palingates: Full steam ahead - Palingates Moneyblast! - Bonus: Sarah Palin on Larry King Live - Open Thread

Dear Palingators,

it's time again for our monthly message, and what a month it has been again!

Sarah Palin may be a dangerous, unhinged politician who would have no hesitation in creating havoc if she became US President, but she surely entertains. Although, to be fair, much of the entertainment is currently being provided by the extended family and the future family members.

Last month we had 433,981 page loads and 227,782 unique visitors. In the chart below I also included the figure of "returning visitors", which has been rising steadily, and last month reached 80,571 visitors. The number of the "returning visitors" is not 100% accurate, as it's purely based on cookies, but it gives an indication of the general trend.

Palingates stats February 2009 - July 2010

But apart from the numbers, we are incredibly happy to see that the Palingates community is thriving. Our feeling is that the numbers of comments is also rising basically on a weekly basis, and it's great to see that so many of our readers visit Palingates almost every day and comment here.

(with kind regards to Andrew Sullivan, whom we support and admire)

As with every monthly message, we have to do some self-promotion, because the simple truth is that this blog is dependent on donations. There is no reason to beat around the bush here. Kathleen and I invest a lot of time and effort in Palingates, and without donations, we would be unable to do it. It's as simple as that. We have received a substantial number of donations in the past, and we are incredibly grateful that our community realizes that all donations, large and small, are needed and appreciated.

Some readers suggested that we should do a "Palingates Moneyblast", just like the SarahPAC moneybomb! Great idea! Naturally, our aim is also to raise $ 2 million. Let's see how near to that we can get and we will publish the figures at the beginning of next week. ;-)