I’m tired of being “professional”. I’m going to say it outright. DeafRead, no matter how low the numbers are, never dies. It is simply dormant, hibernating. DeafRead is the deaf community’s pulse. Whenever a controversial issue gets on DeafRead, the numbers go up. The hotter it is, the higher the numbers fly.

So when it appears as if DeafRead is “dead” (I prefer the term sleeping), that is the pulse in the deaf community. They almost perfectly mirror each other. When the deaf community is quiet, so is DeafRead. Want to feel the deaf community’s pulse? Check DeafRead.

In my professional role, I tried to hint at this some time ago. Perhaps the message was lost in the “professionalism” of the post. Here’s the post.

DeafRead reached the mainstream public (at least in the deaf community) due to the Gallaudet Protest of 2006. This was a big issue, hence the big traffic surge we saw. Immediately after Fernandes’ termination, traffic fell back almost to what it was previously. Pulse. We’ve seen this time and time again with various issues over the years. The heart beats. We’ve not shared statistics because ultimately that is not the goal – no matter what you want to believe. We believe as serving as a communication platform on which anything can be discussed. To empower writers, we try to mirror the freedom of speech amendment.

Even you can detect the pattern. To cite an recent example, the numbers surged when the four finalists for Gallaudet President were announced. Even more recently, the numbers are surging following Hurwitz’s selection.

When people hear of something happening in the deaf community, they know to go to DeafRead. They yearn to read something, to know as much as they can.

Think of a Hollywood movie. No good Hollywood movie would sell if it didn’t contain a climax, a conflict. Human nature draws them to conflicts, drama.

Think of a newspaper. I only buy newspapers when my favorite baseball team wins the World Series. When two airplanes plow into high-rise towers. Otherwise, I don’t pay as much attention to the news. That’s human nature, guys.

If you are interested in statistics, I can share with you. This is when DeafRead is sleeping. So this is the baseline. 900 to 1000 people visit DeafRead daily. That’s on slow days.