Greetings and thanks to all my readers, and a special thank you for those who check in frequently.
After growing 15 percent per month this summer, we have seen 20 percent growth in readership and 19 percent in page views in the past 30 days. That’s pretty good for a blog, a format many would consider an outdated or old-fashioned.
Facebook has become one of our top referring sites, so a big show of gratitude for those of you who post and link to our articles on your social media pages. Please keep it up.
Your Feedback is Welcome
If you have any feedback or suggestions you’d like to give me, questions to pose, or topics you would like to see me address, please comment below, use the contact us form, or email me at admin@ our domain name.
We are also open to guest posts, so reach out with a query if you have an area of expertise you would like to share.
A Comment on Comments
Let me apologize if you posted a comment in the past year and it never showed up. We had an unforeseen issue that was blocking some legitimate comments, and I just learned of it yesterday. I believe we have fixed this problem.
Specifically, our spam fighting software was on such an aggressive setting that it blocked some comments that were not spam. While less than one half of one percent of the blocked comments were legitimate, when you get thousands of comments, it can add up. As a result, we’ve relaxed our spam fighting software settings and removed some blacklisted words. This should allow more comments to be accepted. If you don’t see your comment appear in 24 hours, shoot me an email and I will look into it.
I am surprised by the amount of spam comments we get with everything from beauty and weight loss tips to foreclosures and CDB promotions, and that’s just the polite stuff. Speaking of that, comments that include profanity, naughty topics, promote a product (especially one that is not prepping related), or include multiple links are rejected by our spam filter, so keep it clean and non-commercial.
Once a comment is approved by our software, it is reviewed by a human because spammers are clever and always try to sneak one past the filter. Vague comments like “Great post! This is a good topic,” are unlikely to be approved, especially when they are from someone who has never posted before. While we appreciate compliments, specific feedback is more likely to get approved than vague comments that are likely Spam. Lengthy diatribes and off topic comments are also unlikely to be approved. Don’t take it personally and feel free to comment again.
Please give commenting and replying to comments another try, and I’ll try to approve comments more quickly. It would be good to get some conversations going, as I am sure many of you have valuable insights to share.
Buckle Up
I expect we’re in for an interesting winter and a worsening economy. Good luck, God bless, and keep prepping.
—Pete
