GFL's second birthday

Thursday marks the second birthday of Grand Forks Life.

Let's look at a few numbers. Since October 4 of 2005, GFL has had over 120,000 unique visits and over 215,000 page views/hits. In total, this blog has had 387 posts by me and 6,648 reader comments. Let's break that down by year. In GFL's first year of operation, I put up 138 posts which drew a total of 1,514 comments (an average of 11 comments per post). In GFL's second year, I put up 249 posts which drew a total of 5,134 comments (an average of 21 comments per post).

However, these are all more than just statistics. These numbers show that a growing segment of local residents are making this blog a part of their daily lives. Some of you have been around from almost the beginning, while others have only recently discovered this forum for community interaction and information. I thank each and every one of GFL's readers. It has been very interesting getting to know all of you.

I believe this blog has evolved to have two complimentary purposes:

First, it allows any citizen the chance to share their thoughts and opinions of life in Grand Forks. The advent of "open threads" this past year has especially given people the ability to discuss a limitless array of topics. I believe this level of communication can be a very valuable tool for community leaders. Never before has it been so easy to gauge what people in this city are thinking and saying.

The second purpose of this blog is to get out information. Through my own posts and through the comments of readers, this blog has been responsible for breaking a wide assortment of local news stories. Readers of this blog will often get "the scoop" long before it airs on television or is printed in the paper. In fact, there have been a number of stories that likely never would have been mentioned in the local media had this blog not first published them. Click here to see just some of the stories that were on GFL before ever appearing in other local media. I'm happy that this blog is able to function as an independent, fresh source of news.

Thanks to all who read this blog and use it to discuss life in our community. You are responsible for Grand Forks Life's success.