Recently, this blog passed a few milestones that I thought would be worth sharing with readers. For all of our critics and the vitriol all they throw our way, I challenge any of them to find a climate related blog that even comes close to the level of readership we enjoy here. We recently passed 300 million views and 2 million approved comments (more on that later).Here are screen grabs from the WUWT dashboard showing the numbers:
We also recently passed 40,000 email subscribers.
Given these events, I thought it might be time to refresh some of our readers on the most contentious part of operating this blog and that is the comments section. One of the downsides of being number one is that you’re also the biggest target. And being the biggest target we have a plethora of “anonymous cowards” who try to post comments here that are either wildly off-topic, inappropriate, angry, hateful, or otherwise uncivil. Some of the serial offenders use fake IDs, fake e-mail addresses, and even fake IP addresses to try to get their unwelcome point of view or hate-mongering across.
Because of that I’ve had to implement a strong filter to catch a lot of these people so that such inappropriate comments are not published. Occasionally some get through but fortunately readers tend to point them out and they get deleted by moderators or myself because they don’t adhere to site policy. This would be a good opportunity for all readers to review the site policy which you can view here.
Some of our critics say that we should allow for some of the other points of view to be discussed here such as barycentrism, atmospheric pressure theories, chemtrails, electric universe, geo-engineering theories, etc. etc. etc. In the earlier days we did some of that, and quite frankly a lot of that stuff proved to be nothing more than nonsense, and turned into food fights in the comment section. Been there, done that, not going to do it again. There are other venues and blogs to discuss those things, feel free to go there but don’t ask for them to be discussed here or make comments about those topics. They will be deleted. I don’t allow those topics here for the same reason I don’t share my home with a honey-badger; it’s not productive, it’s noisy, and somebody gets hurt in the end. And like a honey-badger meme, I just don’t care. 😉
For those of you that have wondered why some comments may disappear that contain what you seem to think are very innocuous words, this is the reason; some of the most persistent fake commenters use particular word combinations or phrases that are part of their writing style that we have identified, and sometimes regular commenters fall into that trap accidentally. Bear in mind that each comment is reviewed and if it meets the site policy it will be published. Occasionally there are some comments that may not fit into the categories defined by the site policy but don’t get published. That’s why we have a clause for “on an event basis” to cover such instances. There’s no need to e-mail us to say my comment disappeared! We will find it and recover it if it meets site policy, if you don’t see it after a few hours, you can consider it out of bound for site policy.
There is also no need to keep posting the same identical comment dozens of times hoping that if you just keep trying it will somehow get through. All that does is just create extra work for the moderation staff to clean out duplicate comments. Speaking of extra work, we cannot move comments between threads if you somehow accidentally commented on the wrong thread, and generally we don’t have time to edit people’s comments when they request such things. It would be better if you would just post a new comment directly below it saying the previous comment had an error and fix it, or just simply repost the appropriate comment in the appropriate thread.
Some of our critics say that we should publish all comments because otherwise we’re engaging in censorship. To that I say, bollocks. We wouldn’t have reached 2 million comments in my opinion if this blog allowed a Wild West policy for commentators, and I think the success speaks for itself in the numbers. I challenge any other blog that covers climate to show me their numbers.
I’d also like to make a note about e-mail subscribers. We don’t have a management tool for e-mail subscribers because the entire system is run by WordPress.com and it is designed to be self maintaining by the end-user. Therefore if you want to unsubscribe you have to do that yourself. Each e-mail that comes from each blog post contains a link that will allow you to unsubscribe if you look carefully.
Finally, I’d like to mention that occasionally some of the ads here cause some readers problems due to the ads injecting inappropriate code or badly formed code. Over the past year I have worked very closely with WordPress.com to help them weed out some of the advertisers that have done stupid things with their ads like injecting code that causes the scrolling the jump right back to the ad every 5 seconds. Largely as a result of complaints from our readers about these problems and due to the efforts I put into troubleshooting and relaying the information to WordPress.com staff, I’m happy to announce that about two months ago they implemented a “predatory code filter” that weeds out these kinds of advertiser tricks. I’m happy to report that since this has been done the number of complaints I received has dropped to near zero.
That said, I still occasionally get complaints from readers about pages being slow or pages not loading completely, etc. a lot of this has to do with browsers and the state of the computer hosting their web browser. I have noted a common theme in many complaints like this which is: fear of upgrade. The Internet is an evolving animal and if you don’t keep your web browser updated and most importantly your computer updated you may find that you get left behind at the back of the herd. For those that are interested, I consider the best browser for viewing this website is Chrome with at least 4 GB of memory and processor that’s running at least 1.5 GHz. About two years ago Firefox was my browser of choice but it had become buggy and unstable and I abandoned it. If you are still using Firefox you might want to consider downloading Chrome for a better experience.
As always, I thank you the reader for making the success of WUWT possible. I also thank the many moderators and guest contributors that keep this blog running smoothly and make the wide variety of content available here.
My best regards to all – Anthony Watts
[note: about 10 minutes after publication, a number of typos were corrected that came from voice recognition dictation imperfections]
Using a Chromebook and have never had problems loading. It may take 30′ or so to complete but the experience is as smooth as honey.
Great milestones Anthony !
Thanks Anthony – from this long time, every day reader, occasional poster. No other site of this type, that I am aware of, even comes close to WUWT.
“To that I say, bollocks.”
Interesting. I had always assumed that was a British expression. I am glad such a useful phrase has found its way across the Atlantic.
https://britishisms.wordpress.com/
Have followed this blog since the beginning but have not commented for years. Well done and hope you/we win the fight for common sense and sanity.
Have followed this blog since the beginning but have not commented for years. Well done and hope you/we win the fight for common sense and sanity.
You have gained admiration through honesty and diligence.
Godspeed to you, sir.
I and the Nation/World owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Honesty is what is needed now, and is in very short supply. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
Congratulations also from my side. Without this blog, there would be no light at the end of the tunnel for the “climate-rational”. In addition, this page in the chorus of the Klimablogs is the powerful bass voice, which however never neglects the principle of freedom of expression and fairness also for other thinkers. Very much different than other blogs with the same themes.
Visiting WUWT has been and hopefully will continue to be a virtual daily habit of mine. May the good work of this blog not cease!
Andrew
^^^ What they said…
I think there are several reasons for the deserved success of WUWT, not only a lot of hard work necessary to run this site (and I am sure it is a lot of hard work) but also… hmm… the fact that moderators of WUWT have some brains, and are not sadistic control freaks akin to those heels who usually wriggle themselves into moderator positions on other forums.
Should we nominate Mr. Watts for a Noble?
To Phaedrus: ‘Shd we nominate Mr. Watts for A Noble’
What do you mean:
1. ‘Noble’ as ennoblement according to the still extant feudal Courts in Europe” As in: “Sir Anthony Watts.. for services to the advancement of Intellectually Honest Science”
2. Nobel as-in ‘Nobel Prize’. I’m no expert, but methinx a case cd be made. ‘Nobel Prize for Enlightenment in a Sea of Obfuscatiuon & Darkness’ perhaps! I’d vote for that, many times over!!!
3. ‘Noble’ (adjective) as in outstanding duty to mankind! Especially as providing an open- source of honest-discussion against the headwinds of vitriol promoted by those antipathetic to the promotion of knowledge, discussion, challenge, debate, on such an important public-policy debate.
Many thanks for the best climate blog on the Interwebs, Anthony!
Long may it continue.
Thanks for the blog. 10 years ago I had drunk the Kool Aid and was a “True Believer” of AGW Seeing the facts presented here, plus personally downloading and looking at the “dancing data” of GISS has changed my mind.
I run linux, so I don’t worry about drive-by-downloads. I don’t use an ad blocker per se, but I do block Facebook’s trackers by IP-address range at my firewall. Having an ad show up on your page is one thing. Being followed across the web, via “Like Buttons” even though I’ve never had a Facebook account, crosses the line.
I use Pale Moon browser, a fork of Firefox, which embodies the good-ole-days of Firefox before they went off the deep end. Full disclosure… I’ve volunteered for the project. I do a 32-bit linux SSE build, which runs on older Pentium-3 class machines.
One question about blocked posts. There were a couple of articles here about the demands by the lib-left to “re-educate” non-believers, send deniers to jail, take down “denier blogs”, etc. I made a couple of posts, both of which disappeared. I believe that the posts were perfectly on topic for those threads. They had 3 URLs…
1) About a White House internal report during Bill Clinton’s presidency, expressing fear that the internet was allowing the masses, to have access to “unfiltered news”, and “bypassing the media gatekeepers”. This was 3 years before Monica Lewinsky.
2) Hillary’s musings/whining about a lack of “internet gatekeepers”, at the time the Lewinsky scandal hit the news. The MSM had killed the story, but an unknown clerk by the name of Matt Drudge broke the story on his website. The rest, as they say, is history.
3) More recently, during the presidential campaign, an email sent by Hillary’s campaign to supporters, saying that the Breitbart website had no right to exist, and strongly implying that it would be shut down soon after Hillary’s victory.
What exactly did I trigger? The posts were relevant to the topic of the article.
Let us remember that — not so long ago — there was one kind of Scientific forum (usually respective to the subject) whereby new ideas, challenges, debate cd be adduced asnd thrashed-over, in the interests of furthering the Science concerned.
Seems to me that “Climate Science” has a multiplicity of (somewhat– in many instances) relevant validity to the advancement of Same. Climate Science is analogous to the Subject of ‘Art’ insofar as there’s a myriad of experts in their respective fields who can claim parochial expertise (without refutation) but the ultimate question of: “What is ‘Art’?” still remains as elusive as ever.
Transpose this to ” What is Climate Science” and —- I submit to you, dear readers —- that the answer is as ephemeral as to the Q. “What is ‘Art’?”
Why, Andy Warhol answered this question long ago:
“Art is anything you can get away with.”
I follow this site and read, not to present or argue, just to learn.
I learned a lot.
Thank you.
Congratulations Anthony and the fantastic supporting mods!
I merely echo the sentiments of many of those above.
This website is a true source of science knowledge and informed debate that has raised the bar, and continues to raise the bar even higher, in terms of credible discussion on the issues presented.
Science – real science – fought a long and treacherous path over several hundred years to have its potential value and contributions recognised. But within a generation, the good name of science has been dragged through the mud by it’s old enemy – blind ideology. May polls reveal that general trust in ‘scientists’ is diminishing largely due to the obvious discrepancies between what the attention and rent-seeking ‘environmental scientists’ are saying and what ordinary people see happening. This is disgraceful.
As an earth scientist I am truly grateful for the presence of this site and others like it. They point out to those willing to seek truth, that no matter how loudly idealogues scream, the (properly conducted) scientific method has the ability to determine fact from fantasy and can help society progress with decision-making based on facts, not fallacies. History has shown that we all benefit if we follow that path.
I do hope that you continue this website for ‘as long as it takes’ – for that the the timeline that wins wars – and all of the amazing contributors here do not let real science and the resultant truth ‘go gentle into that good night’.
With thanks.
Since you for got to mention NO: Koch Brothers money , or Soros money, or government money, or oil company money, where do we donate for this excellent site??
See the donate button on the right sidebar. Thanks.
Yes! 🙂
Congrats, Mr. Watts!! I’ve been lurking on these pages since early 2008 when Al Gore’s movie half scared me to crap. I decided to research it myself and first found your surfacestations.org page and realized that much of what was going on was questionable.
Thru continued reading, studying and observation, I’ve come to realize that a lot of what’s going on is nearly, if not outright, criminal.
Such is the sad state of climate affairs…
Thanks so much for what you do, what you’ve done and especially what I HOPE you continue to do in the future!!! Such a valuable resource for my boys (10 & 12 years old) and myself as well. Please, please, please, NEVER STOP!!
Also, I would love an update on your most recent hearing aids and if they’re still performing to the standards of your original post on them. I have referred many co-workers and friends to that post and would love to know if I should continue based on your success or lack thereof.
I’ve also harvested much respect for a lot of the folks who comment on this page, Caleb, Janice Moore, Willis Eschenbach, Latitude, TheoK, PiperPaul, RockyRoad, John Colman, Bloke down the pub, John F. Holtquist, Ric Werme, Mark From the Midwest, asybot, Alexander Feht, ristvan, commieBob, M Courtney, Gunga Din, Bob Tisdale, TallBloke, Pat Frank, Nick Stokes, ossqss, and so many, many more!!!
Dear Ted Schmitz,
What a wonderful comment. I sure hope Anthony sees it. That is SO COOL about your boys learning via WUWT. I hope AW shares the latest about the hearing situation, too. I wish he would share a lot more in general. It has felt like WUWT is a ghost ship ever since we received almost no reporting back about his experience in December at AGU. It made me wonder if it was such a horrible experience that he not only could not talk about it at the time, but, it upset him so much he’s been in sort of post-traumatic stress about it ever since! Aaack. Poor guy. Well, I’ve been praying….
Anyway. I noticed my name and was so grateful for your kind words, but, wasn’t going to say anything…. then, when I saw NO one was acknowledging you, I thought, “Well, now I think it would be okay for me to reply…..” even though I’m sort of a “junior” ranking part of that list. Thank you.
Again, enjoyed your forthright, fresh, writing style. KEEP ON COMMENTING!
Gratefully,
Janice 🙂
Thanks for the kind words, Janice!
I likely won’t post too often due to running “mom and dads taxi service” for boys active in sports, and also because I am what I would call a slow thinker. I’m the kind of fella who thinks about things for quite a while before making a comment. Most of the time, and the reason why I’ve never commented in the past, is that by the time I have formulated my response/answer/witty remark, the thread is so far down the line that comments aren’t rolling in anymore.
I’m just impressed at the open-mindedness that appeciates such a broad range of political views.
One of the things that surprises me whenever I look at some of the early WUWT posts is that many of the commenters from back then are still here. Just another metric of WUWT’s success.
Humbled that my “name” is mentioned in such company. Most of my comments are attempts at comic relief.
But a couple of the “many, many more” that deserve mention and who haven’t been around for awhile are Gail Combs and Jimbo.
And, of course, REP, the model of what a “Mod” here is and should be.
He didn’t just care about what someone said but also the someone who said it.
(Hope his family is doing well. Prayers as I type this.)
Gail Combs and Jimbo are definitely awesome as well!! Pamela Gray is another who was not on my original list but has taught me much! And you’re right about REP, (and truly, the rest of the mods) I cannot imagine the effort that the moderators put in on a site such as this.
God Bless you all for an island of sanity in otherwise crazy seas…
Thank you for all the great effort behind this site!!
Anthony,
About 10 years ago i decided that i wanted to find out about this global warming thing. I didn’t know one way or the other, just wanted to get an understanding of the issue. I do have a lean toward science and math and was fortunate enough to find your site.There is one site that I check every day; WUWT! Thank you for all you do! Pain in the ass its gotta be, better you than me, but I’ll always be here to read!
My fault. Never told of Sappho.
https://www.google.at/search?q=lesbos&oq=lesbos&aqs=chrome.
Anthony,
Nobody but you…
And a thousand years before Sappho – Archilosoch,
aka Arschloch .
When will America wake up in the real world.
I found out 3 years ago that I was not the only climate change skeptic on the planet when I visited your blog–As a skeptic, I still doube Griff really exists–you created him for my amusement. Keep up the good work, and let’s not rest on our laurels.