Academia, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

RES IPSA REACHES 31,000,000

This morning, our blog hit 31,000,000 views. We have had an increase in visitors and our new voices are heartily welcomed to our little band of commentators.  We try to offer a place for civil but passionate discourse on legal and policy issues  of our time (and perhaps a few wacky stories).  We continue to rank in the top legal blogs in the world and we are continuing to see a growing international readership. We often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.

As always, I want to offer special thanks for our weekend contributors: Mike Appleton, Larry Rafferty, Darren Smith, Kimberly Dienes, and Cara Gallagher. I particularly want to thank Darren who has continued to help manage the blog and help out folks who encounter posting problems.

I also want to thank our regular commentators and readers.  We try to keep this blog as an open forum with as little interference or monitoring of the comments as possible.  Given our free speech orientation, we try not to delete comments and, for that reason, we are deeply appreciative of how most people avoid personal or offensive comments in debating these issues.  The success of this blog is due to the fact that we offer something more than the all-too-common troll-driven, angry, and insulting commentary of the Internet.  Thank you for voluntarily assuming restraint over the tenor and content of your comments.

 

So here is our current profile:

In the last full month, our ten biggest international sources for readers (after the United States) have been:

Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Germany

India
France
Mexico
Belgium
The Netherlands
Phillipines

Welcome to all of our new readers from those countries. I have always found our foreign commentators particularly valuable in giving us an insight from beyond our borders — and domestic media coverage.

The top ten posted in terms of readership in the last 30 days:

1.Five Ninth Circuit Judges Issue Rare Rebuke the Panel In Immigration Ruling

2. The “King of Instagram” Trigger Outrage With Pictures Of Friend Riding 100-Year-Old Tortoise

3. Trump Accused Obama Administration of Using FISA To Wiretap Trump Tower

4. Middlebury Professor and Speaker Assaulted By Protesters In Latest Attack On Free Speech On U.S. Campuses

5. Government “Cyanide Bomb” in Idaho Injures 14-Year-Old Boy and Kills His Dog

6. Fire Me: U.S. Attorney In Manhattan Reportedly Refuses To Resign [UPDATED]

7. Saudi Cleric Condemns Plans To Allow Movies or Public Concerts In The Kingdom

8. Law Professors File Ethics Complaint Against Kellyanne Conway

9. Bad Return: MSNBC Publication Triggers A Wave Of Responses From Mockery To Criminal Allegations

10. The Revenants’ Return: Former Obama Officials Shed Earlier Controversies To Denounce Trump Administration

The most frequent commentators in the last 1000 comments were:

Paul Schulte

Desperatelyseekingsusan

Bob

Anon

Desperatelyseekingsusan

websterisback

Olly

Thank you to all of our regular commentators. We remain an extraordinarily broad and diverse body of commenters from different parts of the world and different political and social backgrounds. Thanks again.

We are currently around 22,000 followers on Twitter. It actually puts us at near the top of legal commentator twitter accounts.

Thanks again to those who try to keep our discussions passionate but civil. We obviously have relapses into personal attacks, particularly during these heated political times. However, I am impressed how most people are able to transcend disagreements to avoid making our differences personal or offensive.  There remains a core of people in this country that want to speak objectively about the problems in our country — both legal and political. Some have found their way to this blog and I hope more will join them. We hope that this forum can remain a pluralistic and open forum for mature people to engage in mature discussions. Such discussions have never been more important.

Thanks again everyone and congratulations on the latest milestone.

35 thoughts on “RES IPSA REACHES 31,000,000”

  1. Just one regulare > 40…..comment?

    Otherwise, JT is spittin propaganda about his blog as usual.

  2. Any “regular” younger than 40?

    What’s diverse to JT?

    A bunch of old white men with a few women?

    hahahaha this guy is a joke…

  3. “It is a curious thing how anonymity will unleash vile and dark impulses in people. Yet, anonymity is part of free speech and, while we have discussed eliminating anonymous comments due to abuses, we are trying to preserve this important element to free speech. It is possible to be anonymous but not obnoxious.”

    Yes, yes it is. Thank you for allowing anonymity here. And for creating a space for bipartisan comity on this blog.

  4. Professor Turley –

    Thank you for your implementation, and use, of this forum.

  5. Thank you Professor Turley for this blog! I have “met” so many interesting people from all walks of life here. Even when I’ve lost it and ranted w/o filters the community has been cool. Love your blog!!

    1. They don’t care about stories that affect the public at-large here.

      Take that back to Democracy Now (Where they indeed care about issues that affect the public).

      DemocracyNow is a much better forum for a robust discussion of policy.

      DN makes this place look like a Hacker got to it and made it like the Onion for legal blogs haha.

  7. I just discovered this! Thank you, so much! Civil discourse is a lost art you are resurrecting!

    1. Debbie Barnhart, I feel like a Walmart greeter today. Well, I’m the right age, but prefer Target. We get uncivil at times, but wade in when you feel comfortable. You’ll find certain threads can get nasty. I suggest just avoiding the nasty ones and comment on the pleasant posts at first.

  8. I am a new reader and I find this blog so refreshing. It is great to see different viewpoints discussed from a legal and rational perspective. thank you!

    1. Kathy, Keep reading and commenting. We can always use more rational people.

  9. That is truly awesome, Jon. Thanks for being here, and thank you everyone else for creating one of the best places on the web for real polemic and honest and civil debate and discussion. It’s a great, great thing.

  10. Thanks All for not running the Christian YEC off the comment section.
    And making me feel welcome.
    And thanks Professor Turley for upholding and defending;
    The Founding Fathers greatest gift to its people… Freedom of Speech.

  11. Keep it up, Professor! You give us food for thought, we chew it up and spit out our opinions. It is great fun and always interesting. I happened to catch you on Fox a few years ago, checked out your mentioned blog and have been a participant since. First, shyly, I only read other’s opinions but finally jumped in and was welcomed by Nick Spinelli. I’m here for life and tell many others why your blog is great.

    1. beakie48 – I agree –Nick Spinelli is one of the BEST ever on the blog! =)

      1. beakie and Autumn, Thanks much for the kudos. You two women are superb additions here. When I first arrived back in 2012, there were few women and no diversity. I am a coach for many years and find motivation comes naturally. I was ridiculed by the “in crowd” when I pointed out the obvious, that being we needed more women and more diversity of opinion. So, I simply did what came naturally, encouraging good people like yourselves to speak out. This blog is a better place thanks to you good folks. The fact that you both have a good sense of humor is a bonus.

  13. People in asylums need to read this blog. When they ever get out of the asylum they will have to deal with the real world and not the confined world. So I am sending the blog to all members of Congress. That is one asylum where they all need to get out.

    1. Hahahaha that’s hysterical considering JT has recently represented congress and spoken to different committees on numerous occasions.

      He’s hand-in-hand with them on the animal farm. His smooth prose notwithstanding… Actions are clear.

  14. Thank-you for the interesting and informative stories and mostly an excellent gathering of commenters. Less interesting are the multiple comments posted from the same people over and over following each article, primarily attacking other commenters.

  15. Congrats, Professor. It would be productive for the Pizza Hut spokesman to read this blog, but he doesn’t read. Very tremendous and fantastic.

  17. I appreciate the opportunity to express my views on this site from time to time and hope to contribute more frequently this year on legal topics of interest (or at least of interest to me). Congrats to Prof. Turley on the continuing success of the blog.

    2. Sandbox is a good analogy. It is not a playground with swings and slides. But is much like a sandbox. We each have our computer keys as scoops. We can nicely move the sand around or kick it around. The interaction between commenters is fun.

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