500,000

We’ve been knocking on the door all year. TBP had 494,000 visitors in March and reached the mid 480k range three other times this year. I like big round numbers and I’ve been waiting for us to break the 500,000 visitor count for a single month. We finally did it in August. We chopped through the door and burst through the 500,000 level, finishing with 537,000 visitors.

The visitor count in August was 33% higher than last year’s count of 404,000 visitors. YTD we are averaging 16,000 visitors per day, versus 12,000 per day last year. This is slightly higher than the 1,000 visits per day I was getting back in 2009 during version 1.0 of TBP. I’m not sure what to attribute the 33% increase in visitors over last year. Is it the continued economic spiral being experienced by most Americans? Is it the no holds barred un-moderated comment stream. Is it the growing hatred of the Orwellian military industrial police surveillance state? Is it the increasing anger of working middle class people who are caught in a vice grip between the ignorant FSA and the arrogant Wall Street bankers as their real incomes decline and their debt burden grows?

I’m guessing it is all of the above and more. TBP will probably be enormously popular just before the leaders of the U.S., China and Russia all push the red button simultaneously, to end this Fourth Turning permanently.

I do need to give a shout out to The Man With No Name. He has been doing the dirty work behind the scenes for the last 14 months. Does anyone remember how slow and shitty the site was in prior years? I was constantly dealing with technical crap that I had no idea about. It irritated me and kept me from writing. The site is never down. The site loads quickly. There are virtually no glitches. The Man With No Name is keeping TBP safe from attack and monitors it 24 hours per day. He singlehandedly saved TBP and I owe him my undying gratitude.

But guess what? It ain’t cheap to keep this website secure. It’s not easy trying to entertain you monkeys 24/7/365. Again, I’m proving how not to make money running a website. Only I could generate a 33% increase in visitors, but have donations running behind last year. I have 13 long-time TBP members who automatically donate money every month. I also have another group of regulars who contribute on a consistent basis. You know who you are and I really appreciate your ongoing support. Maybe the newbies don’t realize that it costs a significant amount of money to keep this site functioning. Any donations would be helpful, either through the Paypal donation button or through snail mail to the PO Box.

If you aren’t able to donate, then click a couple of the goddamn ads all over the site. A click is worth about 15 cents. Don’t be blatant about it. Just checkout a few hot chicks once in a while. And if you are going to buy something through Amazon, go through my Amazon button. I get 6% of the transaction amount and it doesn’t add to your cost.

The next round number is 1 million visitors. Nothing that a 70% stock market collapse, civil strife in the streets, a Trump presidency, and World War III won’t help me achieve.