UPDATE: 3/17/12 Thanks to everyone for all the support, kind words, and well wishes. Today I found myself taking another long nap, and I awoke feeling much better than yesterday. Stress is an insidious thing, and until it catches up with you, you don’t realize what impact it has. – Anthony
It has been an exhausting month since Fakegate hit the scene, and tonight when I came home from work, I crashed hard, taking a nap. I even missed dinner. My children tried to wake me up apparently to no avail. At the moment I feel like I have a hangover.
Behind the scenes, I’m dealing with a lot of things related to WUWT and the legal fight building with the Pacific Institute and Gleick, plus other things. Today for example I’m wrestling with starting the blog all over again on another platform because my wordpress.com free hosting keeps messing under the hood with the production code and they’d broken something yet again (some readers can’t comment any more thanks to a new security feature) just after we got the mess with adwords fixed last week. So yeah, I’m pretty toasted all in all at the moment. Then I read this comment from a reader on the DeSmog Blog headed back to obscurity thread.
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Ally E. says:
I found WUWT barely a month before Fakegate happened. Prior to finding this site, I was a head-in-the-sand kind of person. I knew the whole fry-and-die alarmism was wrong, the claims were getting very stupid, as was the panic.
Getting fed up with ever increasing nonsense scare tactics, I pushed back from news outlets. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I also felt very alone. It was Ian Plimer’s “How to get expelled from school” that opened my eyes to the growing fight back to rational thinking. I bought the book (and there were only two left on the shelf, so I know it’s popular) and read it in a day.
Encouraged, I got online and found WUWT and others. I cannot express how wonderful it felt to learn that REAL scientists out there are practicing REAL science and presenting it properly.
Point is, for those years I had my head in the sand, I didn’t know just what a tangled mess this had all become. I didn’t know what a horrible world was developing right under our noses.
I come here every day. This is my home page. I love the science, I love the way it is presented and I love reading the comments and thoughts from so many very intelligent people. But I also devour any news on the political front. I crave and seek out every snippet of good news, and believe me, this is good news.
Anthony, I want to see these dastards go down. I came in at a most exciting time and I want to watch every step of the alarmists fall from grace. Thank you for providing the whole picture, the wide picture, science, politics and all.
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Thanks, Ally. That made my week.
Shortly after I read Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, I began searching the web for factual information about global warming. WUWT quickly became a primary source for me.
I had that experience quite a few years ago. WUWT is a daily read for me. So thanks!
Oh, and delegation is the art of management. Surely can find some little Elves to help out with things?
Anthony Anthony Anthony!
What you do for science is great. But what you do for democracy is “watts” really fantastic. You are with your lifetime achievement award site with its over 100.000.000 visits the really big stone in the shoe of the corrupted antidemocratic gouverning class and propaganda machines. Maby you havent realized it yet, but you are a hero of democracy. Courage independence and a symbol of the imporance and value of free speach. I cant thank you enough Anthony and I no there are millions who realizes your value for democracy.
Yes, you are a must read each day. I turned you on to my son who is a H.S. physics teacher in liberal Boston. He is very happy to have real science on his side now.
We thank you all for your work, keep the good fight going.
This is one of the reasons people come to WUWT. From your link:
You see, the first time round it was based on bollocks (guesswork / alarmism / BS)
[my caps & emphasis]
Never, ever believe a single thing the alarmists write or tell you. Check for yourself.
I felt the same way three years ago when I stumbled onto this site. I check this site at least 5 times a day. I check it when I get up, then during my commute to work, then lunchtime, during the commute home, and then after dinner. That’s the baseline. Some days I log in from my iPhone during a boring meeting at work, etc. My next favorite site doesn’t get visited half as much.
You’re doing great work Anthony. I’m thankful you are involved and fighting the anti-science and corruption!!!!
Anthony,
Take a holiday! But don’t leave us. As a former default warmer, it is the likes of your good self and the Bish who helped me see the error of my ways! You are one of the first ports of call every day when I uyse my PC.
I also have never left a comment prior to this, though I have made several small donations. I assure you that it is your constant search for truth that has kept me coming to this site regularly for the past several years.
What they all said. Thanks, Anthony!
Steady as she goes Cap’n. We are all in awe of the work flow you have managed over the last years. Sometimes things fatigue us, I got accused of ‘doctoring’ someones comment the other day because they did the old wordpress mistake of trapping some of their words between ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ chevrons. No amount of explanation appeased this person or got them to realise what had happened, and the accusations of fraud got worse until I called a halt, telling him:
“If we were paid to take this abuse we’d have to grin and bear it, but since we do what we do for fun and interest, we don’t.”
Enjoy the energising and uplifting comments like Ally’s, and let go of the negative comments which would otherwise drag you down. Stay strong and use some tip jar money to get some paid help to do the heavy lifting on the site migration work.
Another donation coming your way to help oil that wheel.
Stay strong
Rog
glad to know wordpress was responsible for the problems – I kept getting blocked in ways that had never happened before, but finally figured out how to get around the security issues. I thought it was just me!
why oh why does wordpress keep trying to “fix” things that aren’t broke?
Anthony,
I started dropping in by accident searching for information on the solar cycle in 2008. It wasn’t long before I had to check-in at WUWT every day. Where else can you find discussions of this quality? Its a unique place. Very focused – yet eclectic within the field of view. Gleick’s manic determination to expose the money and power behind the “organized and coordinated” rebuttal of AGW is evidence you’ve facilitated something “new under the sun.” A worldwide fellowship of not-very-good scientists who come here for love, not money, to collaborate. Collaboration compounds and multiplies the little bit of science we each bring and we all end up knowing and understanding so much more than we did before. We leave “an army of one” with solid facts and we ripple out from here (more unsettling and dispruptive than we imagine) organized, coordinated & armed with that most devestating weapon, the truth.
General Watts, we salute you. (we won’t forget the tip jar)
I have been following WUWT for many years and visit it at least three times a day – it seems almost like a drug.
I agree with all previous comments without exception.
Just a thought, is there a chance of showing a photo of yourself.
@Charente140
You mean a photo of Anthony? Try Google (images) or this one
Like everyone else has said, this site is solid gold. I read a lot of other sites and then come back here to be amazed a new at what an incredible collection of high intellect is gather at this one site.
Please take care of yourself Anthony. You are much more important than you know. You have a support crew like Charles the Mod, Willis and others who can take over for a bit and give you a break. As I said you have an incredible collection of high intellect gather here so hand off some of those problems, such as the computer glitches.
Amen.
(And – was just ‘dinged’ to log into WordPress to make this comment, but I didn’t/don’t mind …)
Hi Anthony,
I can’t add anything that hasn’t already been said, so all I can say is keep up the good work. I’ve been following your blogging since 2007, and have enjoyed all of it. Thanks!
I’m running a St. Patty’s day 5K race today – I’ll try to break 22 minutes (my PR) in honor of WUWT 🙂
cheers,
Frank K.
Seems some big wheel at “Boogle” aka Google got nick jacked and it being they rule the Democrat Party that can not stand notwithstanding 100,000 nicks get jacked down on our level every day.
So, they put in the “fix”
“When the product (or service) is free, you ARE the product”
. . . . -Zerohedge posters take on FaceBook, Twitter, etc
Based on the above, I would say they have something else entirely in mind (something different from what you or I see or consider) when any changes are implemented.
.
I too would like to re-iterate Ally’s sentiments. I came to WUWT in 2007, and have tried (and almost succeeded) in reading every article written, including the comments, since then.
What WUWT has done is not just opened my eyes to how mendacious some people can be, it has also opened my eyes to the wonderful world around us, and given me a huge insight into how it all fits together.
You have a unique blog, Anthony, and it is unique because of the way you (and the mods – thanks, guys) have played it straight with people. I always feel like I’m at home here.
I Ditto Ally. Mr. Watts, I don’t know where I’d be without WUWT. I too, was alone before. What you’ve created here, Anthony, is a family. Thanks and never stop. The truth will prevail.
My homepage for over two years, now.
Anthony,
I am what is known as a “lurker”. I very rarely post, but I read every day what is posted here. I am sure that there many more, even thousands, of similar “lurkers” out here that look to the insightful and interesting information posted here. Keep fighting the good fight! We are with you.
Gary Meyers
Take very good care of yourself and your health, Anthony – not just for our, your daily site visitors’ sake, but for the sake of your family.
I happened to visit here for the first time some years ago, b.c. (before climategate), simply because someone told me to read Gavin’s blog if I wanted to ‘learn’, and found your blog being denigrated.
Heh – had to go and see for myself why they did that, didn’t I!
Never left here, and never went back to that other site … law of unintended consequences or what!
Looking back, I am amazed as to how much I’ve learned here. It is like a private university.
That’s why I want to reiterate my call from above: take very good care of yourself, Anthony – you and your work are hugely needed, and it ain’t over yet.
Thank you, and thank you, all you mods – love your [remarks] when you snip!
Anthony,
We all need moments of absolute aloneness to relocate that innermost guiding star within ourselves that is necessary to navigate safely through this wonderful natural world.
Take some time to be utterly alone.
John
I found this site because of Fakegate, very cool and informative site. Take a break if you need it man, it’s Paddy’s Day today so go have a beer or something 🙂