You might have noticed that we’ve slowly been making some changes at American Thinker, some big and some small. Up until recently, the site hadn’t changed at all in the 20 years since its inauguration in 2003. However, we’d like to make things more accessible for readers and for writers, as well as encourage more people to subscribe. Here’s what you need to know (the “takeaways,” if you will):

1. We’ve reorganized the tabs along the top of the site. The “About” tab contains current information about American Thinker editors; the “Comments” tab makes clear the rules for commenting here; and, the “Submissions” tab explains exactly how to submit an essay to American Thinker. The “Cartoon” tab is no longer at the top of the page. Instead, you’ll find a link under the thumbnail of the daily cartoon along the right side of the home page. There are still some glitches, but we’re working on them.

2. We will update the site’s appearance so that the home page is more engaging and the article and essay pages are easier to read. This has been something we’ve wanted to do for a very long time, and it finally looks as if it’s going to happen.  

This gorgeous image is thanks to Phil Chernok. I’m dazzled whenever I look at it.

3. We are strongly encouraging people to become American Thinker subscribers/members. (More on that terminology in a moment.) Indeed, you may already have started seeing pop-ups asking you to join American Thinker.

For those of you who are already “subscribers,” thank you. For those of you who haven’t yet made the leap, please think about it.

As all of you know, beginning in 2020, the Tech Tyrants began to flex their political muscles, silencing anyone who didn’t get with the Democrat program, whether it was about COVID lockdowns, vaccines, and treatments, the 2020 election or the aftermath of that election. Suddenly, conservative sites such as ours found themselves blocked on social media and blacklisted on search engines.

Before 2020, both had been traffic drivers for American Thinker. Because of that strong traffic, we didn’t need to overload the site with advertising to help pay our operating costs (and they are significant).

Since 2020, however, our traffic has been down despite you, our loyal readers, returning repeatedly. In addition, the ads we have (and we are grateful for them) don’t provide the same revenue per click as the old ads did, thanks to Google’s stranglehold over most of the advertising market.

Moreover, you may be familiar with the saga of GARM (“the Global Alliance for Responsible Media”). This was a leftist front group that said that conservative sites were untrustworthy. Big ad agencies and corporations, afraid of being associated with anything untrustworthy, pulled their high-paying ads from conservative sites. This was another blow for us. GARM has shut down but promises to return, more malevolent than ever.

To cope with the tech blockades and the passive advertising boycotts, we’ve had to place more and more ads. We understand how disruptive the reading experience has become, especially because our older format wasn’t built for this level of advertising.

The only way to beat the plethora of ads is for more people to become members/subscribers.

4. Becoming a member/subscriber doesn’t just help us; it helps you, too. As many of you already know, if you can commit to American Thinker, you’ll not only get an ad-free experience, but you’ll also get to comment.

However—and here’s where that new terminology comes in—we’re working on ways to give our new members (the word we’d like to use moving forward) even more, in addition to the ad-free experience and the right to comment.

One of the things we’re lining up is a newsletter with special content. However, another thing is a pet project of mine, which may go nowhere quickly.

For several years, I did a periodic podcast at my own site. I enjoyed the experience. I’m a talker. Because my posts try to stop at around 800 words, I’ve been a little frustrated over the years when it comes to developing ideas. Eventually, doing regular, hour-long podcasts at Bookworm Room got to be too much for me, on top of my work at American Thinker. However, it occurred to me that I can handle a much shorter, periodic podcast (whether every day or every few days). So, as an experiment, I decided to dive back into the podcast pond.

There are limitations. Unlike the guys on the Daily Wire, I don’t have a team of people taking care of the technical side, leaving me to talk.

I also dislike seeing myself on video. Whether it’s true or not, I start feeling as if I look as Tim Walz does, with frantic face motions...so, no videos, just me.

Lastly, if I spend a long time trying to include graphics and videos in the podcast, (a) it takes me forever to make the podcast, and (b) it makes the podcast endlessly long. Both things are bad.

In other words, this is very minimalist: my voice and some graphics to anchor what I’m saying. I’m also piggybacking on my Bookworm podcast accounts and Rumble and Libsyn, hence the slight disconnect between American Thinker and the host sites.

If you listen to the podcast, here’s what I need from you:

1. A thumbs up or thumbs down on the podcast idea. (A thumbs down won’t hurt my feelings.)
2. If it’s a thumbs up, what can I do to make it better, given our budget and my technical limitations? (For example, should it be shorter? More pictures and less text? Different topics?) Leave your message in the comments or email editor@americanthinker.com. Include the word “PODCAST” in the subject line.