We have just had word that the Clyde and Forth Press will no longer be publishing the Scottish Curler.  This brings to an end an institution that dates back over 50 years.  Scottish curling will no longer have a magazine in print format after the souvenir Gala Dinner edition hits the news stands and becomes tomorrow morning's fish supper paper.

For independent news, we will have to rely on Bob Cowan's http://www.skipcottagecurling.blogspot.com/, which he produces at his own expense and at no cost to the end user.  Those interested in the history of our sport will still have Bob and David Smith's http://curlinghistory.blogspot.com/.  Mike Haggerty continues to try to support the sport by covering major events and sending reports to the Scottish national press.  Others, like Hugh and Christine Stewart, do their bit to promote our sport and, of course, now that we have entered the great "Four Year Gap" between serious terrestrial TV coverage, Eurosport and various webcasts will give us a fix when it comes to watching the sport on a screen.  

The Forum has a part to play as well, of course, in airing views and giving people the opportunity to vent their feelings in an informal and occasionally anonymous setting.  I have to tell correspondents though that, to be taken seriously, you will have to put your names to your views.  I no longer use the avatar of old, Gramacho 83F; I thought that everyone knew my identity, but it was pointed out to me that only forum members could go into my profile and see my name - hence my coming out of the closet, so to speak!

In any case, it is the end of an era I fear, unless a white knight can ride into the magazine's rescue.  Shame really, but such is life.

The loss of the Scottish curler is a disappointment, but frankly Bob's commentary has a more cutting edge and I preferred it anyway.

Copey,  your candor is welcome - does that mean I should chose a less heavily disguised picture?

James,  you are right on the button. As a community we need to ensure that Bob's astonishing committment to us is matched by our committment to him.  Should we not discuss that here?

The Curler website - http://www.scottishcurler.com/subscribe/ - is still looking for subscribers.

Like the other posters I will be very sad to see it go.

I will donate too Bob, juts set up a link for paypal or similar.

And me!

Moi aussie.

Thanks to all who have pledged support. Much heartened to hear this.

The position is/was that I was taking the summer months to have a think over whether I really wanted to continue. And if I was to continue, how could I improve the blog and make it more relevant to the most number of people.

The announcement about the Scottish Curler came out of left field. I am sorry to see it go.

I continue to believe that there is a need for independent voices speaking out for our sport. I am happy to be one, and like to think there will be others, in time. And of course this Forum has a big part to play in the great scheme of things.

So, to answer John's direct question, let me ponder a little more on how exactly I want to live my own life over the next year or two. But as of today I am inclined towards continuing. After all, the garden sleeps during the winter and there are less trainspotting opportunities!

Suggestions on how to improve what I do on the blog would as always be appreciated.

Bob

Thanks for your feedback DA. I'm faced with a common conundrum - stick with a well established formula and risk getting stuck in a rut, or look to change and improve, which is also not without risk.

In terms of numbers, I cannot speak for the Scottish Curler. They would call subscription numbers a business confidence.

In terms of the skipcottagecurling blog, I know exactly the traffic. I use some great software from www.statcounter.com. With a small piece of code hidden on the page, I can track, thanks to StatCounter, the number of unique users, and hits, on a daily basis, and also find out where people are logging in from, and get some idea why they are looking at the site. Have they come in from a search engine, for example, and if so, what were they searching for.

During the season, the average unique visitors per day was around 500. In early January, with the interest in the Grand Match, that went up to over 1500 in one day, and during the Olympics the number of unique users peaked at 4000 (many searching for 'David Murdoch' and 'Eve Muirhead'). The total hits can be 50% more, especially during competitions when one person may log on more than once.

Competitions which I attended and blogged from get increased numbers. Unique users during the Glynhill were around 1000 each day, and for the Edinburgh International, which had its own address, just less than this.

We may be in the summer, and I'm not posting every day. Still, yesterday, Monday June 7, the blog had 446 unique visitors (518 hits).

85-90% of users are in the UK, most of the rest are from North America (both Canada and the US), but there are regular visitors from most of the curling countries worldwide.

Hope that is of interest. If anyone has specific questions they can send me a pm, or email (my email address can be found in my profile on my blogs).

Bob