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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Eight Years of RedState

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  July 16th, 2012 at 11:37 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

July 11, 2004, was actually the first live day of RedState with the actual site kicking off July 12th with user content. We went live on Scoop without the logo.

Screen Shot 2012 07 16 at 11 24 04 AM

Within a few months, we had the logo as we wanted and by 2005 had RedHot and ConfirmThem up and going.

Screen Shot 2012 07 16 at 11 24 49 AM

By mid-2006, Clayton switched us over to Drupal with a new design and we went from RedState.org to RedState.com.

Screen Shot 2012 07 16 at 11 25 38 AM

In 2008, we moved to WordPress through a series of fits and false starts and have the template you see now.

Coming soon, well, we’re really going to shake things up a bit. Stay tuned . . .

And Happy Birthday RedState!

By the way, if you were ever wondering, our first users were, in order,

  1. Tacitus
  2. Krempasky
  3. Ben Domenech (then Augustine)
  4. Opriest
  5. Walt
  6. Matthew Stinson
  7. Jay Reding
  8. Moe Lane
  9. Paul Cella
  10. Kevin Holtsberry
  11. Thomas Crown
Tags:

COMMENTS

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  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Heh.

  • Wubbies World

    It has been that long. Wow time flies. As funny as it sounds. I remember most of those names.

  • Darin_H

    I was here on day one too, but didn’t sign up for an account until right after the election – with the user name of ConservativeD, and that was only really to keep track of what I read. Came by way of dalythoughts, (I still miss Gerry’s poll interpretations). I still hold out hope that if I hang out here long enough, I’ll be made a moderator, and then can abuse that until it’s rightly taken away! Hahaha!

    We’ve gone and got really big, and while there were some pretty dark days especially during the 2007-8 primary and then the general election, there is no better conservative site around. We’ve led since then culminating in the big wins of 2010 and we ain’t stopping this year. I look forward to holding President Romney’s feet to the fire, keeping him on the right side of the right side.

    Can’t wait to see everyone next month here on the First Coast!

    PS. Don’t forget the RedStateSports site, too bad we didn’t have enough of us providing content to keep it worthwhile

  • http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/ reaganiterepublicanresistance

    Must be doing something right!

  • jaykali

    WordPress is certainly working out well for you now altho Drupal in 2012 is much better than it was in ’06 for the record.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    It’s a shame, I had a wonderful time at the get together in Austin.

    Traveling far from home is difficult for me because I have an invalid in the family that I care for.

  • Finrod

    Back in 2004, he was one of the best sites out there with an election projection map. I saw a link from there to here, followed it, signed up, and have been here since. Old-timers will remember when I was going by my initials here instead of Finrod.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Drupal, last time I used it, was making horrible API changes that would break plugins in difficult ways.

  • Finrod

    Unfortunately that went away when version 1 of the site did. Ditto re: redstatesports.com.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    the site was doing very strange things, comments and even diaries would disappear and then reappear like Schrodinger’s cat.

  • westcoastpatriette

    I love surprises and this site. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. I’m a latecomer…only been here a little over a year, but feel like I have been here forever.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    MoonBat central. It was a lot of fun poking fun at the looniest lefties.

    someone linked an article on Redstate and I started blogging it right away.

  • westcoastpatriette

    Have family member to care for and am unable to travel this year.

  • http://teresainfortworth.wordpress.com/ Teresa in Fort Worth, TX

    Thanks for being a place where we can all come and get good information about what’s going on out there – :P

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Django was an ever loving disaster and we had to add emergency, crude caching, which resulted in some of that stuff.

  • acat

    old movies…

    Figured there may have been a RedStateCinema to go along with RedStateSports or something.

    Mew

  • Finrod

    I’m wondering how many people that signed up in July 2004 are still active posters here.

  • Bill S

    Same here. Biggest loss from that release of the SW, IMO.

  • troublingtimes

    I just began posting here, leaving NB because they went Disqus, and I can’t take the icky postings swamping the site. :(

    I like what I see here, and I hope you guys are okay with a newcomer.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    I was on the FP there before I was on the FP at the main site!

    Those were the days.

  • Darin_H

    Apparently, I did such a bang up job on the FP of RSS that…. nevermind :)

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Django.

    Conceptually neat software. In practice it was a disaster. Tens of thousands of queries PER PAGE.

  • http://stevemaley.com Steve Maley

    Roughly coincided with Rathergate.

  • WA_Cowboy

    I found the site through a facebook ad shortly after BO was elected. Singed up for the morning briefing. started lurking shortly thereafter. Followed more in 2010. Now I read everyday. Don’t always comment but enjoy the content, both by frontpagers and the diaries.

    look forward to seeing the changes roll out. Would love to take my wife to a RS gathering at some point. With two little ones though we’ll see.

    I like how the moderators work hard to keep the discussion here on topic, free from spam and moonbats :) Keep up the good work guys and gals!

  • WA_Cowboy

    not sure why it happened.

  • jaykali

    Well I know that the site works fine as WordPress, so I’m not complaining. WordPress works well in it’s simplest form. Drupal can do a lot more which is why it’s used for some pretty big sites but maintenance is an issue as modules get updated routinely and so you can introduce bugs into the site.

    And the API changes a lot every major version, so Drupal 7 you would have to update any custom modules you created manually. As for contributed modules many would have a 7 version but migrating the whole site from 1 version to the next is a big undertaking sadly.

    It’s possible that future versions might be too enticing to overlook. Thinks like responsive design / mobile first baked in to the next version will be pretty irresistible for some.

  • jaykali

    Like Ruby on Rails little kid brother? I could never get anything Django off the ground, RoR was to me far superior even tho they weren’t exactly apples to apples platforms.

  • von

    It’s been a long while since I’ve commented, but I do still lurk.

  • streiff

    I found out about RedState via James Taranto’s “Best of the Web.”

    I needed a new home as I’d just been banned from Lucianne.com for the sin of screwing with the low amperage moderators. (As an aside, the rules at Lucianne at the time didn’t allow you to post a press bulletin from the Pentagon, you had to wait until some “news source” rewrote the press release and ran it. I posted a “news story” about Angelina Jolie’s nipples being visible on a promotional poster as a protest. Given my history and the Lucianne crew’s lack of a sense of humor I was punted.)

    The initial list of contribs was long but most didn’t seem to do much more than have their name on the stationery.

    My first post was on the 9/11 Commission Report

    At the time, the comments were dominated by asshats from dKos and the trash that followed Moe in from Obsidian Wings and Josh from Tacitus. Failing to find a single conservative in the comments section was a usual occurrence and because we were using Drupal, the same software as dKos, the lefties knew how it worked, they’d gang up on a conservative a troll rate him into oblivion. I had to ask to have my own record cleared at least twice so my comments could be read by the public.

    For reasons beyond my comprehension I was invited in December to step behind the curtain and become one of the mods. It was really unexpected as I’d nearly been banned for using my signature interpersonal skills on one of the moderators.

    In my view, the bright line in the development of RedState occurred when Bob Hahn, aka Nick Danger, joined us from Free Republic. He came with the philosophy that we could either talk about our issues or the left’s issues and that any time spent talking about their issues was to our detriment. He also believed, rightly, that arguing lefty talking points did nothing by dispirit conservative commenters and drive them away. That is the genesis of our policy of banning lefties on sight.

    It has been a fun ride. Met, in person and on line, a lot of great people. I’ve had posts read on the air by Rush three times. Been taken a lot more seriously that I should be by some serious people. I’ve been labeled a “condescending a**hole” by a departed contrib. an appellation that lives on. And my loathing for the left has been tempered to a fine edge. Erick has provided leadership, protected us from people who just don’t understanding blogs and politics, and given guidance but allowed each of us to write pretty much what we wish. A man couldn’t ask for more.

  • Christine

    but I don’t remember how long (I understand why they turned off the “member since” on the profile page, but I do miss it for myself…).

    I don’t think it was 2004, but it was pre-2006 because I remember the move to RS.com.and the new site.

  • kowalski

    And there are still more to come. Where’s Nick Danger? I still miss him.

    My greatest achievement I think was almost getting banned in a conversation where I used the “f” word openly. I was truly embarrassed afterward, even though it was used in the context of a person who richly deserved it.

    Erick’s had to whap me upside the head a few times (“Suck it UP, Kowalski!”) most notably when I went ballistic over Dick Cheney’s hunting accident. I had my reasons and boy did that ever stick to Cheney. He should have kept his finger out of the trigger guard until he positively identified his target. Quail hunting or no, you don’t have the finger in the trigger guard until you’re sure. I still believe that to this day, and practice it.

    The most astounding thing to me is that I’m the most Conservative person I know but I do tend to sound more like a moderate here on Redstate and I don’t understand exactly why that is, except perhaps a deeply-ingrained lesson from one of my professors about always reaching out to ones adversaries even in the heat of a divisive argument.

    Of course I’ve always appreciated the enormous tolerance Redstate has shown regarding my proclivity to comment to myself. Making that into a badge of honor here is, well, the best honor I could ever expect to have. I’m proud to be embarrassed with that kind of accolade from you all.

    I love you guys and gals. Tough times these past several years but I’m still very much on board.

    I’ve come full circle in this life now probably a couple of times regarding my political views and I’m very happy to tell you that I’m right :) . And I’m glad I’m here with you.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    Also, as well deserved thank you to Erick, the moderators and others behind the scenes who do their jobs so we have a place to commune with like-minded conservatives. As I’ve said before, redstate is my political home. How I wish I had been here from the onset because I’ve learned much about conservatism, blogging, politics, and even a little HTML (although in all honesty, I still cut and paste the codes I use). On a side note, my husband is in awe of my video and picture posting skills.

    Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would have the courage to write a diary, much less the dozen or so I’ve posted, and even have my first two promoted to the front page. Never did I think I would make the time to get as involved in local politics as I have, and in doing so, influence others to the extent I have and maybe, just maybe, make a difference. Never before did I contemplate attending a political conference on my own in a city I’d never visited and make the friends I did at RSG03. On another side note, I’ve made a lifelong friend here with whom I correspond regularly but have never laid eyes on. Thanks to redstate and the community here, I found the courage to try new things for which I will always be grateful. And if I can do it, you can, too.

  • kowalski

    And so to Kowalski myself I’ll tell you the approximate thought I had when I first stumbled upon Redstate.

    I wasn’t referred by any search engine and certainly I wasn’t asked or told to visit the site either through email or any other means. I found it one day with a laptop computer while I was searching for something completely different and the keywords I was using were something like “Red State Square Dance Jamboree” – it was a completely unrelated subject.

    RedState showed up as a search result and I clicked the link, read for about 30 seconds and I said to myself: “Holy #*$&U@. This is IT. This is what I want in a political website. How on EARTH did I find this?”

    It was a complete, absolute serendipity that I found Redstate.com and in fact for a couple of years I still typed it as RedState, echoing my search terms.

    At the time I was in the middle of a political conversion of sorts – the end of my last one – and I looked at this site and read the kind of analysis that was being conducted just openly, as ordinary posts and I was electrified. I still am. I lurk too much, I miss Nick Danger, I’m probably too squishy, but I still remember that feeling after the first minute or so of reading this blog, knowing that I had found “it”. Astounding.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    much earlier. This was supposed to be a stand-alone comment, not a reply to.

  • Tbone

    ever thought I would.

  • westcoastpatriette

    when I was new here and late one night, I kept seeing the word “kowalski” when someone was going to comment and I had to ask what it meant. gekster and acat explained it to me and I have used your name ever since. Although, sometimes I just go ahead and answer myself without saying kowalski as I also have a tendency to make a post and then think of more things to say right away so I wind up with multiple comments in a row.

    I love Redstate, too, and am having so much fun writing diaries that people actually reco and comment on. I am growing in my political skills and hope I am better able to impact my community and the nation as a result of all that I am learning here. And I always enjoy your comments. :)

  • kowalski

    Awesome. 5^5

  • emptybucket

    improve my mind and mood! Have lurked on RedState for over a year and have just been commenting a little bit. Every single day I open the laptop up to RedState and begin reading. Then later in the morning I visit again, then mid afternoon, more reading. Has become like a friend and have already come to recognize different diary authors. Enjoy scrolling down the recent comments and latest diary entries.

    Have to say my most favorite RedState occurs at Easter time. Thank you for consistently keeping the Lord in your postings and life endeavors. If Americans would put God first things sure would turn around!

  • Darin_H

    A von sighting. You haven’t irritated me in a *long* while :D

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    Kowalski 1.0

  • la2000

    Looking at those images from your first few years, I can’t help but think that your first logo/masthead was the best. There is something permanent and classic about a serif font. It’s not trendy – it’s timeless. And I think that is really the message you want to communicate about the conservative movement in general: stable, permanent, unflappable, timeless. All of the qualities we think of as Reagan-esque.

    You might want to give the serif thing another shot. That first masthead was clearly just a font and not a logo – but I think it still visually communicated the mission and message of RedState better than the logo you are currently using which, while professional and up-to-date, reads as “colder” and more clinical.

    Whether people realize it or not, these things make an impact on how a message is received. It’s not just about pretty.

  • fightnright

    hoping such hard work has brought you as many unexpected joys as sleepless nights!

    and a shout out of gratitude to the MODS and all of the amazing contributors and posters you’ve attracted, the best of the best on the web: informative, funny, occasionally outrageous, and always thought provoking. I’ve learned so much here over the years, a most thorough analysis of the under-script of the political times and machinery that I most likely would have otherwise missed, or just misunderstood. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a (tiny, but appreciative!) part of it.

  • ihateliberals

    I have been a member for around 5 years now. I found RedState site by accident. I was really glad to find people that feel the same about things as i do and have the same values. Keep up the good work and it appears some changes are coming but please don’t go all wierd like some sites do and change just to be changing. Fox News changed their site and now you can’t leave comments anymore. I quit reading Fox news. Good luck for the future and let’s get the Obama Regime out of DC.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    .

  • von

    Work, life, kids …. got in the way of irritating folks. Not to say I’m not still irritating. Just on a more local level.