Okay, you gotta give me a little latitude to toot my testosterone. We’ve been populating this site for seven years and in 2014 OIB hit the one million view mark for the first time, according to statistics compiled by WordPress and Google Analytics that keep track of this sort of thing. Every year OIB traffic has grown thanks to loyal readership.
The majority of OIB traffic comes directly into the site from our loyal regular readers, but some traffic also comes from referral websites.
Top five referring sites:
ctcapitolreport (Thank you, Tom Dudchik.)
Bridgeportctusa (Thank you, Local Eyes.)
New Haven Independent (Thank you, Paul Bass.)
OIB serves the most active people in their respective communities–combined forces from Bridgeport, suburbs and decision makers in Hartford–including folks who care about government and politics and (gulp) their tax bill. So thanks for your support. I only continue to do this because you keep showing up. Otherwise, it’s back to the unemployment lines. 2015 is shaping up as a titillating political year.
Nothing like living the dream. Congratulations.
Congratulations, Lennie and OIB fans. Happy New Year, Buon Capodanno! from 16 miles out.
Congratulations, Lennie. I don’t think most folks know how much work it is to run a site like this. I do not comment very much since I’m in Trumbull, but I enjoy reading your stories and I find Bridgeport politics to be very interesting, and your readers have many diverse opinions.
Thanks, Tom, feel free to chime in at will! Bridgeport and Trumbull have lots in common including politics and poop processing. Plus it’s a municipal cycle year. Will Tim Herbst receive a fourth term, or will Kelly and company derail him?
I am not going to make a prediction on that, but we are looking forward to 2015, getting the most important issues in Trumbull in front of the public for discussion and debate, and executing on our game plan and the chips will fall where they may.
To Lennie Grimaldi,
Congratulations on your success. Hard work and dedication to your journalistic craft shows up in aces. Great work.
Bob Barnes
Nothing like going up to the firing range every day and posting a story, an opinion or a response to another writer. Only In Bridgeport do you learn “watchdog” takes on a new meaning in this context because instead of being at the firing end of the range, you realize quite suddenly you are a target (for those who like larger-than-life-sized citizens who wear bow ties).
Meanwhile a mapping of the connections in this community can be deciphered relating to those three stars of “stage, screen and literature,” I speak of “sex, money and power” as they show up again and again in various manners, many of which are illegal, unnatural, and so very, very, self-aggrandizing. They can only be done in the darkness, else respect would diminish, authority would become compromised and future success would be less certain. Of course, both good and less than good runs come to an end. Time will tell.
Lennie and Maureen, Happy New Year and peace and health in 2015. Thank you for creating and supporting OIB. If it weren’t for the invention of OIB, think of the issues that would never be discussed, delved into or anyway, just aired. You perform an important public function.
Now if you can get all your writers to find some humor in themselves, writing self-deprecating stories from their own life rather than “tear-downs” of others, there may be room for OIB to move to the Comedy Channel.
The City Council and perhaps one or two Boards are prequalified, although they may never apply for the honor of being watched with laughter in mind. Time will tell.