Buck-a-Hit Day goes back to its roots (Jack Bog's Blog)

When we started our holiday tradition known as Buck-a-Hit Day, the setup was simple. For every unique visit to this blog on a designated day, we'd give a dollar to charity. It was where charity met vanity.

The first one of these days was five years ago, when the routine traffic through this site was a great deal lighter than it is today. Given our limited supply of money, after a while we couldn't afford to give a dollar for every hit, and so we had to set a limit -- typically, $1,000. That number of unique visits was virtually guaranteed, and so last year to add some suspense we threw in a bonus of an additional $1 for every dollar before noon that the we hit the 1,000-visit mark. (It turned out we got there 76 minutes before noon.)

This year, a benefactor of this blog who is both prosperous and generous has offered to take us back to our high-rollin' roots. He'll give $1 to the Oregon Food Bank for every hit on this blog next Wednesday, up to $5,000! And so rather than quit counting the hits at 1,000, this year we'll keep going to five times that number, with a new dollar going to the food bank for every unique visit. (We use SiteMeter for the "official" count.)

This wonderful new development means that we'll need lots of extra visits beyond the number from a typical day on this blog. Assuming that we're not showing photos of Sarah Palin's torso, our readership on a typical weekday usually comes in at around 3,000 unique visits, and so the laws of inertia aren't going to get us to 5,000 without some serious help from strangers. We're back to the olden days, where having new folks show up all day really will make a difference. Please help us get out the word and get readers in here that day -- next Wednesday, December 17.

We're still putting the rest of the day's program together, but for sure, there will be a place for readers to donate, a comments contest, and who knows what all else. We'll have a couple of match challenges going from several folks, and the Bogdanski's are going to be part of that, to the tune of $1,100. More on all that on Monday. The main thing is, please come back on Wednesday, and tell your buddies! In this case, viral would be good.

Comments (10)

Thank you for doing this in these difficult times. And thank you to the anonymous benefactor, too.

Posted by Audaciously Hopeful | December 12, 2008 7:36 AM

Jack, I read your posts through RSS feed & only occasionally need to click through to your blog site. Does your site meter record RSS access? If not, you might make that point to your RSS readership.

Posted by Alex Hamilton | December 12, 2008 9:47 AM

It does not. And I think you just did.

Posted by Jack Bog | December 12, 2008 10:38 AM

Jack, I have always been impressed by the "Buck A Hit Day" you do. Cheers to you and your anonymous benefactor for up-ing the ante this year. I am sending out the link to everyone I know and suggesting they pass it on. Here's hoping it goes "viral" this year!

Posted by jj | December 12, 2008 11:58 AM

Can we have a photos thread that day? Maybe give a topic like the Portland Amuses Me or something?

Posted by dyspeptic | December 12, 2008 2:01 PM

Might I suggest that on the 17th you precede your post with a note reminding your RSS feed readers to click through so their visit will be counted? You'd be surprised how many people read the post and not the comments so are totally oblivious to the fact that their reader doesn't count as a visit/hit!

This is a fabulous idea, BTW!

Posted by Corina | December 12, 2008 8:23 PM

I'm quite sure that the Oregon Food Bank serves illegal aliens. Lou Dobbs told me so.

Posted by joel dan walls | December 12, 2008 10:09 PM

Oh, the shame of the Oregon Food Bank to serve undocumented aliens. And all those churches too. Ironically, the OFB probably provides them with food they helped harvest. Good for the OFB. An organization that doesn't require proof of citizenship to receive their benefits.

Joel, I'm guessing your post was tongue-in-cheek with the mention of Lou Dobbs. Absent a smiley, I'm not actually sure. Thus, my response.

Posted by mrfearless47 | December 13, 2008 9:49 AM

This is great - Thank you for your generosity and reminding us that the real spirit of Christmas still lives even in hard times.

Posted by Terri Shofner | December 17, 2008 3:09 PM

only five more to go and still one hour left

Thanks for doing this !!

Posted by Joe Anybody | December 17, 2008 11:07 PM

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Buck-a-Hit Day goes back to its roots

Comments (10)

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