WUWT at 10+ years – I need some help, please

UPDATE 6/14/17: Michael E. Mann just can’t stand this, see below.

Hello everyone,

I feel like many of you are family, you’ve been with me and this endeavor so long. I started in November of 2006, and I’m approaching my 11th year. In all that time, WUWT has been providing a daily service to readers with original research, commentary, and humor where appropriate.

During this time, we’ve witnessed many great things together: Climategate started here in 2009, and the implosion of the Copenhagen conference as a result. The unmasking of the IPCC, showing that many of the “voodoo science” claims against skeptics made by IPCC chairman Pachauri, were based on fake data, shockingly bad science, and even grey literature. Now the tables are turned, and he’s out in disgrace. Then there was the time that I proved without a doubt that both Al Gore and Bill Nye were not just incompetent, but liars too, faking a science experiment. That finding by me was later backed up by a peer reviewed paper in the American Journal of Physics. Then there was the leaking of the IPCC AR5 documents here, showing how corrupted their thinking is, and how the final product was sanitized. Then there’s the Paris Agreement, watching it unfold, shaking our heads at the inanity of it. Even Dr. James Hansen called it a “fraud”. Then, just two weeks ago, watching President Trump remove the U.S. from it. It was truly a great day, with the bonus of watching all those heads explode.

Some people say that WUWT was a force or a catalyst in contributing to these things happening, but I don’t know. I just did what seemed like the right thing. Dig for the truth behind the headlines, and never, ever, give up.

It’s been a great ride. But, to be honest, I’m facing burnout. I need a break, so that I can continue another 10 years. I have not taken a real vacation from WUWT during the entire time. Ric Werme, who tracks WUWT, I think once said it’s been about 7 years since WUWT went a day without at least one story, and often there are five or six. It’s a lot of work. The ride has personally and professionally had it’s fallout for me. I’ve had clients cancel on me because of my views, and I’ve been through a personal hell too.

But, I continued, and I want to keep contributing, but I need a break to do it. I think I deserve one. Steve McIntyre of ClimateAudit once told me in a face to face conversation that “You and I both have done the work of ten men. I think we’ve given them a good run” (he was referring to the “Hockey Team et al”). Steve has essentially retired [from] blogging, because he has other pursuits. He feels like he’s done his fair share. I’d say his contribution was monumental.

I still have more stories to tell, I still have more research to do, I still have more to contribute.

One of the great things about WUWT is that we’ve had so many guest authors. This keeps it fresh. But I still have to administer it all. I do it from my phone, my laptop, and my home and office PC. I’ve never really been out of touch from it

Here’s the stats over the past 10+ years.

• 16,496 stories posted
• 2,075,345 Comments
• 316,737,166 views
• 49 reference pages (some of which sorely need work)

There’s no other website that focuses on Climate Science that can even come close to that track record. That’s not a boast, but a simple fact of numbers. Many people said I’d fail, that I’d be undone, and there’s been a lot of pressure and outright hatred and smearing directed at me personally to make me quit. I even had an offer once to “buy me out” as a way to get me to stop. I told them to shove it.

I had help getting here, from readers like you, guest authors, and many many scientists who have advised me from behind the scenes. I’m greatly appreciative to all of you for bearing those slings and arrows with me.

What convinced me that I really need a break was a really stupid error I made yesterday. I posted a story thinking it was Wednesday (Hump Day Hilarity) when it was actually Monday (Monday Mirthiness). Readers caught it [in] comments, and I was too tired to notice until hours later. It’s a simple error that has since been corrected, but it’s a wake-up call for me. It’s a clear sign of fatigue.

Here is what I want to do: Take a month off. Disconnect.  Then come back fresh.

To do that though, and keep WUWT running, requires help. It’s not without precedence. Back in 2007, Steve McIntyre took a vacation to the desert southwest USA, with a mission in mind, to gather some tree ring core samples of his own to dispute Mann’s findings (though he didn’t say that at the time). Long time readers may recall he asked me to take over ClimateAudit during that break, which I did gladly, and it continued, ready for him when he returned.

I think I can do that here, I’m sure many of our guest authors will step up and our moderators can keep the comments flowing, albeit perhaps not as speedily since we have fewer moderators than we used to have.

I’m asking for two things: help with content/moderating, and some donations, so that I can choose a place to go disconnect, and not worry. I don’t want a staycation, and if that darned Koch Brothers check that many Mann-like people seem to think I’m getting would just show up in the mailbox, I’d not have to ask. There’s another reason too. I have an idea for a temperature data study, along the lines of some of the UHI studies I’ve done in the past, but I’ll need to purchase some equipment to run the experiment. And, when I return (assuming I can get help to keep WUWT running) I want to migrate WUWT to a new web platform. The last overhaul was in September of 2014, and since then things that I keep asking for from wordpress.com keep getting ignored (such as comment editing by end users to fix simple mistakes). I’ve been asking for almost as  long as WUWT has been on wordpress, and it’s become clear to me that wordpress.com just doesn’t care because they keep adding social media enhancements rather than real meat and potatoes features. Time to move on to something that works better and requires less time to administer.

In other news, I just finished a new book chapter, it’s at the proof stage at the printers, and it will be available soon. I’ll let you know when it is available.

So, dear readers and contributors, here is what I need:

• Volunteers: for moderating, for guest author content, and for scheduling publishing of the kind of stories and press releases we normally carry. Use the About》Contact form from the drop down menu under the header.
• Donations: for recharge, and for new ventures to be designed and published
• Patience: while I figure out how to do all this.

Thanks for your consideration. Those that want to help with moderation, guest content, and scheduling can either leave a comment or use the contact form to direct message me.

For those that wish to donate towards a break and a new setup and experiment, here’s the link and button. Anything is welcome, no matter how small.

Donations accepted

I’m going to leave this post up for a couple of days as the top head post, to make sure casual readers and regulars alike see it.

Thanks, sincerely, to all of you. -Anthony Watts

UPDATE: Mann and the usual suspects have had a twitterstorm over this.