The video/podcast phase of our operation, which began early in the pandemic when I was bored from not having games to cover, became a blessing in the biggest way.
Well, except maybe one.
See, there'll probably always be some confusion about which one's our home base, even though there shouldn't be. This app/site, our own, is very much it. And it'll forever be it. But when viewers or listeners get introduced to us elsewhere, it's bound to take a little extra effort to explain some stuff.
So I'll try that here today in bullet form:
• First, if you're among the 250-plus to have migrated over here in the past few days from my now-persistent sales pitches on YouTube and the podcasting platforms ... thank you! You're why I'm whipping this entry up!
• This app/site is our own. One hundred percent. So when you contribute anything here, notably the subscription cost, we're not splitting it with Google, Apple or any other monolithic entity. Every penny stays right here in Pittsburgh, right here in our process.
• There's zero crossover between a subscription here and any tie anywhere else. This is notably a thing on YouTube, which offers only about a billion things called subscriptions, memberships, etc. And it's only after we began delving into some of those YouTube things that we realized ... man, this just isn't ever going to make sense. This was about two weeks ago. Since then, we've focused all of our efforts in bringing people here as subscribers.
• Similarly, there's zero crossover between our state-of-the-art commenting platform -- not to mention our worldwide commenting community -- and any other commenting platform anywhere. It's taken us many, many years to get where we are with our community, and we're extremely proud of it. This is our home, our Asylum.
• Our full-time staff, myself included, interacts with readers here in a way no outlet can match. We're all over comments, we each do a weekly written-form Live Qs, and we're here with our live video programming, as well. I'll strive to make those elements that much more visible to the newcomers, as we'll be doing a lot less of this now elsewhere. (Just no time!)
I hope that helps. If not, and you're new, I'd urge you to ask anything you'd like right here in the comments attached to this Site Stuff feature. Those can be found by tapping the blue commenting balloon that's always at the bottom right corner of every entry.
Thanks yet again, and welcome!
INSIDE THE WORKS
• There'll be no shows on Labor Day.
• Yes, we'll have places to comment on college football games. There'll be one in each school's feed, begun by files I'm creating myself that'll offer everything in advance of kickoff that we'd have had with a live file. As for in-game updates ... those will be up to you in comments!
• If you still aren't seeing app alerts: Tap your Profile (the circle at the top left corner of the home page). Go under Preferences, find Devices, and tap Manage. If you see a question asking you if you still don't see your device, tap that, then select REQUEST PERMISSIONS. That should fix it.
• We have schedule/results pages now for the Steelers and Pirates. We'll have one for the Penguins within the coming week. The scores that you see there link to our own game-center files.
• Coming very soon because we now have the capability: Menu tags for specific types of content. Like, for example, Site Stuff, Friday Insider and so forth. I just need a little time.
• Paying subscribers live here ad-free. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/restart at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts for students, seniors and special workers.
• Feel free to add a generous review on our Google business listing, our Appleand Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own official app pages, whether it's the Apple or Android version. It makes a difference.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our annual Military Drive will begin with next week's Site Stuff. To those who've already contributed, those 45 will serve as the starting point. With our thanks.
• Our page-view numbers were 702,471, with 23,278 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Aug. 22-28. Our most-read original piece was my column on the Steelers' uncertainties from the South Side, at 9,818.
• Our video views for the past week, also Aug. 22-28, were 261,551. Our most-watched show was Chris Halicke'sChalk Talk breakdown of the Steelers' Yahya Black from Charlotte, N.C., at 18,027.
THE ASYLUM
Site Stuff: If you're (among the many) new here
The video/podcast phase of our operation, which began early in the pandemic when I was bored from not having games to cover, became a blessing in the biggest way.
Well, except maybe one.
See, there'll probably always be some confusion about which one's our home base, even though there shouldn't be. This app/site, our own, is very much it. And it'll forever be it. But when viewers or listeners get introduced to us elsewhere, it's bound to take a little extra effort to explain some stuff.
So I'll try that here today in bullet form:
• First, if you're among the 250-plus to have migrated over here in the past few days from my now-persistent sales pitches on YouTube and the podcasting platforms ... thank you! You're why I'm whipping this entry up!
• This app/site is our own. One hundred percent. So when you contribute anything here, notably the subscription cost, we're not splitting it with Google, Apple or any other monolithic entity. Every penny stays right here in Pittsburgh, right here in our process.
• There's zero crossover between a subscription here and any tie anywhere else. This is notably a thing on YouTube, which offers only about a billion things called subscriptions, memberships, etc. And it's only after we began delving into some of those YouTube things that we realized ... man, this just isn't ever going to make sense. This was about two weeks ago. Since then, we've focused all of our efforts in bringing people here as subscribers.
• Similarly, there's zero crossover between our state-of-the-art commenting platform -- not to mention our worldwide commenting community -- and any other commenting platform anywhere. It's taken us many, many years to get where we are with our community, and we're extremely proud of it. This is our home, our Asylum.
• Our full-time staff, myself included, interacts with readers here in a way no outlet can match. We're all over comments, we each do a weekly written-form Live Qs, and we're here with our live video programming, as well. I'll strive to make those elements that much more visible to the newcomers, as we'll be doing a lot less of this now elsewhere. (Just no time!)
I hope that helps. If not, and you're new, I'd urge you to ask anything you'd like right here in the comments attached to this Site Stuff feature. Those can be found by tapping the blue commenting balloon that's always at the bottom right corner of every entry.
Thanks yet again, and welcome!
INSIDE THE WORKS
• There'll be no shows on Labor Day.
• Yes, we'll have places to comment on college football games. There'll be one in each school's feed, begun by files I'm creating myself that'll offer everything in advance of kickoff that we'd have had with a live file. As for in-game updates ... those will be up to you in comments!
• If you still aren't seeing app alerts: Tap your Profile (the circle at the top left corner of the home page). Go under Preferences, find Devices, and tap Manage. If you see a question asking you if you still don't see your device, tap that, then select REQUEST PERMISSIONS. That should fix it.
• We have schedule/results pages now for the Steelers and Pirates. We'll have one for the Penguins within the coming week. The scores that you see there link to our own game-center files.
• Coming very soon because we now have the capability: Menu tags for specific types of content. Like, for example, Site Stuff, Friday Insider and so forth. I just need a little time.
• Paying subscribers live here ad-free. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/restart at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts for students, seniors and special workers.
• Feel free to add a generous review on our Google business listing, our Apple and Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own official app pages, whether it's the Apple or Android version. It makes a difference.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our annual Military Drive will begin with next week's Site Stuff. To those who've already contributed, those 45 will serve as the starting point. With our thanks.
• Our page-view numbers were 702,471, with 23,278 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Aug. 22-28. Our most-read original piece was my column on the Steelers' uncertainties from the South Side, at 9,818.
• Our video views for the past week, also Aug. 22-28, were 261,551. Our most-watched show was Chris Halicke's Chalk Talk breakdown of the Steelers' Yahya Black from Charlotte, N.C., at 18,027.
• Our company social media: 65,828 followers on Facebook, 58,769 on X, 52,983 on YouTube, 17,169 on Instagram, 6,390 on Threads, 6,450 on TikTok, 2,757 on Bluesky
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• The Downtown HQ/shop's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m., and our company merch can all be had in our online store. We will NOT be open Labor Day.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this proud independent venture.
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