The blog title is associated with the Wells Fargo account fraud scandal. Their rank and file employees were faced strong pressure to cross-sell products, "eight is great". The basic idea was to get every bank customer to sign up for eight products and services, regardless of whether they actually needed them. I also try to promote my product to others. However, the product is free of charge and no strings are attached. I launched the website on 1st March 2014. This is eight years ago, "eight is great". The first blog entry I posted had the dramatic title "So it begins...". Since then I have posted an anniversary blog post this time every year. The second blog post (2015) had the expectantly title "So it continues...". Here, I discussed the past, present and future for the site. The third blog post (2016) had the prosaic title "And so it goes on and on and on and on and on...". Here, I did some merciless following up on ambitions and promises. The fourth blog post (2017) had the patronizing title "The necessity of content gardening". Here, I stated that a website, with proper content gardening, could live forever. The fifth blog post (2018) had the technical title "Ratchet effect through organic growth”. Here, I speculated how web indexing and algorithms drove traffic to unprecedented levels. The sixth blog post (2019) had the glorifying title "5 years and 100 000 hits". Here, I rattled off statistics lengthwise and crosswise. The seventh blog post (2020) had the dutiful title "The show must go on". Here, I concluded that the responsibilities I have towards society are too important to be calling it quits. The eight blog post (2021) had the explanatory title "7 is the number following 6 and preceding 8". Here, I complained about muddling through in the time of the pandemic. Today, it's time again for a new blog post. The visitor counter indicates 182 591.
Assessment
Executive summary: The website has operated successfully for the last eight years. New content has been added with regularity and to a sufficient degree without any deterioration in quality. The website is in need of a minor review, primarly with the intent on updating existing texts and removal of dead links. A plan for this has been developed. Minor disruptancies in the operation of the website have occured, but this haven't affected production or quality. The coming year we will see a strong focus on content and the management and development of the site.
Visitor statistics
To go from zero to 180 000 visitors took 2 889 days. Business was slow in the beginning. Then the web indexing and Google algorithms began to kick in. The average number of days to reach another 10 000 visitors has normally been around 130-140. The last year has been a record year. More than 30 000 visitors during the last year. All time high.
| Hits | Date | Days | Total |
| 10 000 | 2014-11-20 | 264 | 264 |
| 20 000 | 2015-07-05 | 227 | 491 |
| 30 000 | 2016-03-05 | 244 | 735 |
| 40 000 | 2016-10-21 | 230 | 965 |
| 50 000 | 2017-04-09 | 170 | 1 135 |
| 60 000 | 2017-08-18 | 131 | 1 266 |
| 70 000 | 2018-01-09 | 144 | 1 410 |
| 80 000 | 2018-05-19 | 130 | 1 540 |
| 90 000 | 2018-10-06 | 140 | 1 680 |
| 100 000 | 2019-02-17 | 134 | 1 814 |
| 110 000 | 2019-07-16 | 149 | 1 963 |
| 120 000 | 2020-01-03 | 171 | 2 134 |
| 130 000 | 2020-05-03 | 141 | 2 275 |
| 140 000 | 2020-10-10 | 140 | 2 415 |
| 150 000 | 2021-02-20 | 133 | 2 548 |
| 160 000 | 2021-06-14 | 114 | 2 662 |
| 170 000 | 2021-09-22 | 100 | 2 762 |
| 180 000 | 2022-01-27 | 127 | 2 889 |
Department statistics
I wrote one new article last year, listed one more artist in the table, created zero new lists and wrote 30 blog entries. I also have a list of 4-5 bands waiting to be included in my prestigious article series.
| Department | 2022-03-01 | 2021-03-01 | 2020-03-01 | 2019-03-01 | 2018-03-01 | 2017-03-01 |
| Articles | 68 | 67 | 66 | 65 | 62 | 62 |
| Artists | 143 | 142 | 141 | 138 | 135 | 128 |
| Lists | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 32 | 27 |
| Miscellaneous | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Blog | 214 | 184 | 158 | 129 | 99 | 84 |
Most visited pages
The five pages below are the most visited. The order has shifted over time. The start page (Home) is and have always been the most visited page. Not very surprising. The second page is the list "10 essential gothic country albums", which comprises a canon of must-have gothic country albums. The third page "Artists" is a simple list with links. Review of "Fossils" (Sons of Perdition collaborative album) is placed as number four. The "About" page with mission statement is a newcomer and placed as number five. The Sons of Perdition article page belonged to the five most visited pages for many years. It's now placed as number seven.
| No | Page | 2022-03-01 | 2021-03-01 | 2020-03-01 | 2019-03-01 | 2018-03-01 | 2017-03-01 |
| 1 | Home | 182 591 | 150 601 | 124 031 | 100 813 | 73 857 | 46 277 |
| 2 | 10 essential gothic country albums | 26 981 | 24 663 | 19 722 | 14 372 | 7 540 | 3 946 |
| 3 | Artists | 22 312 | 19 410 | 16 228 | 13 312 | 9 983 | 5 513 |
| 4 | Review of "Fossils" | 16 942 | 13 390 | - | - | - | - |
| 5 | About | 15 441 | - | - | - | - | - |
Flaws
The website has been up and running almost twenty-four seven. During planned network maintenance my web hosting privider experienced an issue with one of their core switches (2021-03-05). They experienced an issue with their service due to a disturbance in their network (2021-06-12). I have a backlog of work. The website contains certain obsolete information and dead links. I will make a complete overhaul when I find the time. Last year I felt compelled to disconnect the YouTube module on the site since the videos are living matter. If you stumble over any obsolete or incorrect information or any dead links don't hesitate to contact me and I will fix it. I take some pride in that the website is updated.
Reflections
I haven't received a single e-mail from market or web solutions companies where they claim earnings from the site. The site is non-profit and free of advertisment. This is the way it has been and will always be.
Future
I will go on untiringly within the limits of family, work and other duties.