Tag Archives: SWLing Post

The SWLing Post: 3,000 posts and counting!

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that we had crossed a small milestone here on the SWLing Post: as of this post, there are now 3,067 (!!!) published posts in our archives.

I simply can’t believe we’ve surpassed 3,000 posts–especially knowing we only passed 2,000 posts September of 2015.

People can say what they will about our shortwave hobby’s future, but I’m here to tell you that interest in is far from dead. Indeed, it is dynamic, alive and well!

This morning, I took a look at our web statistics via Google Analytics for the month of December 2016 (not including today).

It’s hard for me to believe we’re averaging about 6,790 daily pageviews!

And the secret sauce in surpassing 3,000 posts and healthy numbers? Our amazing contributors!

Thank you so very much!

As I’ve mentioned before, I had no aspirations for the SWLing Post to become a popular destination for shortwave and amateur radio enthusiasts; it was mainly a site where I could jot down things I found of interest to me and keep tabs on the radio and international broadcasting industry. I was simply making my bookmarks and thoughts public, perhaps a little in advance of the social media outlets that now exist for shortwave radio and related topics.

As we move into 2017, I’d like to thank you all for reading and contributing to the SWLing Post community!

Happy New Year, radio friends!

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SWLing Post: Exploring a new email delivery system

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For the past six years or so, we’ve used Google Feedburner as an email distribution system on the SWLing Post. Feedburner is a bare-bones RSS-based system, but it’s worked quite well–allowing readers to sign up for individual Post emails or daily digests. It’s also free for both readers and for me.

However, in the past two months, I’ve received numerous comments from readers and contributors describing very flaky and unreliable behavior from Feedburner.

Truth is, even when I signed up to use Feedburner, Google had all but abandoned the project support-wise. Many bloggers feel that Google could simply pull the plug on Feedburner with little notice, so I’ve been looking into other options.

When I update SWLing Post functionality, I also upgrade functionality.

Over the past few months, I’ve been looking into alternate email distribution systems. Almost all of these are paid systems, and I’m only considering those that are reliable and have been in business for a long time. These systems typically charge based on the number of emails delivered per month and the total number of subscribers.

In the next couple of weeks, I hope to start trial subscriptions to these services and see which one I like best. I’m especially interested in a system that has better formatting than Feedburner (which, essentially, has no formatting–!). 🙂 Once I commit to a system, I’ll import all of the current subscribers into the system and you’ll have an option to adopt it as your new platform. I’ll also post a new sign-up sheet.

Please be patient as I go through this process–my schedule is jam-packed at the moment, so I’ll be exploring all of this in my spare time.

If you have any email delivery systems recommendations, please feel free to comment or contact me directly! Thank you!

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Moshe sports his SWLing Post gear

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Moshe Zaharia, who recently made my day by sending the photo above (click to enlarge).

I told Moshe that I’m pretty certain, he’s the first SWL in Israel to snag both an SWLing Post coffee mug and tee shirt!

Check out that Ben-Gal “Duet-Stereo” console radio–the same one he recently cleaned and repaired. What a classic! Love that backlit dial..

Thanks again for sharing, Moshe!

If you’re looking for some SWLing Post swag, check out our CafePress store!

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SWLing Post email digest via Feedburner

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EmailDigest

I’ve received messages from several SWLing Post email subscribers stating that they haven’t received email digests or announcements lately.

Our email subscription has been powered by the Google company Feedburner. Feedburner used to be the best RSS-to-email subscription service out there, but over the years, Google has all but dropped the service completely. It appears their service is either not working right now, or is working inconsistently.

I’ve stuck with Feedburner over the years because:

It’s free
It’s simple to use (both for me and for readers)
It offers options to have either an email sent for each post or a daily digest with all posts from the day

Most daily SWLing Post readers (we’re averaging almost 6,000 on average) visit the site directly; a large number also use RSS services to follow our feed.

I’ve been searching for alternatives to Feedburner. There are quite a few out there, but most have a complicated pricing structures based on both the number of subscribers and the total amount of emails sent. We currently send at least 35,000 emails per month via Feedburner.

I will choose a paid rss service, because I don’t want emails littered with ads from the service provider.

I have a personal goal to make any change like this to the SWLing Post an upgrade in user experience, so it may take some time to find the right solution. If you’re familiar with rss-to-email services, your suggestions are most welcome!

Anyway, thanks for your patience while I explore email subscription services!

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SWLing Post comments…some getting lost in our SPAM folder?

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Site-SPAM-Comments The SWLing Post has been online since 2008–plenty of time for SPAMbots to focus their attention on us! In fact, we receive a SPAM comment, on average, every 3 minutes! Way too many comments to moderate individually.

To fight SPAM, we’ve employed a number of strategies over the years including site plugins, scripts, and external applications.

It seems, though, that our SPAM filters are catching more than SPAM: they’re catching your qualified comments! Several readers and contributors have contacted me recently and noted that their comments haven’t posted. I’ve had to search through the 4,000+ comments in the SPAM folder using their email address.

If you’re a regular on the SWLing Post and submit a comment, but it doesn’t appear in the post’s comment thread, please notify me!

Keep in mind that there are certain comments that are automatically moderated or sent to the SPAM folder:

Those from a new user (who has never had an approved comment)
Those with multiple links to external sites (a characteristic of much SPAM)
Comments with common profanity

If your comment is sent to moderation, no worries. There are a few volunteer comment moderators that will approve it within minutes or, at most, a few hours.

I’ll attempt to reset/reinstall our SPAM plugins/scripts in the hopes that this will keep our filters from being over-active. In the meantime, please let me know if your comment doesn’t post, yet meets the criteria above.

Many thanks and apologies for the inconvenience!

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SWLing Post, Number 2,000

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This morning, I noticed that we’ve crossed a small milestone here at the SWLing Post: as of this post, there are now 2,000 published posts in our archives.

It’s a bit incredible that it’s already been almost seven years since I started this blog. In the beginning, I had no aspirations for the SWLing Post to become a popular destination for shortwave and amateur radio enthusiasts; it was mainly a site where I could jot down things I found of interest to me and keep tabs on the radio and international broadcasting industry. I was simply making my bookmarks and thoughts public, perhaps a little in advance of the social media outlets that now exist for shortwave radio and related topics.

A couple of months after starting the SWLing Post, I began using Google Analytics to track readership. I was absolutely floored to discover that, after a year or two online, I had about 200 pageviews per day–meaning, our website guests were reading about 200 pages/posts of information per day! It seemed surreal.

Each year–indeed, each month–that number grew. Now, it’s hard for me to believe the site has about 5,500 daily pageviews. Per month? We’re up to 167,000. As of today, here’s what Google Analytics gives for our monthly figures:

SWLingPost-Numbers

The thing is, these numbers continue to grow.

Best of all, what does this say–loud and clear!–about these “dying” radio shortwaves, about this old and washed-up medium of communication–? It says to us: interest in this hobby is far from dead, but rather, is still alive and well…and perhaps even growing.

And the very best part about hosting the SWLing Post? The community it’s created. So:

Thanks to everyone who makes this possible–to all of those who create guest posts, to those who comment, and to those who help other readers; thanks to those who participate in and moderate the chat room. Thanks to the readers who follow, to the SWLers who listen, to all those who care about radio. Thanks to you all…for the camaraderie, the coffee, the chance to enjoy the growing company of so many readers and fellow-listeners from all around the globe…I am now, and will remain, most humbly grateful.

And to extend my thanks, I’m looking into hosting a forum here on the SWLing Post which should allow for even more interaction within the community. So, yet again, allow me to say: Stay tuned!

There’s even more to come.

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An easier way to comment on the SWLing Post