Here's a crazy concept: We can disagree and still get along.
Heck, we can even -- gasp! -- engage in actual dialogue.
Every once in a while, it's worth reminding that this app/site offers divergent viewpoints. An opinion I put forth in a column won't match yours. An opinion Dale Lolley puts forth in a Talking Point won't match Taylor Haase's. A comment or a reply in our Asylum won't match anything that's above or below it. That's life. Even in our increasingly polarized climate, where people tend to flock to safe places where only their preferred perspectives are mirrored, that's still life.
I don't bring this up for any specific reason, but it does give me pause from time to time, so I'll share a handful of related thoughts:
• There's no such thing as a universal editorial stance here. Meaning, like, a DK Pittsburgh Sports stance. On anything. So when Dale takes one side, Taylor another, trust me that neither's forced or endorsed. They're individuals. As am I. As are you. If any of us disagrees, we're all free to speak up.
• I do most of the opinion pieces on this staff -- that's what a column is, for those who never heard of newspapers -- so I'll probably tick the most people off. That's fine. That's the nature of the job. The only line I draw with the reaction that comes back is when it gets personal or attacks my professionalism. I'm way, way past the point in my life and career where I put up with that stuff. But really, that stuff's rare, which is both awesome and appreciated.
• By the way, commenting's a privilege, not a right and not at all part of the subscription, as laid out in our privacy policy. It can be revoked any time for any reason without a refund. That said, this happens almost never.
• When I'll robustly disagree with a reader -- and the same goes for our staff -- we'll retort with the same passion you'd expect of people who cover sports for a living. This isn't Wal-Mart. It's sports. And the customer isn't always right. If anyone wants sports writers who just go through the motions and don't care about their profession or the subject matter, this is definitely not their ideal destination.
• No politics. Always bears repeating. We've taken on serious issues, as longtime readers know. I'm proud of that work. But nothing positive comes from talking politics anywhere, and it won't here, either. That's just 2021. So that rule's iron-clad, and I'm confident that our readers support us on this.
Again, no specific reason for writing this. Just good to let everyone, notably newcomers, know where we stand. And if anyone ever feels compelled to cancel over any opinion here, understand that all we'll do is show you where the door is. Because that's a mindset that won't last anywhere very long, and we'd lose you at some point, anyway, you know?
MISERABLE MONTH
Man, June's been the worst.
It usually is, so that isn't a surprise. But even so, as you'll see in the weekly numbers below, it's just an all-around beating.
What's that mean?
Well, in a nutshell, the Penguins have really got to stop losing in the first round every summer. It's a crusher. And that's principally because it creates this big gap between the last game and the next NHL event. Nothing happens. One day, there's Game 6 on Long Island. The next day, two months later, there's the expansion draft.
When any of our three teams goes totally dark, we lose app/site entries. Meaning the number of times people, even subscribers, bother opening up to see what we've got that day. Because that's the tide that raises all boats. This month, we're at roughly one-third the number of app entries that we were earlier this year.
It's not a killer. When a business is nearly seven years old, it's equipped for dips. But it's no fun, either, since a lot of good content can get lost unless we compensate. For example, Tom Reed's exceptional In-Depth piece this morning from Greensboro, N.C., on the Pirates' top pitching prospects, will probably stay atop our home page through Sunday afternoon. Way longer than usual. And that's because we're accounting for the lack of opens and still hoping readers will see it at some point this weekend.
Oh, yeah, that means you, too! Go read it!
DADS & GRADS ALL DONE
Our Dads & Grads promotion, in which we pushed the sale of gift subscriptions for Father's Day and recent graduations, wound up with a total sale of 59. That included, not surprisingly, the bulk of that -- 27 -- coming on actual Father's Day because ... well, we see how you are, waiting till the last minute!
Thanks to everyone who bought one!
AMAZING MILITARY DONATION
Inspired by Josh DeNinno at Moon Golf Club, we're striving to connect an unprecedented 2,000 military veterans to their favorite teams with free one-year subscriptions in 2021.
So far, we're at 421, including a mindblowing singular contribution of 250 by a local subscriber who asked not to be named ... but wow, thank you!
Important point to make: Thanks to everyone who's been part of this. Every contribution counts, large and small, and they're all appreciated equally. Plain and simple, we don't reach our goal with just the big ones or just the small ones. All are needed.
The cost of a single one-year military subscription is always $20. You can contribute one, or as many as you'd like. And the process couldn't be simpler: Email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com and let me know how many you'd like, and I, in turn, can thank you personally.
WEEKLY APP TIPS
Sharing ways to make your app experience even better:
• We've added a LIVE staff Twitter feed to the app! It's easy to access by pushing the bottom right button on the app, one that replaces the previous LIVE page -- collecting live game files -- that very few were using. One tap is all it takes to check out up-to-the-second material from our reporters wherever we happen to be. Without leaving the app. On laptop/desktop, it's just as easy: It's atop the home page on the right side of our floating menu bar.
Our previous two tips:
• If something ever happens that you really, really don't like on the app -- as happens on every app -- close out of it. Don't just minimize. Close out of it completely. That's done differently, depending on your phone and operating system, but do ... that. (I'm not awesome at technical advice.) Once you do, reopen the app, and it's all golden again.
• Go get an avatar! Go to your profile, tap the little camera icon near the top, insert any image that's 300x300 or smaller, tap SAVE, and that's it. This will now show as your image on comments, as well as the top left corner of your home page.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 298,830, down 4% from the previous week and, for a third consecutive week, our lowest such mark of 2021. Our most-read original piece again was my 21 Takes column, at 8,731. Broken down by team, articles on the Pirates brought 24.4% of our traffic, the Steelers 23.5%, the Penguins 15.2%.
• Our new subscribers for the past week were at 61, up 8 from the previous week.
• Our new app downloads for the past week were 53 for Apple, down 4 from the previous week, and 29 for Android, down 2 from the previous week.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were 80,327, down 10% from the previous week.
• Our YouTube video views for the past week were 123,151, down 23% from the previous week.
• We're at 41,453 (+76) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,136 (-11) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,601 (+6) followers on Instagram, and we're at 4,526 (+319) followers on YouTube. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Random geographic fun, to be read in an Alex Trebek voice: These were the four European Union nations in our top 10 for app users for the past week. If it helps, they were Nos. 6, 8, 9 and 10 on our list. Good luck with this one. Need to get all four.