2013: Our Year in Numbers and Our Most Popular Posts of the Year
One thing is made clear from this list of our most popular posts: Chip Flowers is good for business. Posts about him and his travails this year were among our most popular, most likely because he has some fervent fans who waste no time coming here to defend him, and fervent detractors who likewise come here to pile on whenever we put a post up on him. The Flowers scandal and the Marriage Equality victory clearly were the political stories of the year here.
But before we get to the list, let’s over some numbers. We also had our busiest day in the history of Delaware Liberal this year. Now, usually, our busy years and busy days are relegated to election years and specifically, Election Days and Nights. For example, we had 1,001,363 unique visits to our site in 2010, the midterm election year, and 1,333,982 unique visits in 2012, a presidential election year. This year, it looks like we are going to be well short of that high mark, with 883,537 as of this writing. But that is still higher than the past similar off year, 2011, when we had 791,519. So the site continues to grow. But I digress. I started off talking about our busiest day, which was, before this year, September 10, 2010, the night Christine O’Donnell upset Mike Castle in the GOP primary. But the witch got dethroned this year by the passage of the Marriage Equality law. That is sweet and poetic justice. So May 7, 2013 is now our reigning champion for busiest day, a day when we got 18,942 unique visits.
Here is a chart of our visits by month and year going back to December 2007 when we started using WordPress and their page and visit counters. (Click on the charts for larger and more readable versions).
And here is a chart of our average visits per day in a month and year.
And now to the list of our most popular posts as judged by unique views, and for no reason at all, we are starting off at #17:
17. Breaking: Shots Fired at the New Castle County Courthouse, by Delaware Dem, February 11, 2013
We were fresh from the Newtown Massacre, and this shooting stirred up strong emotions.
16. Marriage Equality is the Law, by Delaware Dem, May 7, 2013.
Great pictures from the scene during and after the vote, and of course during the groundbreaking and immediate bill signing.
15. General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: The Final Day, Night, & Day, by El Somnambulo, June 30, 2013.
El Som’s great series on the goings-on in the General Assembly, this time a preview on the always busy and hectic final day of the session.
14. Acting GOP Chair Nelly Jordan to fire staff if the Chateau Country money doesn’t start rolling in…, by Delaware Dem, June 22, 2013.
Some of our best posts involve tips received from behind the scenes. This post is one of these. We were passed an internal letter from Acting GOP Chair Nelly Jordan to the her fellow GOP Executive Committee members.
13. It’s Time for Fairness for Transgender Delawareans, by Sarah McBride, June 4, 2013.
A guest post from a woman who single-handedly changed minds and banned discrimination in this state.
12. Chip Flowers does not know the difference between epic spin and transparency, by Cassandra, October 27, 2013.
11. Election 2014: Delaware’s Most Vulnerable Incumbents, by El Somnanbulo, July 16, 2013.
Tom Wagner, Chip Flowers, Greg Lavelle, Charles Potter, Dennis E. Williams, Jeffrey Spiegelman, Deborah Hudson, Valerie Longhurst, Bobby Outten, Andria Bennett, Ruth Briggs King, John Atkins and Jeff Christopher all find themselves on a list they want no part of.
10. Can Chip Flowers Manage his Department’s Budget? All Signs Point to No, by Cassandra, October 6, 2013
9. A Shooting in Arden, by El Somnambulo, February 15, 2013.
A shooting in El Som’s neighborhood sparks a discussion on violence.
8. A Statement from Chip Flowers, by Jason330, September 9, 2013.
Treasurer Flowers tries to get ahead of a brewing brewhaha.
7. Chip Flower’s Pictures from Denali, by Cassandra, October 28, 2013.
Yes, Virginia, Facebook photos can get you into trouble.
6. Pregaming the Senate Vote on Marriage Equality, by Delaware Dem, April 23, 2013.
Here I and our wonderful commenters were trying to guess at the final vote count for marriage equality in the Senate. This post led to the discovery of Senator Bethany Hall Long’s undecided-ness at the time. But in the end, she and the other undecided, Senator Bushweller, voted in favor of equality.
5. Just Don’t Mess with the Muskrat, by Jason330, March 12, 2013.
The Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible” show headed to Smyrna to film at the Wagon Wheel Family Restaurant on U.S. 13.
4. On Richard Korn, by Delaware Dem, January 15, 2013.
Upon hearing of his indictment on child porn charges, I asked if it was possible to be completely floored and not at all surprised at the same time?
3. Yeah, He Lied, by Cassandra, November 3, 2013.
The he is State Treasurer Chip Flowers, whose 2013 was only a little better than Richard Korn’s.
2. Outrage in Milford, by Delaware Dem, January 5, 2013.
This one went viral nationwide through Daily Kos, and concerned signs on a Milford playground that said one thing is English, and quite another thing in Spanish.
1. The Marriage Equality Senate Debate and Vote Liveblog, by Delaware Dem, May 7, 2013.
This one is self explanatory. We witnessed, and liveblogged, history.
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We also have some posts from years ago that are still generating massive hits, which rank among the above list. But since they are not from 2013, I excluded them. But they are:
an you find someone with a Bacon number higher than 4?, by Jason330, September 14, 2012.
OFAC Country Listings, by Donviti, March 12, 2008.
Tom Capano is Dead, by Delaware Dem, September 9, 2011.
Multi-Millionaire Heiress Michele Rollins: Deadbeat Grandma?, by Delaware Dem, October 24, 2011.
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Congratulations, DD, on that Outrage story. Today Daily Kos shared its 2013 top 10 list of diary posts shared on social media sites. That post was No. 8 nationwide for the year, with more than 97,000 visitors from those sites.
Wow. Here is a link to that Kos story.
Looking at the list it seems Chip Flowers is the man of the year
MAN of the year? Nawwwwww
More like WOMANizer of the year
But, one cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Regardless of how high the political office they find themselves in.
Just the administration trying to refocus attention back on Flowers. No one cares about his travel or penis. He’s single. People care about the corrupt contributions. 2014 should be interesting.
“Just the administration trying to refocus attention back on Flowers. No one cares about his travel or penis. He’s single.”
You could not be more wrong. News organizations have the statistics to prove it — indeed, the list of most-read stories on this site illustrates it. And given the extravagant spending in a time of middle-class struggle, Flowers will never get out from under his own bad habits. After 40 years in media, I can assure you that self-immolation is always a popular theme.
“People care about the corrupt contributions.”
I was mistaken — you are more wrong in this sentence than you were in the first one. These “corrupt contributions” came in 2008, and there’s not a shred of evidence they made any difference whatsoever. If you want to smear Markell on this, find contributions from Fisker and Bloom you can link him to. Until then, you have nothing to back up your contention.
“2014 should be interesting.”
Particularly for self-destructive paranoids who are watching their political careers crash and burn.
” After 40 years in media, I can assure you that self-immolation is always a popular theme.”
If you can get anybody’s attention outside of the DL bubble, that is. If an opponent turns up. he will have to spend a lot of time and money to gin up a negative campaign. You know how much Delaware voters LOVE campaigns based on sleazy personal attacks.
“These “corrupt contributions” came in 2008, and there’s not a shred of evidence they made any difference whatsoever. ”
Lamest defense in the book.
It wasn’t meant as a defense. It was a refutation of the claim that people care about it. I went to many Christmas parties over the past month. Everyone who talked politics talked about Chip Flowers. None of the people I spoke with even know that Delaware Liberal exists.
Nobody, on the other hand, said anything about campaign contributions.
“If an opponent turns up. he will have to spend a lot of time and money to gin up a negative campaign.”
No, actually, he won’t. If the Republican has $50,000 to spend, he will win, and it won’t be close.
You can make up whatever reality you want — it’s one of the things you excel at. If it were the reality that everyone else shares, you wouldn’t have to keep thumping the tub for it here.
Tipsters really stepped up this year. Thanks to everyone for taking part in the conversation.