October 2011 Numbers: Elaborations of Carbon
Yeah, yeah, there were 290,166 page views last month. Much of that I owe to the sundry shitstorms that took place on the forum, but whatever. Thanks for checking in either way, whichever trainwreck you may have been there to see. I’ve got a note on the forum below, if you want to check that out, but yeah, I’m glad people are getting some use out of it. It’s there pretty much for whatever you want it to be.
I don’t have much time before I need to be at a dentist’s appointment, so here’s a quickie rundown. People checked in from 133 countries around the world, which, if I’m not mistaken, is the most ever. The top five were the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and Australia, and surprise visits came from the Isle of Man, Burma, Bahrain, Sudan and Haiti. Other than Guyana and Suriname, every country in South America checked in. Mongolia sent three visitors.
That’s just one less than Wyoming, which was last in America with four. The top five states were California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The top five cities were New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Chicago. The numbers there among those cities and around the world are staggering, and much as one might expect the novelty of something like that to fade, it hasn’t. I continue to be humbled.
To date, last month’s podcast has been downloaded 270 times. As of this moment, there are 845 users registered on the forum. We passed the 50,000 mark in posts this month and are currently at 51,764 total in 3,543 topics. Right on.
The forum seems as good a place to start as any for the business end:
The Forum: I’ve gotten a few complaints over the last month or so from people who view others as having violated what I pretty much view as the board’s only rule: “Don’t be a dick if you can help it.” I’m considering appointing another moderator or two to handle this stuff, since I’m both bad at it and short on time between work, school and the rest. I’ve always been a better lurker anyway. If you’re interested, get in touch and we’ll compare philosophies.
HeavyPink: Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the HeavyPink 7″. Those records have shipped from the plant and I’m expecting them any minute now from Tony Reed. Obviously they’ll go on sale as soon as they come in, and the pre-orders will ship as soon as I have the records to send. If you haven’t placed your order yet, feel free to do so here, and know you have my appreciation for your support.
The Maple Forum: I’ve also heard some rough mixes of the Clamfight CD and I’ll just say it: it’s better than the first one. I think and hope you’re going to be stoked on it, because I certainly am. 2012 looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Top 11s: Before we get there, though, I asked Slevin to build me a form that feeds into a database so we can collect everyone’s top 11 of 2011 and compile a big group list. I need to check in with him on it, but hopefully we’ll be able to get that happening this month so people can start submitting if so inclined. I think that kind of thing is good times, anyway.
Giveaways: The Moth Eater/Black Thai splits have gone out to their respective winners, and thanks to all who entered that contest. I have an idea of what I want the next giveaway to be, but I haven’t reached out yet to the other party involved, so I’ll just say stay tuned and hopefully when/if it comes up, you dig it. Either way, now that the door’s open, nothing to do but keep walking.
Interviews: I finally transcribed Black Cobra last night, so that’ll be up today if I’m up to it after the dentist or tomorrow at the latest. I’ll also have Fu Manchu before the end of the week as well. Next week will be French heavy psych purveyors Mars Red Sky, and after them, Elder. The holdup with Skype has been figuring a way to record the calls, and I think I’ve got that worked out now, so maybe I’ll finally be able to get Ollie Stygall from Grifter on the horn this month. It shames me that it’s taken me so long to make that happen. This month, also expect a Six Dumb Questions with Wiht and hopefully a Q&A with Negative Reaction, who have a new album out on PsycheDOOMelic I’ll also be reviewing.
Reviews: There’s a lot. I’m backlogged as usual, but not as backlogged as usual, so at least that feels somewhat good. I seem to have fallen into the habit of listing the next week’s reviews (or most of them, anyway) in the Frydee posts, so I think I’ll stick to that rather than try and lay out a whole month ahead of time and have things get screwed up timing-wise.
That’s it, I’m out of time and have to split out of the office. Thank you all for checking in this month, as always. I wish you all the best from New Jersey.
Much appreciated,
JJ Koczan
Hailing Porpoises Taskmaster
