I regularly get angry emails from people who are convinced that I’m single-handedly destroying the world with my opinion which is supposedly funded by “big oil” and the Koch brothers. Of course, having nothing else, that’s all part of the huge lie people like Dr. Mann likes to push, like this bit of libel over the weekend:
I’m dealing with Dr. Mann’s libel separately, but for the record I’ve never gotten a dime from the Koch brothers, or “big oil”, nor am I a “denier for hire”, and Dr. Mann knows this because he backed down from a similar claim in the past when challenged on it. Now, knowing that, he’s demonstrated malice, fulfilling one of the tests for libel.
That aside, and along the same lines, I recently got an email that included this claim:
“…your pathetic little attempt at pushing climate denialism isn’t working. Places like Real Climate and Skeptical Science are putting your little enterprise to shame.”
So, I thought I’d check and run some numbers to see if I’m shamed or not. Climateers often talk about their climate change cause being a “communications problem”. The numbers I’ve found seem to support that. Witness the new divergence problem:
These are rankings from Alexa.com Lower numbers are better, for example, Google is ranked #1.
It seems that it’s not just globally strong for WUWT, but in the USA too. WUWT is about 8 times more popular in the USA than “Skeptical Science” (SkS), and about 15 times more popular than Real Climate (RC). See the Rank in Country column three:
Look at the bounce rate under Engagement Metrics. Note that over 2/3rds of visitors to SkS don’t engage further. Note also the time on site. WUWT readers spend three times more reading than SkS and almost 9 times more than at RC.
Hmm, well since the email was sent anonymously (as most of the rants are), and I don’t know where the person was located, maybe they were talking about Australia where SkS is located? Maybe that’s where they are kicking our butt? Note column three, Rank in Country (AU):
Eh, guess not- the ratio holds. RC doesn’t even have enough traffic in AU to do a comparison.
Even with Dana Nuccitelli’s signing on with the Guardian and making sure that every time he bashes me and/or WUWT in his column he uses a [nofollow] tag or web citation link to prevent web traffic, it seems that he hasn’t succeeded in keeping WUWT down nor in significantly growing his audience on “Skeptical Science” in the USA or Australia.
Maybe it’s in the UK, where the Guardian is located. Surely SkS is beating me there with all that mass media driven Guardian backed firepower? Note column three, Rank in Country (GB):
Apparently not.
Let’s expand the comparison a bit. My subscription to Alexa allows me to run up to 10 comparisons. I identified what I think to be the most widely read websites on climate that aren’t mixed in with part of a larger organization, making tracking their stats impossible. This of course precludes places like “Climate Progress”, which are part of the larger “Think Progress” or the Guardian, which has many other departments.
While I wish I could run more than 10 on the same graph, here’s what I learned, again lower numbers are better:
Surprisingly, not only is WUWT leading the pack by a significant margin, it has now surpassed the newspaper “Grist” which has become something of a climate centric enterprise. They also have a paid staff.
Note also Al Gore’s “Climate Reality Project”, which is dead last. It appears that Gore’s million$ don’t translate into traffic. That’s some “reality drop” for him.
That bump that Climate Depot got in late July was from being featured on “The Drudge Report” by the way. Good show Marc Morano.
The metrics are also telling:
So to whoever wrote that email, thanks. It made me look deeper.
Truly, it looks like the climateers have a communications problem. People don’t seem to be engaging them like they used to. Personally I think people are seeing through it all, and angry, irrational, rants from people like Mike Mann don’t seem to be helping his cause at all. I can understand their cognitive dissonance though, because in the world where they exist, where everything is grant/funding driven, surely some former TV weather guy in Chico California and his collection of “flying monkeys” (in SkS parlance) can’t possibly be doing what he’s doing without some massive “big oil” funding behind it. Right? Surely the Koch brothers must be secretly paying for it, like Mann thinks. The truth is, WUWT exists on donations, some advertising revenue sharing managed by wordpress.com, and stamina. I couldn’t live on it, but I’m sure that won’t stop people like Dr. Mann from imagining all sorts of nefarious schemes, like his hilarious Christmas calendar episode.
I think that if I was not a broadcaster, I wouldn’t have the stamina to keep WUWT on the air. As a broadcaster, I learned long ago that dead air peppered with occasional feature rants doesn’t keep viewers coming back. It might work for awhile, but eventually people tire of it. That’s the lesson here. We can be thankful that we have so many examples of climate ugliness in the realm of the Climateers, because they drive people to the other side.
But most of all, thanks to my readers and volunteer moderators and contributors, because without all of you, WUWT wouldn’t be where it is.
Isn’t it weird that the only time Michael Mann makes the news is when he makes a complete ass of himself?
I’ve heard some people would rather have negative attention than no attention at all!
However, it makes no sense whatsoever!
But then, Mann’s whole career doesn’t make sense, either–he fabricates and hides and is nasty about it.
It really is sad, but he has himself to blame.
Thanks for all your hard work Anthony….I’m a non scientist but I look at your site daily and find it fascinating.Congratulations on a job well done.
One almost gets the impression that Michael E Mann thinks he would make a better front man than Anthony and is trying to get the attention of the Koch brothers to make him an offer.
Mann – what a joke! Congratulations Anthony and WUWT, always an interesting site to visit often.
Anthony –
just to make Mann’s blood boil a bit more:
15 Oct: Bloomberg: Ewa Krukowska: EU Nations Agree To Seek Softer Law to Curb Car Emissions
European Union governments agreed today to seek a revision of a draft law to curb emissions from cars, bowing to calls from Germany for more flexibility to protect the competitiveness of the domestic automobile industry…
***The EU is trying to reconcile its ambitions to lead the global fight against climate change with efforts to help the region’s economy recover from a recession…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-14/eu-nations-agree-to-seek-softer-law-to-curb-car-emissions.html
13 Oct: Bloomberg: Sally Bakewell: Clean Energy Investment Headed for Second Annual Decline
Clean-energy investment fell 14 percent in the third quarter from the prior three months as Europe curbed subsidies and cheaper U.S. natural gas lured investment…
“Governments accept that the world has a major problem with climate change but, for the moment, appear too engrossed in short-term domestic issues to take the decisive action needed,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive officer of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in the statement…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-13/clean-energy-investment-headed-for-second-annual-decline.html
13 Oct: Bloomberg: Ehren Goossens: Electric Car Rentals Stalled in U.S. by Range Anxiety
In fact, people who drive off in electric vehicles from Enterprise Holdings Inc., the biggest U.S. auto renter, often bring them back to trade for a car that runs on gasoline….
About 140,000 plug-in EVs are on U.S. roads, short of President Barack Obama’s goal for 1 million of the cars by 2015, data from the Electric Drive Transportation Association shows…
Slow demand is the main reason the St. Louis-based company has 300 electric cars in its fleet, 40 percent below a target it set in 2010 when it ordered 500 of Nissan Motor Co.’s plug-in electric Leafs, Broughton said…
Enterprise offers Tesla Model S cars in its Exotic Car Collection fleet for about $300 to $500 a day.
That’s about 10 times the price of renting a Leaf, which Enterprise offers in Orlando, Florida, for about $55 a day, the same price as other compact or standard vehicles…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-13/electric-car-rentals-stalled-in-u-s-by-range-anxiety.html
Well done, sir! And, FWIW, here’s another indication of the “divergence” problem in “climate communications”, as I had noted in a recent post:
Seems to me that despite the best efforts of the likes of Mann, Gleick and Weaver (which until not too long ago included the brilliant “communication” strategy of blocking by default all who were not “approved” to view their “protected’ tweets) and the IPCC’s very own “official” advocacy-driven “scientists”, such as AR5 WG1 Co-Chair, Thomas Stocker, the above comparison strongly suggests that more and more people are choosing to discover for themselves where the more likely “scenarios” might be found.
And they tell some friends, who then tell some friends and so on, and so on, and so on!
I have made the comment a number of times here that you, Anthony Watts, deserve a Nobel prize. The problem is not that you don’t deserve the prize, it is that the prize doesn’t deserve you.
Hmmm … code for image worked in test comment on my blog, but not here. Try this one:
http://hro001.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/20131008-topher-vs-ipcc.jpg?w=630
Good job Anthony. It looks like you had your tail twisted. Great way to use facts to come back at them. Keep shining the light.
Anthony – there isn’t much I could add to all the plaudits you’re getting from other posters. Just try to keep going as long and as hard as you can. When the AGW house of cards self-destructs, you will surely be hailed as one of those who has played a crucial role in beating back this obscene assault on liberty, prosperity and morality – and on science. A true hero, you are.
Let’s don’t forget that the alarmies get a LOT of money from Big Oil – BP, Shell, ExxonMobil in particular. They support alarmism because they expect to make money trading carbon credits. Conversely, if the oil companies did start funding skeptic efforts they would not only help their business in the long run, they would be doing a huge public service.
I’d really like to know whether Mann himself has gotten funding from Big Oil – I think that is a distinct possibility, either directly or through Penn State. But in any case, nothing can match the man’s hypocrisy. He’s right up there with Bloody Mess, methinks.
Mann is upset because we are winning the argument on its merits and this blog is on the front lines. Thank you, Anthony, for making this possible. Don’t worry too much about a cad like Mann. He will sink himself with his ill-considered remarks. Just keep moving forward with the truth and don’t be distracted by a fool’s rant.
[snip – sorry, but that’s way over the top – Anthony]
Here. In the rainforest.
Monkeys fly in peace.
More CO2. More trees. More Monkeys.
My monthly average temperature is 84F.
Extremely comfortable.
Anthony, Good job.
Just tickled the tip jar.
My name is not Koch and I am not oily.
Just a 73 year old believer in what this site is doing.
Hey, what about starting a fund for WUWT called “KochBothers”? I’m sure many alarmists would be so desperate to find what they want to hear, they would fall over themselves into that trap.
Anyways, my sincere thanks for the good work and the stamina to take all that shit which the global warming fans sends your way.
Nay, without Anthony Watts, none of us would be meeting here! Anthony, you’ve created a very unique community, where even hard-core warmists are allowed to post and converse (although they seem to be a bit thin-skinned).
The other sites like Real Climate are just echo-chambers, with CAGW enthusiasts stroking each other, closing criticism out. They are also as boring as drying paint, while you keep things interesting with a variety of subjects tangential to climate change…electric cars, de-evolution of Pop Sci & Sci Am, etc.
Thanks, friend. I appreciate the many excellent conversations I have on this site, and look forward to more. You serve as a modern-day Thomas Paine, with much further reach than his handbills could have ever achieved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine
If you establish a legal defense fund, let us know. Cheers, Charles the DrPH
p.s. RIP REP! Thank you, Moderators!
Pat say October 14, 2013 at 4:55 pm
I would make a joke that Mr Mann is full of crap, but he may take that as a conspiracy in that Koch owns Angelsoft toilet tissue
—-
OMG…
Do you think those emails he won’t release were printed on Angelsoft??!! Maybe there is a conspiracy here SARC/
Instead of considering legal options to deal with Mann’s libel, I suggest feeding him rumors of various false ideas, e.g. some of your support is coming from Madoff money. Judging how quickly Mann jumped to idiotic conclusions over the WUWT calendar fiasco (you’re sending him one next year, I hope), getting various tweeters to mention your latest grant from PEMEX ought to get ever more bizarre comments from Mann. When he hears you’re spraying Snomax around Penn State and his home – http://www.usustatesman.com/2.5353/fake-snow-could-cause-real-trouble-1.564197#.UlzGRhCYPa4 – we’ll be ready with the popcorn.
Mann thinks he’s in with the big CAGW Boys!
Aspen Institute: David Koch, Executive Vice President, Chemical Technology
Department:
Board of Trustees
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/people/david-koch
Aspen Institute: CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges
The Atlantic, the Aspen Institute, and Bloomberg Philanthropies Present “CityLab: Urban Solutions for Global Challenges”
Inaugural Summit to Be Held in New York City October 6-8, 2013
As previously announced, the summit will feature conversations on economic development; the environment and sustainability…
Over the course of two days, programming will feature conversations with …. Michael R. Bloomberg, AL GORE…
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/2013/10/06/citylab-urban-solutions-global-challenges/citylab-updates
8 Oct: Atlantic: Emma Green: CityLab: Al Gore: The Media Is ‘Frightened to Death’ of Talking About Climate Change
“Go whole hog on electrification,” Gore urged during an interview with AtlanticEditor in Chief James Bennet on Monday night at the magazine’s CityLab summit. “Put these solar panels in. Start generating renewable electricity. Deal with the heat through tree planting and green roofs. Cheap fossil energy has created an incredibly inefficient infrastructure.”
Gore painted an alarming picture of the future of ocean temperatures, hurricanes, and wind storms. “The cumulative amount of man-made global warming pollution is trapping enough extra heat each day to equal the amount of heat energy that would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima bombs going off every single day,” he said. “That’s a lot of energy.”…
For all these failings of the press and the politicians, Gore offered two solutions: Impose a carbon tax on companies and publicly shame climate change neglecters and deniers.
“We have to put a price on carbon in the marketplace, and we have to put a price on denial in the political system,” he said.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/10/al-gore-media-frightened-death-talking-about-climate-change/7165/
Thanks for all you hard work over the years Anthony. I’ve been a mostly a reader with a few comments here and there since your Surfacestations project got started. Great job to all contributers.
Anthony, I apologize for my attempt at a twitter-style piece of snark modeled rather loosely after Mr. Mann’s by repeating an annoying talking point. That you would censor it (even though it posed a more truthful question than his) only proves that you are the better man. Thank you.
Anthony hit it on the head about how to keep a web site, or other program going. Keep the content fresh, and keep it good.
Great job, Anthony.
BTW, I use your site for research to bolster points I am arguing on some other site. What I find valuable is not only the quality of the articles, but when the artilcle author references appropriate studies. I don’t hesitate to link WUWT, and like it when I get the double-shot load of the author’s explanation, plus acadamic references.
Every now and then, I feel like the WordPress search function is not as good as doing an off site Google search to find and article on WUWT.
Yours is still the best site on the web.
I know for a Mann-fact that Alexa is owned by big-oil, big-pharma, and big-bird.
Stick it to the Mann!
Ill contribute just to shut up Mann.
Pass Go and collect.
Anthony,
Sue the twit. The time has come for many of us to do that, means permitting.