GO ON, GIVE HER THE BOOT
Oh, Baby! You Gotta Cut Back On Les Clopes

March, all the monthlong, is everywhere understood to be Pave France Month, commemorating the site launch on March 3, 2003.*

I made my first post as a Pave editor three years ago yesterday. (It was more than I could manage to finish this anniversary post on time.)

BY THE NUMBERS: Last year I determined to post at least once a day. Of course, I didn't say this at the time for fear you, dear reader, might actually expect an effort commensurate with a post-a-day. With only a few lapsed days, I posted a total of 463 topics over the past year. Many with funny pictures. As of Monday I had posted a grand total of 834 topics. Over the life of the site, Pave posts total 1,575.

Six hundred twenty-one comments were posted in the threads in 2006, of which management has probably deleted the great majority as spam or for insupportable obscenity. Comments posted over the life of the site total 10,545.

Pave has had 57,670 visits over the past year and some 79,287 page views. Per day Pave averages 158 visits and 229 page views (the latter exactly the same as last year). Visitors spent an average of one and one-half minutes at the site, viewing an average 1.4 pages.

The site has had a dramatic drop-off from its earlier skimmership. This in part was due to the popular site going dark for over a month between 09.26.03 and 11.04.03. Many readers -- and editors -- never returned. That and Americans' general loss of interest in France attrited readership considerably. But here you are, gentle reader, reading. So Pave does not weep.

In the great blogosphere ecosystem Pave is still a "Slithering Reptile", though our ranking has dropped some several hundred places to No. 6,417.

Other than the pick-up in topics posted, this year's metrics are consistent with last year, which is, alas, less than stasis.

RAISONS D'ÊTRE: Pave is a small garden. Outside of France, France is not a burning topic. As the numbers attest, there is limited interest -- even for an object of fun like France. Yet Pave remains.

Although France is a mess, she still remains central to the European project, for good or ill. France left unnoticed, France ignored, cannot resist making mischief. France craves the world's attention. In its small way Pave provides France that attention.

PAVE'S CRITICS: Pave continues to receive the occasional lost soul who has a look around and decries Pave as hateful and racist. These sensitive plants are not built for discursus. They quickly faint away, their vitality sapped by their own hateful spew or enormous sanctimony or some mix of the two.

To our critics who think Pave hateful, who think Pave racist -- here is what hate looks like. Here is what racism looks like. And here is a single instance of both.

Pave makes no apologies for its opinions, mocks, and sneers. What is praiseworthy in France, Pave praises. When Pave agrees with France, Pave says so plainly. Likewise what is laughable, arrogant, shallow, shameful, perfidious, hypocritical, mendacious, cowardly, alarming, and reckless, Pave reports these things as Pave finds them. For those who haven't the stomach for opinion other than their own, our advice remains: Click away! Quick! Quick!

WHAT'S AHEAD: I still wait on Mike Krempasky for turnover of site ownership.

This year is Pave's fifth year, a blog milestone, and I am looking to boost the site a bit. Your suggestions are welcome.

If I can't acquire administrative control of the site I plan on setting up redirects to a separate gallery featuring posters that I have created mocking France. In the past Pave's gallery, when Pave had a gallery feature, was one of the most popular areas of the site. A redirect however is not a good solution as it is better to have all site features under the same URL. It also skews the site metrics.

THANK YOU TO THE SKIMMERSHIP: It is customary to thank the readers in a holiday or anniversary post. Thank you.

* Or tree-tree-tree for the hemi-Satanic Greens among our skimmers.

Happy Birthday Pave!

Happy birthday Pave! Thank you Damian for your efforts :-)

Ah, ah. And what would Pave be without Carine?

For those who don't know she is a Pave editor emeritus.

There simply are not enough hat tips to recognize her many contributions to this site. She graciously, meticulously, and gently corrects much of my sorry French. She provides leads and insights on buried stories. She is Pave's gal-on-the-ground in Paris, giving me -- and therefore the Pave readership -- the atmosphere, the detail, the local knowledge missing from press reports.

She is also the person most responsible for my taking a second -- critical -- look at France and consequently assuming my eventual editorship here.

If you do not know her, then I strongly recommend visiting her blog, E-Nough! Smart, sharp, and funny commentary on the Euro project and more.

Thank you, Carine.

DGB

Congratulations on four years of wonderful posts, and the most clever images to be seen any where in the blogsphere. Happy Birthday M. Damian, Happy Birthday.

Congrats on the past and best wishes for the future on this site. I enjoy stopping by for a good laugh a couple of times a week. Thanks for all the great effort you put into this work of art.

Thanks
Nick

Bonjour,

S'il s'agit pour la FRANCE d' être conforme ou servile [sic] à votre aventurisme en Irak !

Non merci !

Chaque jour notre presse nous dévoile un de vos échecs lamentables en Irak...

Vous êtes L A M E N T A B L E S !!!

Bonjour ,

Karine , la Brasillach en jupon.
Moi à votre place je n'aurais que mépris pour elle.
Cracher contre son pays , c'est assez répugnant surtout quand elle hurle être encore "européenne" [sic]...