2 million in a little over 5 years (I’ve been blogging for over 6, but installed the Sitemeter counter mid 2004).

While that doesn’t quite qualify Israellycool for the big leagues, I’m not going to get greedy. 2 million is certainly nothing to be sneezed at (no swine flu jokes – too obvious). And I’m pretty sure if that isn’t the highest number for any Israeli blog in English, it would be pretty close to it.

Anyway, the real point of the post is to thank all of you who make Israellycool a regular stop on your internet travels. Special props to those of you who contribute in the comments section.

I love youse all.

P.S I haven’t solicited for donations in a while, so if you appreciate my efforts and want to express that by helping to support the site, please click on the Support My Blog widget on the right hand side.

I realize I still have some fine tuning ahead of me, but for now, I would appreciate your feedback on the new look and feel of the site.

So what are you waiting for?

Given the evident interest in entering into deep and interesting discussions, plus the obvious need to have a central locations where answers to the thorny questions can be posted, I have created this forum.

Besides a general discussion section covering topics such as the Israeli-palestinian Conflict, Global Jihad and Terrorism and Moonbats, there is also a section in which Israellycool readers and listeners can talk a bit about themselves and even post photos of themselves wearing Israellycool apparel (yes, a rather transparent attempt on my part to encourage you to buy from the Israellycool store!)

You’ll need to first register to be able to post (or, if I am not mistaken, you can use your Israellycool user account if you already have one).

So what are you waiting for?

Update: I am also looking for one or two trusted readers to be co-moderators of the forum. Please contact me via email (israellycool-at-yahoo-dot-com) if you are interested.

Or 6,161 posts and 14,709 comments.

The past year saw great hope’n'change on Israellycool. 1,124 posts were written, and there were 4,954 comments. This number of comments represents almost 50% of the total number of comments posted in the previous 5 years, so my calls for you to help bring about a community feel were heeded. Thank you!

What’s even more pleasing is the quality of comments. Leaving aside the trolls (of which there are unfortunately many), I am proud of the fact that we have such diversity of opinion, with regular readers from all walks of life, including some from the Arab and Muslim world (Those who accuse me of being anti-Muslim or anti-Arab should take note). All in all, I am enjoying following the comments section, and would like to thank those of you who have made it such an interesting and educational place.

Site traffic also skyrocketed this past year, with the current daily average number of unique visitors more than triple what it was this time last year. And while I have “sky rockets” of another kind to “thank” for this, new readers have stayed past the end of Operation Cast Lead.

So all in all, the past year was in many ways the most satisfying for me from a blogging point of view, despite the number of times I was close to giving it all away in the face of my father’s illness and subsequent passing.

Once again, thank you for sticking with me and contributing to make Israellycool hopefully one of the most entertaining and informative blogs around.

In the meantime, if any of you are graphically talented and would like to create an election banner for tomorrow’s election post, please write me at israellycool-at-yahoo-dot-com. You’ll get attribution and the satisfaction of having helped me out.

United Hatzalah – Saving Lives – “First on the Scene”

Nefesh B’Nefesh – The One Stop Shop for Aliyah

Siach – Post high school (pluralistic) program in Israel

Warm the Needy – Keeping the poor of Israel warm in the Winter

In addition, please visit the Blogads advertisers in the left sidebar.

And thank you for your support over the years.

Still hardly any comments on posts, and traffic has remained at pretty much the same level for over two years.

And let’s be honest – while this blog exists in pursuit of a higher goal, there are now many blogs doing the same thing.

I have put in quite a bit of effort and money in to this blog over the last 5 years, but I’m now thinking that I could perhaps spend this time on other worthwhile pursuits.

(And no, this is not a post designed to solicit complimentary comments. I’m really at a loss as to why I have not managed to take this blog to the next level).