Site Stuff: On Memorial Day ☕ taken in Strip District (Courtesy of Curtis Pharmacy)

MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

I'm always happy for the chance to shake the hand of a subscriber, anywhere we might happen to meet. But I tend to save the great, big bear hugs for the following three categories:

• Longtime reader I'd never met

• Lifetime Lunatic

• Members of our military

In most cases, those are readers paying nothing at all to enjoy this site/app, and that's precisely how we prefer it. Been that way since we launched. We offer free subscriptions for all active-duty military, and the rest of our readership -- in a movement that originated in Site Stuff comments long ago -- cover the veterans.

So, on this Memorial Day weekend, please feel free to share this article with anyone in the military with an interest in Pittsburgh sports and let them know we're here for them. No cost. Not now. Not ever.

Here's where to send them: Free military subscription

And, as always, the thanks go to them.

VETERANS COUNT: 119

Got a text yesterday from our man Josh DeNinno at Moon Golf Club, who wants to remind readers of his Veterans Challenge to our subscribers. Josh is buying 10 a month himself for a total of 100 in 2019, and he's challenging subscribers to achieve a goal of 1,000 by year's end.

Current count: 119

Here’s where to contribute. (In the past week, we had 26 military requests, all filled.) And if you have any questions, email us at Help@DKPittsburghSports.com -- DK

LIFETIMES LEFT: 60

We've sold 40 Lifetime Lunatic subscriptions, so 60 remain toward our new cap of 100, combined with the original 500. There's no plan to sell more in the foreseeable future. It costs $299. If you'd like one, buy it here. If you're an existing subscriber and want to go Lifetime, do the same thing, then email us at Help@DKPittsburghSports.com to let us know. We'll refund the remainder of your existing account. -- DK

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

A reader asked how our site covered the Steelers’ first three days of OTAs this week. The answer is easy, the execution not so easy.

It’s a combination of planning, flexibility and hustle, and sometimes luck.

Several days before the OTAs began, we had a planning meeting at our splendid Highmark Stadium office. DK, Dale Lolley, Hunter Homistek, Matt Sunday and I were there, and we mapped out a lineup of stories we hoped to get. That’s all well and good, but news coverage is a lot like the weather – things change. And OTAs take on a fire drill mentality because the reporters and photographers have only one chance to interact with the players: When they’re coming off the field.

It’s kind of like a kickoff with one team charging forward to meet the other team coming just as fast the other direction. Sometimes somebody slips through and the subject of a planned story is nowhere to be seen. Time for Plan B, and not much time at all.

Believe it or not, it works. Our coverage team produced a mountain of great content this week from Ben Roethlisberger’s first words to the assembled journalists to Terrell Edmunds’ Twitter flap. And, to think, that’s only the first three days with seven more OTA sessions to come, followed by minicamp with Latrobe not long after that.

Only 106 days until kickoff in Foxborough..  -- Jim Barger

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

We're always looking to grow our base of business partners, and there currently are several very good opportunities available to take advantage of our unprecedented reach. Our 2019 media kit has all the info you’d want. Email me directly at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com to set up a meeting. -- Dali Kovacevic

WE'RE LISTENING

• Our developers at Build In Motion are adding Face ID and Touch ID logins for Apple users. Android will have to wait because it's much more complicated. -- DK

• We've also formed a plan to address the disappearing-keyboard issue that's affecting a few users -- on Android, of course -- but that'll take a good bit longer. -- DK

BACK TO BUSINESS

• New subscribers for 2019 are at 412. You can now track this figure daily at the bottom of the desktop and tablet versions of the site.

• Our daily active app users, averaged out over the past week, are at 12,212, broken down as 9,645 on Apple, 2,567 on Android.  That total's minus-116 from the previous week. This figure will always fluctuate with the seasons and the news, so the goal is a steady, gradual increase, initially to 15,000, a number we've never achieved.

• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past month, are at 64,809. The goal with this figure is also about a steady, gradual increase, first to 100,000, a number we've achieved only during the two Stanley Cup runs.

• Our most-hit article of the past week -- exempting live files -- was Hunter Homistek's coverage of Antonio Brown calling Ben Roethlisberger a 'two face' at 7,741. The Steelers accounted for 120,444 page views, the Pirates 88,589 and the Penguins 39,022.

• We're at 32,082 (+16) followers on Twitter, we're at 31,934 (+168) page likes on Facebook, we're at 10,797 (+24) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.

• If you've got a blog or forum or social media account with some significant background and credibility, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com to see how we can partner up.

• Get our free newsletter with a simple signup! We send out a new one Monday-Friday at 7 a.m.

• We make mistakes. If you see one, email Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com

• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email us: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com

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