TAH 5th Anniversary
Yup, today marks the fifth anniversary of the day I was banned at Right Nation. I’d been banned before at The History Channel forums about nine thousand times, but being banned at a conservative forum just didn’t sit right with me, so I finally started a place where I couldn’t get banned.
Well, I’ve been banned sort of, thousands of people avoid the blog everyday. And every time I put a bad word in a headline of a post, we lose fans on Facebook and Twitter.
So in our five years, we’ve been nominated for the Milblog Awards three times…TSO says we’re the Susan Lucci of the Milbloggies; Three nominations and no wins. But, we’ve been beat by the best blogs on the internet in our category, so I’m not complaining…I’m just glad that some people think we’re in the same class.
The name of the blog came from a book I read by the same name written by journalist of what he saw while he covered the Gulf War. While he and a staff sergeant from the 1st Cav Division watched a B52 strike on the horizon from Saudi Arabia, the staff sergeant turned to the reporter and said “This ain’t Hell , but you can see it from here” – now it’s the title of a book and the name of this blog.
Our buddy, Matt Burden, also known as Blackfive once wrote about us; “Sometimes hilarious, sometimes deadly serious, This Ain’t Hell writes tough about tough issues.” That’s kind of been my focus in the last few years – to say the things that no one else will say, to write about the stuff no one else will write about, to criticize the people and ideas that no one else will criticize.
But what makes this blog successful is the commenters – you guys send me so many tips, I can’t keep up with them all, and new folks come here to read your comments – and most of you are tougher on our subject characters than I am. You’re the reason thousands of people from across the globe come here every day, and I thank you for your participation.
In our five year history, we’ve written 8,000 posts and you’ve written 80,000 comments. Thanks to everyone for being here to feed my ego, and assuage the pain of getting banned at Right Nation…even if you don’t click my ads.
Category: Pointless blather
Wow, has it really been 5 years? Seems like just yesterday I was getting banned from Ann Coulter’s forum for suggesting vivisection of Confederate prisoners at Elmira was just as bad, if not worse, than the situation at Andersonville. Maybe the administrator of her site just needed a good poke in the ass? In any case, in honor of this auspicious occasion, I will click on every link I can find…fo’ da’ chirrin.
I’m with that Claymore– the clickin’ part, that is, not the butt poking.
I’m clicking, I’m clicking…..specially because it was one of my fellow 1st Cav alum that came up with the name!!
BTW, congrats Jonn!! I’ve had a blast coming here the last few years!
Happy Anniversary to TAH and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, stud muffin.
Now I’ve got some clickin’ to do! I’ll wrap a bow around each one as your present.
Love ya!
Congratulations, Jonn, and thank you for letting me run my yapper as I see fit. I get to say what’s on my mind without having to worry about the “moderators” or “site owner” getting butt hurt by me splaying the spleen of some ignorant tool in the comments section. Plus, I get the added bonus of watching you do the same with commentors right here.
I’m clickin’, I’m clickin’
Gongratz on your 5 year mark, I’ve been reading this blog for about a year and now its a daily habit.
Adds you say? Hadn’t noticed them before, will click atleast 20 today.
Congrats on the 5 year mark!
I see about three ads total; could be my filters or something. But look! There’s a “Donate” button at the bottom! I’ll have to see if that works on payday… 🙂
Jonn et. al. Thanks so much for allowing the old to hang out here also. Jonn knows I got booted from THC then Patriot Files 1, so I feel at home here. Need to get clicking! I also appreciate the respect I’ve gotten from 99.44% of the posters here. Thanks guys/girls!
Really good site…really good job!
Honor and Courage
Congratulations Jonn, et al! Been following TAH since it’s inception, and loving it. Actually it was a big relief for me personally that TAH came online. A place where truth can be told without all the bullshit PC meandering drivel of other blogs. My Stetson is off to you for a job well done and a concerted effort will be made to do some clicking in the future. Please keep up the great post.
Happy birthday! If only more people would work so hard to make their voices heard.
Happy Anniversary TAH! I came over here as a reader a couple of years ago after reading your work on phony vet exposure through B5.
First…sorry I forget to click…I just did…and You rock! Your Winter Soldier coverage is what did it for me…and I’ve been coming ever since. Woot…Happy Blogaversary to you!
Hey Tankerbabe…check your spam folder for some mail for me…Went directly to the queen herself and she ignored me! 🙂
All square with MaryAnn, though!
Thanks for the Great Site, and Happy Anniversary!!!!
Jerry
Between your site, B5, the Castle of Arrggh, and Lex I stay informed. Better yet, I don’t have to don on the protective gear (rubber boots and gloves) to wade into a LameStream Media site….
Being fully aware of the price of good beer n cigars, I click on your ads quite often, even buy from the “Superbrite LED” people.
I followed COB6 over here, and haven’t left yet. Keep up the good work.
Congrats gents, its the first site I hit every morning. Good luck in the future.
Congrats Jonn! I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t stroll through here each day. Great articles, pithy comments, all around honesty in calling a spade a spade.
I appreciate all the hard word it takes to keep this place running. You make it look easy. You also have a great stable of writers here and that just adds the icing to the cake.
Thanks for keeping this place open.
Happy Annivesary!! (If you can spell it wrong in the title of this post, it must be right!) Thanks Jonn and crew for keeping us entertained and informed.
Thanks, Biermann. For some reason spell check doesn’t work in the headline block, and my fingers move faster than my brain sometimes.
Lisa’s loss is the milblog world’s gain. And yeah, that place has pretty well sucked ever since the “Great ‘Ista War of 2006”.
I clicked, already. And congrats on the anniversary. And, thanks for keeping this place up.
Congrats Jonn. Hope this doesn’t come as a surprise, but read you everyday. Keep up the great work.
Happy birthiversary, you sexy beast. You know what this means – only 6 more weeks until our 11th anniversary! And isn’t this the sapphires and cookware anniversary?
Happy anniversary!!!!
Happy 5th, left a little goodie in your paypal.
Thanks Jonn!!
HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY!!! RAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWRAWR!!! Oh and I work in online advertising so I click on your ads! I just hope you get CPM money and not CPC or CPL.
Congratulations Jonn, and many happy returns!
This may be a dumb question, but do the ads still work if I right-click on them and open them in a new window?
Congrats, Jonn, and many thanks to all who contribute. Great fun!
I’m late to the party here, but I’m a non-military lurker because I’ve had lots of family members who served and I appreciate the work done here and the sometimes brutal honesty that comes from the posts here.
You do good work and I appreciate the service and the dedication to the blog to keep people informed on the truth.
Keep it up!!!
Happy Anniversary! Thank you providing insightful commentary and a place that is must reading daily!
#29 Yes because it is still associated with the redirect from this site.
Happy 5 year anniversary! Been a reader since GOE I in March 2007. Thanks for your friendship and support in the blogosphere.
Happy 5th Anniversary Jonn. Another year gone, it goes by fast.
I started coming over because TSO’s exposes on VoteVets, thats got be 08′. Stop by almost everyday now. You run a great site Mr. Lillyea. Here’s to a happy and hopefull 6th year.
John, congratulations, thank you for fighting the good fight for so long.