Merry Christmas, and what did we just find under the tree? It looks like GraniteGrok is expanding a bit more across the Northeast. And why not? We regularly comment on the decline of the states around us. VermontGrok is doing well, with new content almost daily. Why not do the same for Maine?
You might know why.
We have a handful of local sites that do not generate much local content. Many of our NH MicroGok sites (MGs) were inspired by locals looking for a web portal to publish local content, but then the work of creating it became a reality. Not much happens. Frequent Op-Ed writers who had previously provided regular material suffer a writing drought. Others move on to projects that keep them away from the keyboard.
It happens. I get it. This is not a hobby for the faint of heart. Sticking your head above ground regularly lends itself to the opposition – often from your own party – taking a swing at you. You need thick skin, and we have our fair share of folks here who have it (hint: always looking for more).
The other issue is the big picture. State, national, and global issues – with plenty of local relevance – are more appealing to the author and generally get more clicks. However, the point of MGs is to grow a local audience that also makes time for those bick-click posts.
With that in mind, I will add a few more changes to the dynamic. We’ve got the basic details of the site upgrade worked out. That will roll out sometime next year. Early is better, but I’ll let you know. As part of that, we are making a few changes. The structure will allow us to add the Ad-Free VIP portion for donors of 100.00 or more who were promised a year as part of our ongoing fundraiser and any new subscribers (we are still not at our 2023 goal, by the way). Disqus as a commenting platform will be replaced with the WordPress equivalent (existing comments on ‘Grok will be migrated from Disqus).
We will be adding MaineGrok.
The header of every page will include filters (links) to sort content by all the satellite sites but also by ”NH, New England, The Nation, and The World.’ Part of that shift will include limiting the MG pages to local content only. There’s no point in them if they are just a dumpster for Mothership content about non-local issues.
If you go to Windham, Lakes Region, Monadnock, or SeacoastGrok (Windham, Manchester, Hollis, or Nashua), you will see stuff relevant to that city, town, or area. Vermont may have national content, as our Vermont Authors do that sort of thing, but almost always with a tie-in to the impact on Vermont. The MaineGrok page will have a similar exception. And if you can tie local interest to the national issue, we’ll let those slide. But posts about Joe Biden banning gas stoves aren’t going to get mirrors on Hollis Grok unless the author asked someone in Hollis (other than themselves) for their opinion.
Note to MG authors – that’s your ticket, so punch it.
VermontGrok has been a great experience so far. We could use a few more contributors and need more Op-Eds from Green Mountain State Locals, but we have readers there and in Maine, where they’ve begun swirling the same progressive drain as Vermont. The goal is to embargo that content to its state or local silo unless we find a Main Page appeal. You’ll see much of it on our Main Page until we’ve completed all the planned transitions.
One more thing. The political landscape has been shifting significantly since the response to COVID. We are increasingly less about left and right and more about us versus them—the people vs. the elites. Globalist Progressive terrorism is the leading threat to human liberty. As such, our focus – which has always been and will continue to be filtered by our nation’s founding principles – should evolve to meet the threat.
I think we need a new tagline that demonstrates that, and I’m open to suggestions.
At present, it is “Dominating the Political Bandwidth in New Hampshire.” I want something that focuses on this new division of the masses. The players may mostly be right and left or conservative and progressive, but those lines are increasingly blurred. The fight at every level, from your hamlet to the UN, has long been cascading toward what protects individual rights and what is offensive to them.
If you can encapsulate that for me in a handful of words (remember, it’s a tagline), I’ll send you a Grok hat for free (Red or Blue, Your Choice). I may yet come up with one myself, but if yours inspired that, you’d still score the swag. I may even send a hat to the top five, even if we don’t use them word for word. (I have plenty to give away). Email me. steve@granitegrok.com Subject: New Grok tagline.
And thanks for reading, donating, and sharing.
Merry Christmas!
