Blueshirt Banter 2025 Year In Review

Good morning all,

As always, I want to start this year in review with a giant thank you to all of the members, both free and paid (although we love those of you who pay more!) for your support of the website. I have said this before but will reiterate it here: Every dollar you give to us either goes directly into the pockets of the paid writers for this site or into upgrading and updating the company as a whole.

Myself, Eric, and Chip (who have formed a sort of leadership trio from hell) do not get a single dollar for the work we're doing. I can't thank the two of them enough for all the back-end work and guidance they have provided me this year.

Nor would this site be what it is without Roberto, Chris, Jake, Keegan, Snark, Charlie, and Phil. Thank you all for the hard work!

Now, onto what I think will be of most interest.

The website has more members today than ever before—both free and paid. Traffic has grown to really pleasantly surprising levels, although it's worth noting some of that is bolstered by the free breaking news articles that are timely and search engine optimization giants for us. Still, the increased flow in viewership means we're going in the right direction on the back end to bring new voices into the member fold. The comments section is also more robust than ever, but that's a double-edged sword (more on this in a bit).

As we reiterated when we raised the price for new subscribers, we're hitting a point of critical mass on needing to update the hosting platform, which is going to be an enormous cost. Use of professional photos is also a significant financial lift for the company, as is a few back-end software plugins (the comment system, specifically) to keep the place running smoothly. I only say this because, while we are getting bigger than ever before, this is still an in-the-red endeavor for me—which is OK! But we're getting closer to breaking even, so that's good.

We rolled out the podcast for free toward the end of 2024, and the results have been fantastic. The audio space is enormously fragmented and scattered, but even given that we've managed to carve out a nice niche for ourselves. The podcasts have garnered a sustained listenership, and while it's nowhere near enough for us to monetize it on the aggregate level (Spotify has lofty demands for such privileges) we're working to do what we can. Eric and I have toyed with the idea of getting a more consistent stream of guests on the show. It's hard because we're usually recording on off-hours times, as our actual real-life jobs get in the way, but right now we feel like we have a good cadence and we're being authentic to the tone and tenor of the site. The listenership seems to agree. We've also toyed with the idea of a bonus (more fun) podcast for subscribers only. As always, those things take up precious time and it's been a lift to keep the podcast churning on a regular cadence. But it's at least on a burner, back or otherwise.

The Discord continues to be worked on and should be live shortly. There were some back-end issues with integrating those who subscribed only to that tier that we didn't anticipate, and candidly free time to implement the fix was an issue. We apologize for that, but it should be corrected soon. Roberto will be taking the bull by the horns with managing the discord for us as a discord master himself.

We recently recovered the YouTube page for Blueshirt Banter and have plans to raise that from the dead as well. There are some cool ways to integrate content specific for Discord and YouTube to work harmoniously with one another, and we're exploring some options on how to do so.

Now ... the commenting section. I have been adamant about not getting involved in over-moderation (or really moderation at all) for the comments. My hypothesis going into this was that requiring paid subscriptions would cull the trolls was correct. That said, as we have grown so too has the commenting section, and it's getting to the point where I think I am going to need to step in a little. We have had a fair amount of cancellations because of the tone of the comments, and while some of this I think is unfair, some of it is not. We've made small attempts to address this already, but I am going to start having a heavier hand in the comments and moderation behind the scenes. The tone and tenor of the comments is getting a little too much at times and it needs a little course correcting during these moments. This isn't a threat by any means, and is not directed to any one specific person. But, if you hear from me about it, don't be alarmed. In the meantime, everyone please be on their best behavior. We want it to be a good environment for everyone

And finally, the company as a whole. Eric and I are working on some internal upgrades to software and systems that we think will both make life easier for us and the writers, and make things more seamless for all of you.

In closing: The website has never been in a better position, and for the most part that's because of all of you. Thank you all for the support, viewership, listenership, and partnership for this past year. This place would be nothing without all of you.

Thank you all!

Joe Fortunato
Not Yet an Oil Oligarch, but Still Publisher of Blueshirt Banter and That’s OK