I contribute $10.00 each month. If I made a list of people here that I “knew” — scratch that — “thought” were contributing — this would never have come up. I can not do what Anthony does. Fortunately Anthony does WUWT. The least I can do is help.
Just what I need another website I have to check a couple of times a day.
Climbing hits are no surprise. You have a web site with a viewpoint, but it lets in informed opinion from all quarters, and you have a good selection of non-radical regulars posting. WUWT aggregates info from all over, and presents it understandably. Nasty ad hominems don’t make it to the site, but gentler digs do. You aren’t afraid to link to the alarmist Real Climate, which notably doesn’t reciprocate.
And, even Al Gore would be forced to acknowledge the real contribution of the Surface Station survey.
It is a popular blog because it is well written, with a healthy dose of common sense. I enjoy your posts and the inciteful comments of your readers who by and large seem to know what they are talking about. It is also nice to have the occasional chuckle from either the posts or the comments. Keep up the good work. I’m hitting this site about 10 times a day.
Congratulations.
Enjoy it while you can.
Problem is that you’ve become a much bigger target now. You’re too big, and you’ve started to upset some really nasty people. They are not amused.
Do you think you still live in an age where the truth is given free speech?
You’d have to be on some serious hallucinagenics not to think a new government will not attempt to dictate the media after November.
I know you are not taking this seriously, but you will be soon.
34 days left till election day.
Just think Anthony, if you let Jim Hansen adjust your data instead, you could soon be part of an unstoppable flood of Global traffic Warming to your site.
Smokey,
Why does the professional WordPress version cost $500/month? Is is because the site gets so much traffic that a hosting provider would charge that much for bandwidth? WordPress is free. If you host your own domain at tubu.net for instance, you get your choice of several opensource blogging platforms for free, including WordPress.
Anthony,
Congratulations yet again. An excellent site for the true scientific evidence (and that’s what most people want, or should want) and sensible comment. I predict 1,000,000 views a month by the end of October; and do I detect a hockey stick here, without need for any adjustments?
Hmmm . . . looks suspiciously like a Hockey Stick” to me 😉
A great blog Anthony!
Interesting reads:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Earth-039-s-Poles-Are-Shifting-To-New-Coordinates-94392.shtml
and:
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080928/full/news.2008.1136.html
Mick.
As traffic has gone up I believe that is due to some rather ‘propoganda’ like methods. The headlines and speculations are far from ‘solid’ science and the speculations about the Sun are the reason behind the traffic. Is it another Dalton or Maunder? Were sunspots really the key figure, or was the Mount Tambora eruption also a factor ? The colomn height seems to be significant if you look at the site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora .
My feeling on these sunspots or lack of them is that yes they are a factor and yes it’s interesting but I don’t think it’s a simple “low sunspots = cold weather” connection, I feel there are a lot of factors(including greenhouse gases, ozone,earth’s orbit, sun’s orbit, precession,etc)
Your site is an interesting read and the comments range from bizarre to indepth , and the subjects are Interesting, but the truth of your success lies in the tabloid approach.
More traffic doesn’t equate to quality . Still a good site, but keep it that way.
I wonder what the next ‘hot ‘ internet science topic will be and if this blog starts it or follows it.
Congrats on yet another good month. Not too shabby indeed! Keep up the quality and you’re sure to be increasingly noted/cited by other blogs/outlets which will help to further your increase in readership in the months ahead.
Best of luck to you Andrew!
I hope you challenge Drudge soon !!
REPLY: Thanks, Anthony
Congratulations Anthony, well done indeed. I can only agree with what other say here.
My only wish for improvement would be an index over all articles posted on this site since the beginning. There are many older articles that deserve a second look, but there is really no way to find them…..
Well, you’re too big now to change the name, anyway. In a few years people are going to be wondering why the premier go-to site for serious climate news is called WUWT. Meh, it could have been worse. Go on, what were the rejected names? Dr Watt? (for British TV fans).
Still, Watts in a name? Congratulations!
Anthony, you run a great blog. Now that you have so many hits you could start advertising on the borders of your blog. You can use the revenue in part to help spread the word of the climate skeptics agianst the huge onslaught from the likes of Al Gore and his cohorts.
“Go on, what were the rejected names?”
– Newton meters per second Up With That
– Huh?
– Weather or Not
Why are you surprised? You made something good, with a good mix of humor and science. No hidden agendas, just interesting thoughts. I contribute three or four hits a day, to see What’s Up. Never disappointed.
And, quite honestly, we should all be skeptical. Of just about everything.
I know it’s a huge amount of work, h/t to the moderators, but this is an important source of information. And the polar bear thread with the soft drink was a ray of sunshine.
When you build a better mousetrap, expect a stampede.
Daily read for me! Great site
Readers of your blog quickly become AGW skeptics. So an increase in readership means objectivity is spreading.
On the other hand, I have recommended your blog to many AGW believers and sent selected articles to eco-journalists, but mostly in vain. Just about everyone simply “wants to believe” in AGW. If it’s written in the paper or shown on the nightly news, it has to be true. And people who question the “consensus” are to be viewed with suspicion.
Here in the province of Quebec, Canada, the government has even made AGW is a mandatory teaching subject in elementary school.
Darn it! They beat me to the Hockey Stick remarks.
Congrats Anthony!
Anthony, congratulations again! I am *concerned* (stated with an arrogant, condescending tone), however, that so much internet traffic coming your way must have a ferocious carbon footprint. Perhaps you could approach RealClimate to see if they would sell you some internet traffic carbon offset certificates. They should have plenty!
🙂
Keep up the great work!
Anthony, What a wonderful site. I am not a scientist and only have 2 years of college but this site is written in a way that most high school grads can read and understand. The commenters are for the most part courteous and understanding, also willing to explain their view points. I also in disagreement with richardj think that the titles to the posts are very relevant in comparison to the alarmism of the climate change proponents.
Good things about your site,
well written
thought provoking
truthful
self correcting
good commenters both professional and amature
presents both sides of the issue at hand
good moderators that are willing to be known
most commenters use real names
Bad things about your site
I can’t think of any except I wish I had high speed available where I live to be better able to enjoy the site.
I visit several times a day.
Thank you Anthony for such a quality site that isn’t afraid to face the issues with dignity and also good humor.
Bill Derryberry
REPLY: Thanks for the kind words Bill. – Anthony
Anthony, congratulations! Another great month. Maybe NOAA has been reading http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/news/2008/090808a.html, but then again they are not sure so have to recheck their numbers.
Hi
I was thinking of the temperature peak in 1998. Not only did the temperatur rise on the surface of the earth, but according to RSS and UAH the temperature also went up 0,5 degree C in the Troposphere.
I have seen several remarks that this peak had to do with an very strong El Nino, but the Troposphere thats about 10 000 meter up. To me it seems very odd to blame El Nino for the peak in the troposphere, the surface of the earth OK I might buy that, but up to 10000 meter well thats something else.
What kind of energy is needed to heat the troposphere from the surface up to 10 000 meter 0,5 degree C?
BTW Anthony you have a very nice page I read it almost everyday
Anthony
Enough with the current stats … I want to see a projection for page hits 100 years from now.
REPLY: Current traffic models don’t adequately incorporate user feedbacks, so I’m doubtful any projection 100 years from now would be relevant. Plus, I’ll be dead. – Anthony
There is a reason for all the hits.
You have all of the most recent and most relevant information (in the form of actual data) that I have been able to find.
By the way, what would be wrong with taking weather records and either 1) leaving them all as recorded in Fahrenheit or 2) converting them into tenths of a degree Celsius? At least recording to the nearest degree F and converting to tenths of a degree C would not lose a lot of data.
Once all the averaging and norming was done in F, the averages could easily be converted into hundreths of a degree C to compare with records from the rest of the world.
By the way: how often are thermometers in these weather stations calibrated? The old minimax thermometer is a mechanical device, after all, and should be regularly checked using the best available technical means.
As it is, roundoff error is introduced by converting to full degrees Celsius before any monthly or annual averages are computed.
Amps*Volts*Power Factor=Watts
And your Power Factor is approaching 1.
Nice Job Anthony
Mike
Add the RSS feed to your iGoogle page. Then you can check headlines while waiting for search results. (too bad icecap.us can’t get their RSS feeds working…)
And I don’t expect you to compete with Drudge. A spinning anemometer just doesn’t carry the same urgency as a rotating red light. Although I suppose you could use a Thunderbolt 1000 Civil Defense Siren.
Anyone approached you for ads yet?
REPLY: No, I’m part of the great “unclean” for advertisers I’m sure. – Anthony
Nobody beats the Rev!
Dr Watt? (for British TV fans).
Urgh!
Why are you surprised?
Because he is genuinely modest.
I would not be offended if you offered ads to help your costs….something to think about.
I might even want to pay for one in the future. Our business is making rechargable battery packs.
If this were an AGW blog any statistical adjustments would have been made using an arcane and unpublished set of data massaging operations in order to yield a more hockey stick like result and thus tend to confirm a (questionable) hypothetical model.
Evidently this blog is not driven by hot air forcing factors.
They should change the internet prefix from www. to wuwt. LOL Great job, Anthony!
It’s a great blog which is a constant source of information. I’m good for a few hundred reads myself.
Thanks again.
http://noconsensus.wordpress.com
The wattage at WUWT just keeps increasing. Great job.
Numbers looking good! You do a nice job with the blog Anthony. Its on my daily ‘check’ list of websites. Thanks for all the hard work and info.
Congratulations, Anthony Watts.
As an historian with a love for science, I have visited your blog at least once a day since I found it in July. I have been adding a number of others on all the complexities of climate change, but yours remains at the top of my list. Your commenters are excellent, too. I have to read them all.
My biggest concern is the political scene and all those expensive anti-global-warming projects we are just beginning to see discussed and passed on the state level, with more to come on the federal. We Americans need to become educated on this matter faster than fast or it will be more than the financial fiasco that will put us all in debt.
This site represents the very best of the scientific method as I know it: careful, humble, curious, skeptical and aware that each discovery is only one step for us humans. I wish you the very best and I thank you for being there. I will try to contribute, too. Since I have cancelled many subscriptions and no longer watch network or cable propaganda “news” stations (where has investigative journalism gone?), blogs like yours are a natural substitute.
I agree with Pierre Gosselin. Think very hard when you vote this time; who might be committed to a free internet? Freedom on the net is why we have Anthony and knowledge about careful scientific investigations. There are some ominous signs.
Congratulation Anthony!
BTW Yesterday I read it was snowing on Mars.
I am getting a blank page right now when I try to access CA.
Steve S:
CA appears to be up and running now.
Anthony,
I am requesting people to send in suggestions for new buzzwords for climate skeptics. It is OT but your readers are from by far the most diverse backgrounds on the web.
Anyone interested in replacing or suggesting buzzwords to replace things like temperature anomaly, carbon footprint or carbon budget. I am trying to collect and advertise the best suggestions. We all know the AGW guys are great at this, if we can change or modify the buzzwords we can change the sound of the debate.
http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/the-climate-change-buzzword-war/
thankful for this site.
my house …..
His life, his work
Jeff Id,
I responded on that link you posted. See if that helps you out any.
Those that are to smart to get involved in politics are punished by being governed/advised by idiots, ( Plato)
Australia is a young country, but that is no excuse for not studying history.
Congratulations, Anthony!
Henry Baker wrote a short treatise in 1742 on using the microscope. In it, he included this gem, which is the foundation of good science. You and your blog exemplify it 100% in the search for and the presentation of truth:
“Remember that truth alone is the matter that you are in search after; and if you have been mistaken, let no vanity seduce you to persist in your mistake…”
http://www.msa.microscopy.org/ProjectMicro/QuotesMicroscopes.html
No surprise. Excellent site with lots of variation in subject matter. Getting help with the moderating was a great step forward. Keep up the good work, Anthony. You are providing an invaluable service here.
I prefer climate variability over change or warming. “Change” is loaded because of its piggyback ride on warming and has the “warming up” sentiment attached to it. I am not skeptical at all over climate variability.
“Now that you have so many hits you could start advertising on the borders of your blog.”
Please. No.
This is the third on my checklist to look at on my mobile phone after Facebook and BBC News once I wake. I haven’t a clue how mobile phone hits may contribute to your count.
Thank you Anthony for modelling so well the real scientific attitude that, in time, produces the real results and the real paradigm shifts – and eventually, the numbers increasing. This blog is an inspiration to so many of us, and a reminder that we are not alone.
And THANK YOU ALL YOU READERS TOO!!! for making this blog what it is, a beautiful balance of science and fun and standing one’s ground.
By clicking on Lucy Skywalker’s name above, readers can view her really excellent site.
Congratulations, Anthony, on your remarkable success as a blogger.
REPLY: Thank you Steve, most sincerely. You are a a gentleman and a scholar. My success owes to a good role model, you. – Anthony
I see that Kare11.com out of the Twin Cities has a “Whatsupwiththat”section to their web site?
you have a great site