As some of you may have noticed (OMG! WHERE ARE YOU???), we had a moment where we were off line Sunday. And, this time it was all our fault. Since I took over the site a little while back I have tried to make it easier for people to access the front page and some of our data. It was my hope that people could do so without actually having Jay The Joke on their screen at work. In other words, I primarily did it for the media who support us.

And it worked.

Too well.

Whereas before we would get a hundred or so data requests in an hour, we now can get over 20,000. For the arithmetically impaired, that is more. What happens then is that our host is forced to shut off the data bases until things quiet down because the spill back starts shutting down other sites that have nothing to do with JTJ.

Good move for them, bad for us.

Yesterday we tied in to Amanda Kaschube’s blog over at the Chicago Tribune. The resulting amount of data being transferred back and forth overwhelmed our little site. Thanks Amanda.

Yeah, I am going to blame her until I am forced to face reality.

Anyway, after spending several hours on the phone and trying not to let my blood pressure hit dangerous levels when I got asked if I could stop people from coming here so much, I finally said the hell with it and bought a dedicated server. What that means for the faithful is that there will be JayTheJoke.com email addresses, at no charge, for anyone who wants them by this weekend. It means that you will soon be able to lease web space from Jay The Joke. In keeping with our “working class mentality”, we will be providing space at around $3.00 a month for a basic site.

I can’t really be all that mad since the reason I had to make this purchase was because so many people have decided that ridding the universe of the drivel that passes for journalism these days is an important cause to support.

Seriously, how angry can you be with people who agree with you?

This site has been cited, mentioned or referred to in almost every major sports’ publication. Whether subtly in the case of a certain national baseball reporter or directly in many other cases, it is becoming harder and harder for the media to ignore the growing groundswell of readers who do not wish to be treated like ADD suffering idiots.

So, thanks for all the support. Thanks for the wonderful concern you all showed when we were off line. Thanks for the offers of hookers and money. I appreciate them all.

In the meantime, you can shut me up by just CLICKING HERE AND JOINING THE FUN!