One Year Blogiversary!

Hard to believe it, but The Red Stater today celebrates its first anniversary. In one year, The Red Stater has 377 posts (not including this one) and received 7,413 hits; a humble amount to be sure, but everyone of them has meant a lot to me. To everyone who has come here to find a viewpoint they agree with, who has come here to argue a viewpoint, or to simply find a new viewpoint, I thank you.

This blog has changed a lot over the past year. I originally intended to keep any non-political topics out, but quickly recognized that could only serve to make this blog extremely dry. And while I hoped to use this as an outlet for breaking news, it very quickly became apparent that this blog would run more as editorials and commentary than journalism of any sort.

I have also learned how difficult it is to maintain a high quality blog that receives a lot of readers. I am no Chad or Waldo, to be sure, but even still, I owe a lot to those two, and many others. Chad first got me connected in the Virginia blogosphere; without him, I might not even have 1,000 hits today, and this blog would have almost certainly gone the way of so many others. Waldo included The Red Stater as one of the initial blogs among the Charlottesville Blogs, an honor to be sure. Lighthorse Harry and Old Zach, two good friends, have been great encouragement as well, with Old Zach even being the catalyst to my joining the Old Dominion Blog Alliance. Cari gave me a peer in the blogosphere, and Kilo stood behind many of the posts I felt that were amongst my best. There are many more in the Commonwealth that have supported me, and I apologize to any that I missed.

To everyone, my work is far from done. I will continue to post my thoughts, and look forward to conversing with you all concerning my thoughts. Thank you all for your support, whether it is the highest of praise or simply one more hit for my blog.