Now that the news seems to have slowed down a bit, on the final day of this holiday weekend, we are writing this note to thank you, and to let you know about two WSB milestones.
Thank you for continuing to be part of WSB – whether you “just read,” or have contributed anything from a comment to a news tip to a photo (or more – e-mail with questions, for example, often leads to the best followup stories!). 
The number of people who are part of WSB keeps growing – 27,000 homes/businesses currently visit the site at least once a week (more than a third of them, at least once daily) – and as a result, a longstanding WSB record just got broken. The monthly-pageview record had stood since the who-can-forget “Snowpocalypse“ month of December 2008. So many people were here that month, getting and giving information about roads, buses, snowfall, and more, that WSB pages were read 829,588 times in December 2008. (Photo above was courtesy Sage K, from our 12/20/08 coverage.)
While continued growth brought us close this year, the record stood until last month – the August 2010 traffic for WSB (per Google Analytics, the industry standard) was 834,935 pageviews. We had long since eclipsed other numbers from December ’08, such as visits and visitors, but pageviews are a point of pride; since the “blog” format has few “jumps” – unlike newspaper or TV websites, which usually require you to click to another page to get the full story – pageviews are more difficult to stack up.
Part of the August record is because of August 17th, the day of what some dubbed “Obooma!” – the startling sonic booms from jet fighters scrambled out of Oregon when a floatplane violated airspace restrictions during President Obama‘s brief Seattle visit. (Photo at left, as Air Force One departed Boeing Field, courtesy of David DeSiga)
A moment after the booms rocked WSB HQ, we published one line – headlined “Yes, we heard it too,” to let people know we were checking to find out what it was – and that was our last website update for 10+ minutes. So many people came to WSB to seek information, it briefly crashed our previously-beefed-up server; thanks to our server-management firm WiredTree for boosting capacity immediately (and permanently, now that we know what might happen in case of a sudden big event), while we continued updating Twitter and Facebook (which we would have done anyway – we do breaking news on all three major “channels”).
But there were other big days and events. The sonic-boom report wasn’t even August’s most popular (shared/linked) WSB story – here’s what was: The hot new band Fistful of Mercy performing at Easy Street on August 26th. We didn’t realize how big it was till we started getting word from people at the show that the crowd was spilling out into the street (as shown in Christopher Boffoli‘s photo). After that, and the sonic booms, the third biggest story of the month was the “musical protest” video shot inside West Seattle’s Target store and publicized nationwide – thanks to a note from WSB’er Amy, we got, and shared, word of the “local angle” before most of the rest of the region.
Second milestone: Since we’ve been running WSB as a 24/7, multiple-channel news service for three years (our unofficial anniversary was August 28th, the date in 2007 of our first and only “Pledge Day” to raise $ to formalize this as a business) – we haven’t really taken time off, out of 24/7 broadband range. Not that we’ve particularly wanted to, really – we are privileged to be able to make a living doing this, and we chose to do it full time. But people often seem to have a note of concern in their voice when they ask, “Don’t you ever take a vacation?” Well, guess what – we did. Your co-publishers here were out of town for a week recently. We weren’t completely unplugged from WSB, but unplugged enough to relax a bit, and that’s only thanks to some INCREDIBLE people who covered the news 24/7 in our absence:
First and foremost, we want to thank Christopher Boffoli, who has worked with WSB for three years – originally as a volunteer (till we started paying professional contributors in 2008). Christopher is a vital part of Team WSB, a talented photojournalist, thorough writer, and so quick to spot breaking news, he’s often on the scene before we’ve heard about it back here at HQ. While we were away, in addition to stories ranging from a car fire to a concert to the Southwest District Council, Christopher handled the 24/7 news-tips-and-business-calls line, which rings a LOT (thanks to everyone who calls – we really do answer round the clock!).
We also want to thank Jason Grotelueschen, a relatively new contributor to Team WSB, but an experienced online editor/writer who handled “the desk” most days we were gone – including a very busy mailbox – as well as some in-person coverage. And big thanks also go to Katie Meyer, who kept watch on the scanners, to ensure that our vacation didn’t affect fulfillment of the WSB commitment to timely, accurate coverage of breaking news, around the clock; Katie also went downtown to check on some big court cases too. Important stories in West Seattle also were covered while we were on the road by Keri DeTore, Edgar Riebe, and Cliff DesPeaux, and for our White Center site White Center Now, contributor Deanie Schwarz reported on the week’s biggest WC events.
This was a milestone for more than the fact your co-publishers took a bit of a breather before what could be another intense fall/winter: It meant this has grown beyond something that critics insisted was teetering precariously on the shoulders of two overworked people. WSB is a news service – a growing, sustainable business, dedicated to serving the community, in partnership with the community as well as with professional contributors. We were deeply honored to have those attributes recognized and celebrated within the community, when the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce named WSB “Business of the Year” this past spring, and when American Legion Post 160 presented WSB with the West Seattle Grand Parade‘s Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community. We want to hear from you about how WSB can better serve you and all of West Seattle – and you’ll hear soon about a new way we will be inviting that feedback, beyond all the ways you can reach us 24/7/365.
P.S. Another milestone is imminent for participants in the WSB Forums – sometime this week, the number of posts in the Forums, which became part of WSB in December 2007, will surpass 100,000. This is a standalone area of WSB where people interact directly with each other and launch their own topics beyond home-page news stories; it has grown from its original mission, meant first to be a place for recommendations like “where’s the best Thai restaurant?” or “who sharpens knives?”, to add free listings for jobs, as well as yard sales and freebies, as well as conversations about politics, schools, and more.
Again, thank you for being part of WSB, and part of the incredible community we are thrilled to call home: West Seattle.
-Tracy Record and Patrick Sand, WSB co-publishers
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