WUWT recently passed the 150 million counter mark as seen of the right sidebar.
By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley
The world’s most viewed site on global warming goes from strength to strength, and its audience grows with it. Let me be the first to congratulate Anthony and his team on 150 million hits. No one on the other side of the case even comes close. It’s no longer cool to be warmist, and they know it.
The differences between WUWT and sites such as these are interesting.
- It puts more emphasis on hard-headed assessments of what has happened than on the fanciful predictions of what might happen that are their mainstay.
- It discusses the science and economics of the climate debate, accessibly but in depth. They don’t do much science; and, when they do, their prejudices are so quaveringly intense that they distort it.
- It does not take sides. It displays a genuine interest in all sides of the debate, and allows them space. They don’t do that.
- It does not, as they do, sullenly refuse to post every comment that is critical of it. It allows both sides to be fairly heard.
- It is tolerant of all but the most persistent and malicious trolls.
- It is transparently, persistently, meticulously honest. Mistakes are admitted and corrected swiftly.
- It is up to date. It posts more items daily than some of them post in a month.
- It is on topic. Occasional departures are allowed, when something catches Anthony’s ever-interested eye, or when Willis is in story-telling mode, but otherwise you know what you are going to get.
- It isn’t subsidized. They have taxpayers’ money thrown at them to flog the long-dead horse of global warming. It gets by, but it does not reward Anthony at even a tenth the rate he deserves.
- It is beautifully polished. Running any blog is hard work. Running a seriously good blog is even harder than running a restaurant. You have to be there just about every day. You have to keep the content and the quality up.
Above all, it is a cracking good read. Long may it and its genial host flourish. On to a billion hits. Justin Dribbler, eat your heart out.
[Note: This is an unsolicited praise by Monckton, and while I appreciate the sentiments expressed, I can still do better in many areas and I will strive to do so. Monckton writes: “It displays a genuine interest in all sides of the debate, and allows them space.” That’s true, I’ll allow guest submissions that are on-topic, within site policy, and courteous, even if they may be on the opposite side of the prevailing thinking here. – Anthony]
I find it strange that wattsupwiththat is so popular, but the facebook page only has 7,000 likes. I guess WUWT viewers don’t have facebook accounts.
Or, Brian, we don’t use Facebook for that purpose.
I don’t have a facebook account. It just seems like an odd thing to have and to “friend” someone else’s facebook, even though you have never met. I may get one in the future if I ever warm up to it.
Let me add my mite of praise to Lord Monckton’s bounty. Anthony, you and your blog are a priceless gift. The gift is to Science and, dare I say it, Truth. You and your many expert friends and guest-posters here are interested not in selling something, but in finding out how things really are, and helping us all understand that. I lack words to thank you adequately. Well done.
I didn’t mean it in a hostile way. This article just popped up on my facebook (I have WUWT liked) and I noticed the small likes. Usually popular sites also have lots of likes on facebook. Just thought it was strange.
Well, I think the article is accurate and on point! 🙂
Ditto!! 🙂
I view Facebook and Twitter as a massive waste of human time and effort.
And why would I need a facebook account when I have a universe of blogs to entertain me? The people who really matter get a telephone call or face to face.
Thanks WUWT. Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick were the leading edge when it came to getting the message out, but Anthony and Bishop Hill are the thick end of the wedge.
And Facebook is the tool of satan.
I would include that the formatting is simple and easy to read. That the site in general is simple, clear cut.
Anthony is one of the heroes in this long, sorry – and totally unnecessary – saga. Let’s all visit the tip jar .
Maybe Warmist blogs can learn from WUWT – but they will not dare because their main purpose is to KEEP hold of the believers and not to make new converts.
Thank you Anthony Watts and all the other great sceptical blogs around the world. History will remember you people for the right reasons despite the nastiness from both sides. Keep it up, skepticism is not a scientific flaw even if we are wrong (doubtful).
Yea i am another who does not have a facebook account and most likely never will.
I think WUWT joined a bit late in the game, but catching up. Twitter too.
For the curious (the very definition of a WUWT visitor), the answer to the Facebook question is here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/11/tech-facebook-narcissism.html
I’m not a scientist but visit this site regularly and apart from the occasional highly technical essay, I find it straightforward and digestible. After all, even I can read a simple time series graph.
While the enormous waste of resources in the past twenty years over the CAGW nonsense is serious enough,tragic really, Anthony never loses his sense of humour.
I have just passed view number 3000 on my site, and have a hard time keeping things together. The fact Anthony can handle 150,000,000 views shows a management skill I confess I utterly lack, and stand completely in awe of.
Congratulation, and may you meet many new and kind friends.
Congratulations and thank you Anthony!
Your site will continue to be at the top of my daily reading list.
I’m not a scientist but visit this site regularly and apart from the occasional highly technical essay, I find it straightforward and digestible. After all, even I can read a simple time series graph.
While the enormous waste of resources in the past twenty years over the CAGW nonsense is serious enough, tragic really, Anthony never loses a sense of humour.
It is a testament to WUWT that even Warmist blogs and media avoid like the plague mentioning WUWT. The name Anthony Watts is avoided at all costs unless it’s to call a denier. On the Guardian two weeks ago one fool mentioned that I come to WUWT. I told him he should not have done that. I then pointed him to the fact that Anthony has solar panels, energy saver bulbs and drives an electric car. That shut the fool up.
this tribute is so well spoken that it makes me want to go post it in the comments at SkS. heh.
The lack of Facebook “likes” may be indicative of the demographic WUWT appeals to. Maybe it’s time to go after the younger demographic. The capacity to go viral on FB should not be ignored.
My last comment for tonight is this: Sceptics need to join forces and attack the 15+ years of lack of warming and the IPCC / observed temperature divergence. A good time to attack would be in January 2014 (assuming no Thermageddon). Maybe a peer reviewed paper??? If not then just one post to last the whole day on the sceptical blogs and nothing else. Then press release it.
Congratulations Anthony. Brief but well-written piece by Lord Christopher.
Facebook and Twitter are the new PowerPoint.
Jimbo says:
June 12, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Brian says:
June 12, 2013 at 4:59 pm
I find it strange that wattsupwiththat is so popular, but the facebook page only has 7,000 likes. I guess WUWT viewers don’t have facebook accounts.
I think WUWT joined a bit late in the game, but catching up. Twitter too.
====
Well, given Obama’s past, I’m more inclined to just delete Facebook account so that I won’t be targeted for my beliefs. Actually, I did that last year after hearing rumors. Turns out to be true… Just be careful. I get the feeling that the CAGW skepticals are next as Obama is gearing up for carbon tax…
Tolerant, up to date and beautifully polished. Can’t disagree with that. The willingness of the people on this site to engage those who disagree is amazing. The amount of quality posts is incredible. Great work Anthony et al.
Facebook is used mostly by young folks as a social network. I have an account but only in order to blog – what else it is used for i care not and never bothered to find out. Facebook the company and its CEO Zuckerberg are utter disasters in the world of business.
Two big pluses that Christopher Monckton omitted:
1. WUWT has reference pages for all the available up to date data that is relevant to climate. WUWT is not afraid to post the actual data in real time while having no control over it.
2. WUWT provides links to all known climate blogs, including those on the ‘other side’.
One thing that Chris Monckton touched on, but needs restating, is the work ethic required to keep a show like this on the road. Day in, day out – year in, year out. It’s a hard and unglamorous slog. I want to thank Anthony’s family for supporting him in what must often have seemed a monumental waste of time and money.
Part of the success has been in attracting volunteers – whether moderators, contributors or participants in the Surface Stations project. There are many charismatic identities who attract volunteers, of course. But, I hope that Anthony will forgive me for saying that, despite having good hair and a nice face, he’s no Southern Baptist preacher in terms of charisma. Otherwise, he could have retired years ago : ).
Very best wishes to you and your family, Anthony. And, we are all anxiously awaiting an update from Kenji on the latest goings-on in the Union of Concerned Scientists. What gives?
Betapug says (June 12, 2013 at 5:25 pm): “For the curious (the very definition of a WUWT visitor), the answer to the Facebook question is here [snip]”
I couldn’t go near Facebook again after it got the South Park treatment (episode 1404):
OK, that’s a lie. I’m just jealous because a Lord has friended Anthony and not me. 🙁
I also much prefer the longer, complete, sentenced conversation (being a teacher, file that under “duh”). Texting language, as in “efrigfvjmn r u 2 eie sioeor5 $#%” does not work for me unless I have a translator. Twitter sentences, even complete ones, beg for complexity, voice and word choice. Facebook accounts seem overly “Aren’t I just the coolest thing, please like me”. I love the longer, scientifically dry articles and paragraphed commentary structures used here.
That said, I sometimes rif and jam in my comments. Keeps me young.
anthony –
many thanx to u and your family for allowing u to pursue this site. it must be extremely time-consuming, but it is much appreciated as the numbers show.
has anyone posted this?
13 June: Bloomberg: Mark Drajem: Obama Quietly Raises ‘Carbon Price’ as Costs to Climate Increase
Buried in a little-noticed rule on microwave ovens is a change in the U.S. government’s accounting for carbon emissions that could have wide-ranging implications for everything from power plants to the Keystone XL pipeline.
The increase of the so-called social cost of carbon, to $38 a metric ton in 2015 from $23.80, adjusts the calculation the government uses to weigh costs and benefits of proposed regulations…
“As we learn that climate damage is worse and worse, there is no direction they could go but up,” Laurie Johnson, chief economist for climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview. Johnson says the administration should go further; she estimates the carbon cost could be as much as $266 a ton…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-12/tougher-regulations-seen-from-obama-change-in-carbon-cost.html
Brian says:
“I guess WUWT viewers don’t have facebook accounts.”
You guess correctly. Like other commentators above, I also do not have a Facebook account.
I’m very thankful to Watts, Monckton and all the blogs, researchers, scientists, intellectuals and all interested parties who have worked tirelessly and with little thanks or recognition from much of the world to keep the debate honest, to present a broad view, to inject some common sense and to force even staunch AGW proponents to be more critical and disciplined in their thinking and research. Any criticisms could have been, would have been dismissed or ignored entirely if not for your efforts and your willingness to be on the front lines and endure the relentless smears.
Congratulations – I’m confident you have made a difference and sure that history will be kinder than we have.
Hear Hear! Well said Lord Monckton and thank you Anthony – appreciated, every day!
I have been waiting on Facebook crashing and burning…what a silly thing.
Even Jesus had his limits. 😉
I’ll just say thanks to everyone.
Posters, commenters, mods.
For the free education.
And Anthony, for making it happen.
Ditto. One less thing for the government to snoop on me.
Congratulations Anthony.
It does not seem so very long ago when there were so few of us posting comments that we knew everyone by name and likely opinion.
But Topsy has growed: and all kudos to you.
As for facebook I have no use for it and I certainly don’t tweet or even twitter: except when I catch my thumb in a drawer or the like.
Kindest Regards.
saving the planet?
Calif. lawmakers back plan to use cap-and-trade revenue to close budget gap
SAN FRANCISCO, June 12 (Reuters Point Carbon) – A California budget conference committee late Monday threw its support behind Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to borrow $500 million raised through the sale of greenhouse gas emission permits to help close the state’s budget deficit…
http://www.pointcarbon.com/news/1.2412587?&ref=searchlist
——————————————————————————–
I agree with Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, well said, and thank you Anthony Watts…
Yes, it’s a cracking good show! I’m thankful for the in depth work by Anthony Watts and his deep bench of intelligent guests.
Rick Bradford says:
June 12, 2013 at 5:41 pm
> Facebook and Twitter are the new PowerPoint.
Very good!
I have a FaceBook account (despite being in my early 60s) and actually spend too much time on it. And I have the connections to WUWT and Anthony.
The big shortcoming, okay, one big shortcoming of FB is that it’s a real pain in the butt to find something posted more than a week ago. It’s especially annoying when you know they must have it because they have everything. It can be a bit of a challenge to find something old here, but at least you have a chance.
For example, I’m a bit embarrassed I missed the 150M rollover, but I’ll try to catch the 1/6 of a billion views. However, I’ve been watching the megaviews roll by for quite a while. For example, it wasn’t too hard to find http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/03/15/10-million-page-views/ where a lot of people who are still here were tremendously impressed with that accomplishment.
Hmm, I do have a special power. I have to do some review to figure out how to use it. Be right back.
I’m another without facebook and twitter. Not interested in either.
I come to WUWT daily – more than once usually. There’s almost always something new to read. I like that this site covers climate news in full scope, not just science but general impact, and I’m fascinated how various organizations and countries are dealing with the ever more visible corruption going on in the name of saving the planet.
WUWT is my homepage.
Thanks, Anthony and Family. 🙂
congratulations! I agree with Mr Monckton. You have a lot of loyal readers!
Brian says:
June 12, 2013 at 4:59 pm
I find it strange that wattsupwiththat is so popular, but the facebook page only has 7,000 likes. I guess WUWT viewers don’t have facebook accounts.
==================================
What’s “Facebook?”
My special power is my database of posts used to maintain my Guide to WUWT (see the right side nav bar) and that I have direct access to it.
So….
mysql> select url from post where title like ‘%views%’ and dt select url from post where title like ‘%million%’ and dt < '2009-4-1';
+——————————————————————————————–+
| url |
+——————————————————————————————–+
| http://wattsupwiththat.com/2007/04/03/10-million-plus-x-prize-offered-for-a-100-mpg-car/ |
| http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/25/nas-reports-50-million-year-cooling-trend/ |
| http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/01/26/new-study-shows-climate-change-largely-irreversible/ |
| http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/03/15/10-million-page-views/ |
+——————————————————————————————–+
… it looks like the 10 megaview post was the first round number we celebrated.
Thank-you and congratulations to Anthony Watts, the moderators, and the many contributors to http://wattsupwiththat.com
This site has the perfect mix of scientific, engineering, and legislative related issues associated with the climate wars. The occasional intermix of humour is perfect. The discussions at this site are respectful, focusing on the issues, rather than moving into purposeless ad hominem.
This site provides current observations and critical analysis in a manner that is accessible to all interested parties.
97% of Real Climate scientists prefer Twitter. /sarc
[Snip. This is a potholer-free site. — mod.]
I agree that WUWT has done an amazing job of spotlighting the gross errors of the Warmists-Alarmists. Congratulations, Anthony, and to all the others involved.
I predict, though, that WUWT’s greater service to mankind is yet to come. That greater service will be the recording of the great cooling that has begun. There is great debate on the coming cooling, if it will happen, when, and of course why.
I am on record, here and at my blog, and in speeches, in support of the quiet sun as a predictor of global cooling. I also see evidence of a significant effect of the major ocean basins being in their cold phase.
It seems clear at this time that the quiet sun and cold oceans are happening simultaneously. Great cooling is very much upon us.
I certainly hope that Anthony will continue to devote space on WUWT to cooling coverage, as he has already done. Now that CO2- induced global warming has fizzled, global cooling is the topic that should be of grave concern.
The “factory” seems to have equipped me with at least 640kb of RAM, so, enough memory to be able to track the many sundried things I have seen pop-up about social media/web sites and the occasional bit or two that leaks out of the matrix concerning what they do with your personal data, with or without your permission, and always wondering if intelligence agencies recognized what a gold mine such sites actually are……
So no, Brian, no Facebook, Twitter, or other media accounts. Am I a paranoid schizophrenic? Hardly. I post here at Anthony’s site using my real name. Many here have found me by looking me up at work and communicating with me directly.
The essays and posts I have posted here are exactly as Monckton says, on-point, mostly on elements I feel I can bring the benefits of what expertise I can provide, and with professional courtesy.
What should be clear to all after Climategate is that, at the very best, not even self-styled professionals can be relied upon to be professional all of the time. Interestingly, the vast majority of commentary on WUWT is quite professional. Including those that do not identify themselves as professionals. Whatever “professional” actually means……
That speaks volumes about the readership and the decorum of civility that has evolved at this site. That does not mean that things anthropogenic do not overheat once in a while. It wouldn’t really be anthropogenic, or even professional, if it didn’t.
Only rarely does it reach the devolution of pettiness.
I’m a geologist. All I do is science. The kind you can take to court anytime. I have carefully considered what Christopher Monckton has had to say. When within the constraints of my own expertise I have rarely found it wanting. When not, I have found it suitably challenging. And it has stimulated much further research.
What Anthony has done here with WUWT I have yet to see on any other site I frequent on the web. It’s a rare day indeed when I do not get up, check email, fire up the browser and head here first. Even rarer than that is when I do get up with the intent of writing a compelling piece on my own paleoclimate etc. research to post, or have Anthony post, here.
Boiled down, I come here to reason and to argue. With argue being defined as developing and defending an argument.
These days, that’s actually quite a compliment……….
William
[Snip. This is a potholer-free site. — mod.]
That seems a wee bit odd, could you please be kind enough to explain why would this site find it necessary to censure all comments that merely mention an accomplished mainstream journalist?
[Reply: for explanations, read the archives. There is enough moderating work already without doing your research. The same applies to HAARP, and other verboten subjects. Suffice it to say that the potholer problem has been put to rest, and we are not resurrecting his personal issues here. There are plenty of other blogs that are happy to continue the potholer nonsense. This is not one of them. Case closed. — mod.]
REPLY: My moderator didn’t explain that we had granted Peter Hadfield a full space for rebuttal, which he was happy with. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/07/update-on-the-monckton-hadfield-debate/
We aren’t going to revisit Hadfield’s issues again, and besides, in this thread they are off-topic. – Anthony
Congratulations to Anthony for an awesome job on an awesome site. I am with Arthur 4563 about Facebook, I use it to keep an eye on the opposition: http://pindanpost.com/2013/06/12/self-projection/
Brian and Facebook – I used to want to be able to read other people’s minds – then I got a Facebook account and now I am over it.
Excellent adherence to standards … and by around mid-2016, should hit the quarter billion mark.
dbstealey said on June 12, 2013 at 6:02 pm:
I got a Facebook account. So I could “Like” WUWT. Since then I’ve used it to sign on to sites I don’t want to register with and share my “good” info. And that’s about it.
I should have made sure I killed off the notifications better. Endless emails with subject something like ‘Do you know Self on Facebook?’ Yes, sometimes there might be names there, sometimes many of them, but usually it just says “Self”.
It’s all the information that is so wonderful. The connections to other sites and so much more.
Let’s do survey, I don’t have a facebook account either. Is there a trend here?
T.C. says: “And Facebook is the tool of satan.”
Why, yes, Al Gore does have a Facebook page. Three, if you count “Telling Al Gore he’s full of crap.”
Congratulations Anthony.
In my opinion, the best thing about this site is the “peer review” by all the readers.
When you have about 100 people peer reviewing a blog, you can come to some definite conclusion about some of the dubious work that appears from time to time.
Thanks.
Several months ago I tapped into WUWT just to see if it had any merit. Just looking for decent science, engineering, solid research and worthy responses. Damned if I didn’t find a site full of good stuff. I was quite pleasantly surprised. I am a retired civil engineer/meteorologist. I was looking for a site where meaningful science and engineering can be viewed, absorbed, and referred to when needed. Anthony, you have put together a very effective environment for analysis and discussion. It is good to see a broad spectrum of folks supplying excellent information. Sure do appreciate it.
Thanks Anthony.
When ever I see criticism of WUWT it completely floors me because just reading this site is a science education all by it’s self.
Either the people making the criticism have never bothered to read several threads (plus comments) and are just parroting what they think is the politically acceptable comment or their IQ’s are in the lower half of the bell curve.
I too do not have a facebook or twitter account. Why bother. I rather spend my time at WUWT, Jo Nova, Bishophill, Chiefio, Delingpole…..
[Snip. ‘Case closed’ means move on. — mod.]
I have posted this here before, but it bears repeating. I bow to no man as my Lord, but I bow to Lord Monckton. And I bow to Lord Watts, though like Washington, who would not be King, he does not wish the tribute. Perhaps the best way I can acknowledge the great success of WUWT is by returning to when I first commented here under Taxistan.
The birds have gathered on the little wooden rail I have built for them to watch WUWT when they are not flooding the birdfeeder. I can sometimes “hear” their thoughts in their twittering. I know, I know, you have to spend your life loving birds to understand. Their thought today is: 150,000,000? Can we have that many birdseed?
The information I read or better learn here, I use to debate with my way to many lefty warming believer friends..Yes on facebook, sorry. Thank You for creating this great place for the unscientific to learn.
Roger Sowell says:
June 12, 2013 at 6:50 pm
“….. I am on record, here and at my blog, and in speeches, in support of the quiet sun as a predictor of global cooling. I also see evidence of a significant effect of the major ocean basins being in their cold phase. ……….”
And, it’s all happening, right now, at the half-precession (and a few centuries change) old Holocene. I often what more could a mature end extreme interglacial hope for in terms of addition to “tipping point” status~~~~~~
Dan Toomey says:
“Yes on facebook, sorry.”
Nothing to be sorry about, Dan. My wife is on Facebook, and she likes it. It’s just not my thing, that’s all.
Not being on FB gives me the [false] feeling that I’m maintaining a little bit of my privacy. Ridiculous, I know — for a few dollars anyone can find out about anyone else.
And not being on FB gives me the feeling of exclusivity, since most everyone I know is on it. [☺ or ☹, depending on your point of view].☺
Well said, thoroughly deserved, thanks to you both, and to all who make this site possible, its a godsend! Onwards
I’ve been visiting WUWT almost every day since discovering this wonderful blog in 2006 – work schedule permitting. I don’t comment as often as I used to due to the pressure of work, but continue to enjoy this vital, yet historically important forum. While nothing can top Climategate for revealing the machinations of the warmists, WUWT continues to be critically essential as a clearing house for disseminating sharp and insightful analysis of both excellent and execrable scientific arguments and ‘discoveries’ (not to mention propaganda) coming out of the scientific establishment. Thanks for all you do, Anthony and moderators! (I’m still missing REP)
Jennifer
Congratulations Anthony. You, the moderators, and many guest posters have done a great service to truth. Thanks all !
What Lord Monckton said! Thanks, Anthony. Thanks, Anthony’s family. Thanks, Moderators. Thanks, guest posters. Thanks, commenters. The combination makes this place without equal!
Well done. Congratulations.
Facebook is for people posting about their activities, and not a place for WUWT. Too many trolls and unread inward focused people there – it’s social media after all. I go there to see what my grandkids and relatives are up to and what shenanigans they have been up to, baby pictures and all that touchy feely stuff.
I come to WUWT to exercise my brain … and to see what the other side of the debate is about. As an engineer trained in physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, microbiology, air and water pollution, hydrology, hydrogeology, a bit of weather, economics, computer programming, and a host of other technical areas including northern development, cogeneration and soil heat studies, as well as a ton of HR, psychology and management and negotiating courses, along with a history of ranching and construction, I find the material in WUWT highly entertaining. I come here at breakfast and in the evening to see what’s up, and to get my daily dose of information and entertainment.
Thanks Anthony Watts for making my aging days a whole lot of fun.
Hit # 463. Way back. Way way back in 2007.
Ditto the congrats.
Ditto the no facebook account.
Ditto the thanks, Anthony and mods.
Congratulations Anthony, well deserved praise. Thank you.
Not on face book either.
Nah. That just a guess.
That is always on my mind and is why I’ll never have anything to do with FB or Google or any other social ghetto. They’re both blocked at my firewall because there are safer ways to communicate. I’d do this even if I didn’t work in computer security. And believe it or not life goes on and remains richly rewarding, having so many better things to do than count faceless friends.
I’ll have to say that I just don’t fully understand the warmist demonization of climate skeptics and Anthony in particular. I went over some of the earliest WUWT
posts and was amazed at what a bright guy and enthusiastic science buff he is. His high school 1 MEV cyclotron project has Michael Mann’s childhood Tic Tac Toe program beat by a mile.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2006/11/23/nuclear-power-in-your-basement/
When someone derides him for being just a high school graduate, I can’t help but think of his programming work for the weather channel, to say nothing the accomplishment of creating and running this blog. Back when I was in college, I remember a few of the brightest computer science students dropping out to go and work directly for industry.
I appreciate Lord Monckton’s honesty, because it is dead on.
Well, not entirely. I have a facebook account, also a twitter and linkedin accounts.
I don’t visit any of those places for in-depth information or to discuss reality for that matter.
All of the so called social sites cater to vacuous over the fence chatter and rumors. None of the social sites reinforce good communication skills or strong interpersonal relations; one could even make a very strong case that the social sites advance interpersonal skill degradation.
I do visit social sites to get an inkling what old, and sometimes long lost, friends and family members have posted. Their over-the-back-fence gossip, nah, I’m just not interested. My profile and post pages are notoriously empty. After all, if you’re a friend or close family member, you already know most things about me.
I love to visit WUWT and several other similar sites for the quality; quality of writing, argument, discourse, mathematics, science, effort, both breadth and depth of research along with many many greatly appreciated visitors, participants and commenters who I feel are friends, yet to be met.
Facebook? When you try not to show up in some tourist’s snapshot, who would want to engage in this form of self-propaganda?
Facebook makes no sense to me.
Monckton on the other hand is a great communicator like Ronald Reagan. I wrote to him a couple of times and got well reasoned responses. Over the years only Jesse Helms and Bill Clinton can match that. (Epic fail for George Bush II, Barack Obama and dozens of lesser officials).
Thank you, for bringing this milestone to our notice, Lord Christopher Monckton of Brenchley!
Congratulations to Anthony and his teams of volunteers!
congratulations to all. I have facebook a/c but never us it I must be to old , I find most of the young are too busy texting to worry about what is happening around them . in Sydney there is so many deaths on the roads thought texting they are starting to fine them
The tide is starting to slowly turn against CAGW’s validity and WUWT has been instrumental in bring that about.
150 million hits and growing…. You gotta love it.
Keep up the excellent work, Anthony!
In the evening my wife and I relax at our computers. She facebooks and informs me of how our children and grandchildren are doing, while I read WUWT postings and assure her that our progeny will not be fried by global warming!
Facebook? What is Facebook?
Eugene WR Gallun
tango says:
June 12, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Honestly, who would have ever imagined our bandwidth would be distilled down to 140 characters or less?????
Well deserved praise ! Keep up the good work Anthony!
William McClenney says:
June 12, 2013 at 9:10 pm
tango says:
June 12, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Honestly, who would have ever imagined our bandwidth would be distilled down to 140 characters or less?????
================
Good point.
It does cut down on the reading.
Except for the readers, they just keep reading.
What is all the discussion of FaceBook here? This is time to congratulate one man — who leads many associates — who has created a phenomenon. WUWT is an alternative “institution” for the scientific method, for as many truths as we can understand and debate. Thanks for the honesty and integrity, Anthony, and for your unusual talent that serves all of us so well. I hope some of those 150 mill — yes, I know many of us return a number of times a day, it is so good — subscribe as I do (quarterly donations). That’ll keep those oil companies off your back. Thanks a hundred and fifty million.
I wonder if the sitemeter is near an ice skating rink or the polar bear exhibit at the zoo; it seems so sluggish. I’m quite sure I’ve hit this site 150,000,000 times myself.
=============
Hear! Hear! Lord Monckton … and congratulations to Anthony, mods and guest contributors.
It seems like only yesterday (well, OK, a year and a half ago!) that we were counting up to 100 million … and now you’re already over the half-way mark to 200 million 🙂
Fabulous!
Who would have thought we would need more than 64. I thought my C64 was a great upgrade from my VIC 20 which was better than punch cards and… Wow how things have changed.
CONGRATULATIONS, Anthony, Our Hero!
◾151,417,210 views (as of now)
WUWT is like a fine red wine. Dry but not bitter, refreshing, relaxing, gets better with age and drives your senses around the bend sometimes. The believers’ sites are like soda pop, left open, in the sun, for days … you get the point.
Cheers
Thank you Lord Monckton for so succinctly hitting the nail on the head, you are very addept at that.
I want to thank you, Anthony, for this site. As a layman from the outside looking in this is the most easily read and informative site existing. The information that I get from here is invaluable in my debates (arguments too) with the uninformed. It has turned several heads and changed quite a few minds.
Again, thanks, and all the best to your posters and commenters.
Y`all are a large part of the reason we getting the upper hand.
My two bobsworth: Congrats Anthony, other contributors and the mods. Having maintained a daily blog for some years, I know what a chore it can be.
No facebook account, or twitter. On the former:
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/34760.html
persuaded me. I miss facebook like I’d miss an additional hole in my head!
50 000 000 hits in 18 months! Do you own the blog or does the blog own you, Anthony? Over this time there has been a sea-change in society’s willingness to take Climate Alarmism at face value. Correlation is not necessarily causation, but there must be an effect from you, the Bish, Dellers and Jo Nova, Joe Bastardi, Tallman, Lucy, S&S and all the others you bloggers give a voice to who question the Faith. The debt owed to you all by Humanity is incalculable, even though there are Billions who will never know of you and your work. I shall throw my groat into the tip jar as an infinitesimal acknowledgement of your effort.
I dont have WUWT bookmarked. I do a Google search for it every time I come here just to make their server record the event.
Always a great read… particularly the Willis material. Entertaining and enlightening.
However, there is one article that I have been trying to find. It discussed a rear wind field in an front that was refered to as a “stinger”. I just can’t remember the rest of the terms used to name it. Hints please? (or a link)
Thanks!
I think the main thing is that this site is more realistic, honest and rational about the uncertainties. Uncertainty is where most governments and social movements fall down, people prefer to know something than suspend judgement.
Related to this is variety. Because some things in science are uncertain, it is good in such cases to allow a greater variety of thought, within reason. This has the advantage of picking up unusual ideas that turn out to be true.
I see the same thing at the local DVD store, the section on the BBC/ABC (taxpayer funded-government) dvds are generally ok and accurate but have less variety than the free market section, which has more variety but also more crap. But over time, the free market section makes the money and ultimately props up the taxpayer funded one, and tends to find the better and truer ideas more efficiently.
Congratulations, AW … WUWT has been my fountain of climate entertainment and endless joy !
Having looked around on the net, I have decided to take up speleology as a hobby. Others here seem to have also decided to choose that hobby since there are plenty of toenails in evidence.
By the way, can Lord Monckton write prose because I see so many lists?
I can’t remember how I discovered WUWT, but it was while you were whitewashing Stevenson screens. This was the first honest-to-gosh hands-on non-computer-model science I ever saw relevant to the climate debate. I now know there was more (but not much at the time), and appropriately enough I found out about those efforts through WUWT. So needless to say, since then I’ve visited at least once a day.
So thank you, Anthony. You gave me hope when things seemed hopeless, and helped sustain it through many rough times.
And thanks to your moderators, who must not — NOT! — be forgotten.
Your dedication has resulted in an important institution (this blog) for promoting truth and opposing falsehood and deceit. I applaud your commitment to continue to carry this torch forward. You are amazing!
If you have scrolled thru all the comments above, and are still reading.
You might be a skeptic (not that there is anything wrong with that).
“It is transparently, persistently, meticulously honest. Mistakes are admitted and corrected swiftly.”
As a layman, the above is the reason I keep returning to WUWT. Anthony Watts has earned my highest respect, and the respect of many other people I know who have visited this remarkable site.
“…I’ll allow guest submissions that are on-topic, within site policy, and courteous, even if they may be on the opposite side of the prevailing thinking here. – Anthony…”
The main problem is, the “opposite side” doesn’t like to post where they don’t control the moderation. Also, they would find it hard to tell their “followers” to come over and read their latest entry at WUWT (and add to the 150 million count).
” Jason H wrote:
June 12, 2013 at 5:12 pm
I view Facebook and Twitter as a massive waste of human time and effort.”
You do realise that you have just set up the framework for the next Cook & Lewandowsky diatribe, errr, sorry paper.
On March 13, WUWT announced that Climategate 3.0 had occurred.
What happened to it?
Streetcred says:
June 12, 2013 at 11:15 pm
Congratulations, AW … WUWT has been my fountain of climate entertainment and endless joy !
===================
And it will continue to be, more the joy.
Well done to Anthony and your family for all the work that goes into this I have learnt so much from what I have seen here. The biggest lesson is not to drink tea and read some of the posts and comments or the computer suffers greatly and I have a mess to clean up!
And I don’t do Twitface either.
James Bull
Thank you Antony and all the other contributors to this site. It has been a source of much learning to me, along with being a counter to the endless drivel put out by politicians and their pseudo scientific apparatchiks. All this praise is much deserved.
Thank God for WUWT… a truly marvelous site!
I have two Facebook accounts…but have never thought to connect this august site with such frivolities. However, I now will do so in the interest of making you even better known.
Congratulations on yet another milestone.
I came to WUWT for the climate chat, noticed the bucketsful of data and the general good humour and haven’t tired of it yet. Keep going like this and the millions will come, no problem.
As for “Bitchbook” and the like, there’s far too much pointless froth on the interweb already, without forgoing yet more of your private life to generate more. Don’t need it.
May I suggest in this place and since the subject has been introduced that there are security problems with Facebook and Twitter according to “Krebs on Security” qv.
(personal online security from criminal exploitation of your identity and so on)
And Monckton didn’t even mention the most important reason which keeps me coming back; a simple schoolboy joie de vivre about science and our universe that shines throughout WUWT.
Congrats
150,000,000 – that’s really awesome. Congratulations on this milestone. The Drudge of climate news. WUWT is the place to go to find out latest. We’re all looking forward to the 1B mark!
150,000,000 – that’s really awesome. Congratulations on this milestone. The Drudge of climate news. WUWT is the place to go to find out latest. We’re all looking forward to the 1B mark!
I believe one of the earliest articles on WUWT had to do with the sun going quiet… and that was when I found this site. 2006? Anyway, been here ever since.
Now would be a Grand time to see a comparison chart, WUWT vs surrealClimate, S(u)KS, and whatever other non-entities there might be out there… the names they go by are just SO not memorable.
I put “stinger” in the search box and two threads came up. They can be clicked on here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/?s=stinger
I’ll allow guest submissions that are on-topic, within site policy, and courteous, even if they may be on the opposite side of the prevailing thinking here. – Anthony]
That is excellent. I do not know why I was “snipped” last time. I try to be polite.
It’s all due to the increase in CO2!
Brian says:
June 12, 2013 at 4:59 pm
” I guess WUWT viewers don’t have facebook accounts.”
I can only speak for myself: you won’t find me within a million miles of Facetwit.
Many, many thanks to Christopher Monckton and Anthony.
Often the claims that everything – particularly if bad – is caused by climate change have been correctly ridiculed on these pages. But one thing is clearly true: climate change can drive many people mad.
Christopher and Anthony, and many others, have been working tirelessly to bring back sanity to the world and to restore the integrity of science. In time they will prevail, and the global warming scam will be widely seen as the evil and destructive cult that it is. But, sadly, as I’m a pensioner I’m not sure I’ll live to see that day.
Chris
@ TheEngineer says:
June 13, 2013 at 1:00 am
And Monckton didn’t even mention the most important reason which keeps me coming back; a simple schoolboy joie de vivre about science and our universe that shines throughout WUWT
That is one of the delightful intangibles that keeps me returning, too.
Participating since Day one.
Back then John Daly (who just passed away a few years before the birth of WUWT) and Climate Audit were the only islands of sanity in the ocean of warmist hysteria.
Anthony, a regular poster on Climate Audit, decided then to throw his own gauntlet with WUWT and I must admit that I was fairly skeptical about his chance to survive in this extremely hostile environment.
Well I have been proven spectacularly wrong and it is one of those rare cases when one is happy to be proven wrong.
I would also like to give credit for the whole skeptical world to Steve McIntyre – in those extremely difficult years of the beginning of the 21st century, his blog gave safe haven and expression opportunity to a large number of skeptics or even lukewarmers who then successfully created their own blogs later.
A.Watts, J.Curry, Lucia.L, S.Mosher are just a few names I remember as simple posters at Climate Audit before they joined the frey with their own blogs.
So glory for Anthony and respect to Steve who was a kind of ancestor of us all.
For you Anthony :
Care for your health. Even if your work already became far bigger than you, it is still extremely important that you stay at the helm because you happen to be the right man for that.
I would like to read you and see you keeping this island of sanity here for a very long time . Health, success and hapiness is what I wish you because you deserve it.
REPLY: Thanks Tom for the kind words about my health, someday I hope to take an actual honest vacation. Since starting this blog in 2006, there have been only short periods where I have not attended to it. Finances and circumstances keep conspiring against this goal though. – Anthony
I chime in now and again and appreciate all that is said and debated here. Thank you Anthony.
Southern Girl.
WUWT isn’t (just) a blog, it is an anchor point for reason and sanity… and an international community.
Long may it flourish.
Thanks.
Ditto John B @ 5.30AM
Facebook & Twitter are shallow and juvenile, IMO. Thoughtful posts & resulting comments on a blog provide far more insight.
Sea level rise accelerating? Nope.
Global temperature rise accelerating? Nope.
WUWT viewership rise accelerating? YUP!
See? Not all hockeysticks are invalid.
P.S. No twitter and no Facebook and (John B says: June 13, 2013 at 5:30 am) what he said.
Kudos to Anthony and the Mods.
Your success is well deserved, Anthony. The trip from being a lonely voice in the wilderness to being widely recognized (and sometimes reviled) as a major source of truth and light is a testament to your and your moderators’ personal endurance, tenacity and commitment to “scientific truth for its own sake”. Well done!
It’s a wonderful blog Anthony and I really appreciate the work that goes into it.
I don’t have twitter or facebook; life’s too short to bother with them!
Congrats to Anthony and the WUWT team.
Hits = how idiots track success
Only saying 😉
On the other side it would be more interesting to see the visit numbers and trend from Google Analytics.
A hit is a server call and thus I could put 1.000 Pokemon pictures on a page a get a hit for each time each picture is loaded, assuming that by “hit” you do mean hit, and not in reality “page views”.
And then again page views or hits on a blog, says very little about poparity, since obviously it is often a one page view visit, since all content is on one page. Thus visits is a far more accurate representation of popularity.
Best regards
The digital analyst
I must agree with Monckton and add a big, huge, “thank you” for this site and the incredible amount of information shared with us all.
Perhaps after a seven year stretch of rigorous analysis, it might be time for WUWT to try and synthesise some constructive policy programmes, taking into account what is affordable both short-term and long-term??
Ditto. Esp. the parts above in bold.
(Have used Facebook for useful purposes under a half-dozen times. Twitter, ‘following’ a particular newshound on a specific story more so.)
Kudos to Anthony, Mods, and Christopher Monckton of Brenchley for their tireless effort.
.
Congrats to Anthony “The Rev” Watts, and his band of “screeching mercury monkeys” and their insistence on flinging “alternative explanations”, i.e. actual science into a debate the Warmistas tried desperately (and still do) to shut down. WUWT has been a boon to mankind, and a bane to the CAGW doctrine, and its followers.
Margaret Hardman says:
June 12, 2013 at 11:17 pm
Having looked around on the net, I have decided to take up speleology as a hobby. Others here seem to have also decided to choose that hobby….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You are correct.
I have been a member of the National Speleological Society for 44 years. You haven’t lived until you have been in a cave when an earthquake hits and watched the limestone bedding planes move… a love of geology and caving sort of go together. Geologists and those who read up in geology take the long view of climate and laugh at the likes of Hansen and Mann.
On “Trap-Speed”, ACC and the SNR by William McClenney shows why All thee wailing and gnashing of teeth over a couple of tenth of a degree rise in temperature is so laughable.
TheEngineer says:
June 13, 2013 at 1:00 am
And Monckton didn’t even mention the most important reason which keeps me coming back; a simple schoolboy joie de vivre about science and our universe that shines throughout WUWT.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, WUWT renewed my interest and delight in science that I had lost after working as a lab manager for decades. So again Thanks Anthony and crew.
I would add one more strength of WUWT: It has much higher quality comments than any other site I visit. If an article is posted that contains questionable data, assumptions, or conclusions, I can almost always rely upon the comment section to sort matters out. And the “sorting out” is done with quite a high degree of politeness, and professional respect, something that is quite unusual in today’s anonymous internet world where taking potshots at one another comes at such a low cost.
I’m not quite sure how you’ve managed to do it, Anthony, but somehow you’ve built a comment section that’s usually as worthwhile a read as the original posts.
REPLY: it’s that iron fist site policy 😉 – Anthony
Congratulations to you and your moderation team, Anthony, for this astoundin achievement.
You guys rock and are the best.
150 million hits? Does that include the NSA hits?
Brian says:
June 12, 2013 at 4:59 pm
“I find it strange that wattsupwiththat is so popular, but the facebook page only has 7,000 likes. I guess WUWT viewers don’t have facebook accounts.”
Brian, I think the average WUWT reader is somewhat older than the average “Facebook” reader.
I tried facebook but soon quit. I realized the facebook community are the product not the customer. I got out before they gave me up to the NSA
Thanks Anthony, I’ve enjoyed the site for several years now. I even now understand most of the technical discussions – When I could understand most of Dr Salby’s lecture I felt a sense of enlightenment…. Wouldn’t have gotten there without your blog…
Have FB account, but haven’t visited for a month or more. Cut down friends and links beyond the bare minimum. There aren’t enough hours in the day/week/month/year/lifetime to use it sanely and also keep up with WUWT etc. So it had to go.
Thanks Anthony – you deserve a medal!
What’s Facebook?
Thank you Anthony for your hard work maintaining WUWT but especially for introducing me via this blog to Lord Monckton and the rest of the Mad Men. Lord Monckton has provided seemingly limitless entertainment on you tube. Without him I wouldn’t know an ad hom from an ad hoc. His understanding of debate is something everyone or rather every gentleman should master. You don’t need to stomp a man’s dignity when you demolish his argument. Let me be the first to raise a glass and say “here here”!
WUWT, so good you sop it up with a biscuit! Even the solar discussion sections are more entertaining than fight night on Mexican TV.
Hey Anthony, have you ever considered jumping ship and becoming a Democrat? What I mean is… Obama now says he’s made some mistakes and Hillary has taken full responsibility, like adults do. All the publicity you’d get, they’ll take notice and listen. You might pull them completely off this cracker head anthropogenic climate change cartoon network.
You could always jump back if it didn’t work out.
There is a mood building in some circles to stop fighting and start fixing. Like your energy bill will skyrocket. Umm, see this.
Izzere a way you can “unlike” something/body/whatever, to let them know you think they are wasting their time, and yours on the asocial networks.
====================================================================
I’m not on Facebook. I don’t Twitter. I don’t even have a cell phone. But I do have a TV and a computer with an internet connection.
Are any of those things required to be able to read, observe and think?
Hi Anthony, bloody well done! Thank you so much for all you and your team and family do. Yours is the first site I visit after I settle down in the kitchen after dinner with a glass of wine (in the UK) – I then follow your links to the usual places like CA, JoNova etc. I often send several articles from WUWT to my kindle to read later. My wife invariably looks over my shoulder and asks why I’m always on your site. I have learnt so much over the past 4 years or so since visiting your site.
Every now and then I’m prompted to hit the Tip Box with relatively small amounts and today is no exception. Let me know when the Big Oil cheques arrive and I’ll stop 😉 .
Regards
John
@Gail Coombs
Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll start small and investigate some potholes first.
Most people just come here to catch the freakshow. Here’s some reality: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20130610.html
Congratulations, Anthony and mods. I hope the Presidential Medal of Freedom announcement arrives today.
Jeff says:
June 13, 2013 at 3:01 pm
And I say, Stick around, jeffy, otherwise there’s no freaks to see!
Congratulations Anthony and eh… rightfully Christopher also mentions Willis.
As for Facebook, I am a member, unwillingly, just for a few friends who use it with dedication, I keep this “friends list” as short as possible.
But then… recent developments in a country with hardly freedom of the press informed me on a more and telling personal level the experience of a friend living there I don’t think I could have been informed otherwise. Whether you like it or not, the facebook phenomenon is part of an emergent social culture and in some regimes a valuable means for information exchange for otherwise information deprived locals.
So maybe less successful still I think it makes sense Anthony is also on Facebook.
As for Twitter eh… I still prefer the sound of real birds 🙂
Goode ’nuff says:
June 13, 2013 at 12:10 pm
WUWT, so good you sop it up with a biscuit! Even the solar discussion sections are more entertaining than fight night on Mexican TV.
Hey Anthony, have you ever considered jumping ship and becoming a Democrat?
———————————————————————————————————
It is about the real thing in the end, no? Goody …………
____________________________________________________
Congrat’s Anthony!
My only question would be why is it not a Billion?
Marketing my friend,,,,,,,You could get at least 2 more hits if you advertised on SKS )SARC(
Congrats on the achievement!
I read through all the comments but forgot to post one, so here it is. This way in 5 years I can re-read it…
Facebook is for keeping in touch with a circle of friends, or in my case, pseudo friends that I need to keep my eye on but don’t actually want to ever interact with in real life. Also they have some games on there that are kinda fun. It’s also my number one source of humorous pictures of cats with witty sayings attached. And it’s a way for my ex girlfriends to contact me and remind me why I dumped them.
WUWT has made a genuine difference in the world, a change for the better, despite what its ineffective detractors have tried to claim.
Check this, 1.6+ Billion hits for one video……………. that is a B……….
We can do better than that IMHO!
I place the thought of a reward for a climate activist who can pass a lie detector test.
Would any climate activist even attempt it?
I put up, right here, $500 toward covering the cost of having a polygraph test done on any significant applicant…………..Really I do!
What do ya thing?
Jeff said @ June 13, 2013 at 3:01 pm
There’s computer generated hyper-reality, then there’s real reality measured out in the field:
http://www.sturmsoft.com/climate/forest_grassland_limits.jpg
Monckton writes: “It displays a genuine interest in all sides of the debate, and allows them space.” That’s true, I’ll allow guest submissions that are on-topic, within site policy, and courteous, even if they may be on the opposite side of the prevailing thinking here.
It seems so. But blog site policy blocks guest submission from the debate.
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again and don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Bob Dylan
However. Good Job done in All.
V.
I am a theist, and have a specific, Christian view of the world, and man’s place in the world. That is relevant (to me) as I watch humankind persist in attempting to re-create, copy, and replace what God has already done. Controlling the weather? Ha.
When I bring this theistic view into a comment discussion, I know others disagree with me a little or a lot.
However, I have always been treated respectfully at this site by hosts and other commenters. That is very rare in the blogosphere, and is a great tribute to the atmosphere created and sustained here.
***
Margaret Hardman says:
June 13, 2013 at 2:13 pm
@Gail Coombs
Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll start small and investigate some potholes first.
***
Be sure to get your nose down in them to catch the fine details.
What is the point of Facebook if you have a job, busy family, volunteer activities, and friends?
As ever, keep up the good work, Anthony and everyone involved outside the limelight. You are doing science, truth and mankind a service as will become evident when the hysteria finally croaks.