Wellesnet: Alive and well thanks to you

[Wellesnet]

In March 2015, a record setting 44,691 unique monthly visitors came to Wellesnet, contributing to a total of nearly 71,000 visits and more than 1.1 million hits.
Before the website expansion in 2012, Wellesnet typically attracted 13,000 unique monthly visitors. The audience has grown month after month as we have added new features and the centennial nears.

[Wellesnet]

Interest in Orson Welles skyrocketed in May 2015 with media attention focused on the centennial of his birth.
Traffic at Wellesnet shattered all records in the site's 14-year history.
Here are the numbers: 2.4 million hits; 93,324 visits from 56,356 unique visitors; and 252,965 page views.

[Wellesnet]

Just a centennial overview, the Wellesnet audience has grown far beyond expectations.
After the site redesign and expansion in 2012, the dream was to one day double our audience and welcome 25,000 unique monthly visitors.
Now, 25,000 would be considered a dead month. (We tallied 56,356 unique monthly visitors in May).
We counted 2.3 million page views this year and more than 13 million hits.
Thanks for your comments, support and feedback in 2015.

[tonyw]

As well as congratulations, I was going to say, If only contributions to TOSTW matched this growth." But, then again, a "certain obstacle" would occur even if full funding had materialized!

[Wellesnet]

Wellesnet just ended the second biggest month in its 16-year history, nearly surpassing the audience record set during the May 2015 centennial celebration.

We logged 55,939 unique monthly visitors and tallied more than 200,000 page views and 1M hits from six continents during the month of March 2017. (Outside of the U.S. and Canada, the majority of our audience hailed from France, Great Britain, Italy and Germany.)

Not surprising, it was our extensive coverage of The Other Side of the Wind that drew so many readers to Wellesnet.

News that the footage from the long-unfinished Orson Welles film was now in Los Angeles was first reported on March 14 by Wellesnet and The New York Times. According to Google, Wellesnet was the single most referenced website for those seeking details on The Other Side of the Wind.

Our coverage went beyond in-depth and hinted at symptoms of an untreated obsessive compulsive disorder.

Where else but Wellesnet would you read that the 1,083 reels had been transferred onto modern cores, placed in moisture-proof bags with absorbent paper and packed onto eight pallets for shipment by two trucks and a ferry for a Bluebird Express flight from Heathrow to LAX? (Special thanks to producer Filip Jan Rymsza, who not only answered every question in detail, but provided photos of the camera logs, final inventory, films cans and moving crew at work.)

As The Other Side of the Wind progresses toward its release by Netlfix to subscribers in 190 countries, Wellesnet will continue to provide reliable and detailed information.

[jbrooks]

Well done.

[tonyw]

I didn't know that you had died. this reminds me of that line in John Wayne's BIG JAKE (1970) - "{I thought you were dead."

[Dan_UK]

Ahh, I finally got here. Thanks to whoever was dealing with my emails. You've got this place on serious lockdown!
A forum I used to admin got visited by a lot of spambots but I found that changing the question every few months (the question you have to answer on joining) kept most of the bots at bay, since it seemed to take the bots quite a few months to learn the answer.

[RayKelly]

We had a serious problem with Russian-based spambots. We have also had people write to us, register for accounts
-- and never post. I do a routine analysis of pages accessed and it appears the spammers wanted to access our inactive mail server and member email lists.
So, it's true we make people jump through a few hoops to register, but the goal is to protect our readers from annoying spam or phishing emails.
That said, "Welcome Dan_UK."

[Wich2]

Efforts appreciated, Boss.

Good to have you onboard, Dan.

-Craig

[RayKelly]

Thanks.
BTW, I just renewed the web hosting agreement and domain name through the end of 2020.
Expect a continuing stream of Welles-related news for years to come.

[Wellesnet]

Italy's Forma Cinema has done a flattering profile of Wellesnet.
Check it out at https://www.formacinema.it/forma-on-line/universita/speciale-orson-welles/364-interview-with-ray-kelly-the-story-of-wellesnet-com

[Wich2]

Thanks, Bosses and fellow Worker Bees.

A go-to site, just about every day. To coin a phrase,

"IT'S TERRIFIC!"



Take care and be well,

- Craig

[RayKelly]

All in all I have been happy with the service from our current web host and just reinked another three-year deal with them.
You can look forward to more news and features from Wellesnet, especially as we mark the website's 20th anniversary next year!

[RayKelly]

We tallied 544,224 visitors in 2020, who were responsible for 2.3 million page views and 6.8 million hits.
Our most read stories centered on the Netflix release of "Mank," particularly Joseph McBride's essay; the making of "Hopper/Welles" and rapper Logic's album "No Pressure," which utilized two 1940s radio performances by Orson Welles.