By The Eds
December 20 2006

Your site has had a remarkable 2005. During the course of the year we have seen all sorts of records fall. Q4 0f 2005 saw our highest quarterly total of hits, November was our best month ever and we had our highest single day back in August.

In total we notched up just over 4.4 million hits last year, an increase of 49.9% over 2004. On an average weekday we currently have around 1,200 unique IP addresses (circa 3,600 different visitors) from around the world. Over the course of an average month some 12,000 unique IP addresses are recorded. Some 300 different people will post on the messageboard in an average month. Put simply this means that for every active member of this community there are about a hundred lurkers.

The Craic has always been, and remains, one of the top ten sites in Sportnetwork. In rugby terms we are currently in a group of clubs, along with Saints and Bath, who vie for second spot behind Harlequins.

Some of this growth can be attributed to the continuing success of Sportnetwork and to the expansion of internet usage in general and broadband in particular. That said, we have this year outstripped both. Looking to the future, 2006 looks set to be another record year. Whilst nothing can be taken for granted we expect to have our first month with over half a million hits this Spring.

As editors the only sure fire measure of how we are doing, as opposed to various comments that individuals make, is these figures. It is a fact of media life that customers will come and go. The best one can hope for is that more do come than go. Thus far that seems to be the case.

Particularly pleasing to see is the growth in our story hits. These are 64% up year on year. This would appear to bear out our belief that we have to both keep up a continuous flow of fresh stories and continue to build upon the already substantial archive we have.

The continuing success of your site is very much down to all of you who participate in it. To all those of you who do so, particularly those who have helped with match reports and articles, go our heartfelt thanks.