Gratitude, and warm holiday wishes to all

25 December 2016 by Steve Blum

Take it for what it’s worth, but I am truly thankful.

Merry Christmas and a happy Hanukah to all. I don’t think today is Kwanza or Festivus or the winter solstice or whatever holiday I might be forgetting, but if that’s what rows your boat, then by all means have a joyous one of those too.

I want to thank everybody who has read this blog over the past eight years. It’s you, Gentle Reader, who makes this enterprise worthwhile and enjoyable, and I very much appreciate it.

This month marks four years of daily posting, and I’m planning to keep at it for a while longer. Readership – unique visitors, not just page views – has slowly but steadily grown to the thousands per month range, and it’s approaching that level on a weekly basis. With the added distribution and interaction on social media, Twitter and LinkedIn particularly, it’s become a wide ranging and, gratifyingly, sometimes heated conversation. I thank you all for that too.

Another major milestone this year came when a handful of my posts about AB 2395 – AT&T’s attempt to kill wireline service – went viral, thanks to CWA, TURN and, ironically, AT&T’s paid trolls. March and April saw readership approach the five figure range, with page views comfortably reaching it. A single day in March saw more than 7,500 page views and nearly as many unique visitors.

Looking ahead to 2017, I’m not planning any major changes. Minor redesign work is on the agenda – if you have any suggestions for improving readability or utility, I’d be grateful to hear them. Some server-side improvements are needed, with a searchable database at the top of the wish list. My goal is to make the mountain of telecoms policy documents I’ve accumulated more accessible and useful – again, if you have any thoughts about what you’d like to see or how it might be done, I would love to hear about it.

So Gentle Reader, whatever holiday, or lack thereof, you’re celebrating today, please accept my thanks for all you’ve done in 2016 and my best wishes for a wonder 2017!