Can you please either report or link to one of the posts so that I don't have to go on a scavenger hunt?

We always enjoy messages of appreciation. So thanks for the posts. I wish that I could accept credit for the Special Needs forum, but any benefit there is entirely due to the users.

It always amazes me how many posters have been here for several years.

I still have not seen any of this behavior. Is anyone getting it who is not using Chrome?

I have informed our advertising partner about and they are looking into it.

I haven't been paying attention so I don't know if it is one or more poster.

Anonymous wrote:I've also wondered website usage variations during holidays and such or even summer break. Are there times of the year it's ghost town around here and times where its very busy? And can you tell weather changes too, like way more people using this site during a big snow storm? A long rainy weekend? The long cold spell we had this winter? Do these make a large difference in usage?

I have not tracked those variables. The biggest factor affecting usage is Google's algorithm. When the algorithm favors us, we get a lot of usage. When it doesn't, usage drops. Right now, almost all websites are suffering from Google's concentration on AI which provides answers without users clicking on a link. However. that has mostly cause a drop in users who don't spend much time on DCUM. So, while our number of unique users has dropped significantly, our number of views remains high because the dedicated users still come here.

Another trend is that usage is normally lower on weekends. But, if a weekend is particularly nice, usage will be lower still. Traditionally, the lowest usage days have been Thanksgiving day and Christmas day. Probably because moms are busy cooking. We will see noticeable drops on days that are particular popular for travel.

However, due to the importance of Google, trends might not be noticeable if Google has made a change that radically distorts the previous usage pattern.

Usage will change when there is a viral topic, regardless of the specific topic. For instance, the many actions impacting federal workers has grow traffic in our careers forum. A celebrity controversy might spike traffic in the entertainment forum. Frequently, developments in politics causes an increase in traffic in our politics forum.

Anonymous wrote:I tried posting about a song Gutherie wrote about Trumps father and a famous sticker he placed on his guitar, and now my IP is blockers. Can you explain, they were just Wikipedia articles? Thanks!

Could you please report the IP address that you were using?

No, please do not post complete articles. This question is covered in our FAQs:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/faq.html

I found an article that I think people on DCUM will find interesting. Should I "copy and paste" the article into a message in the forums?

Only if the author of the article explicitly allows distribution of his intellectual property in that manner. DCUM respects intellectual property rights and will delete articles that appear to have been posted in violation of copyright laws. The appropriate means of bringing article to DCUM readers' attention is to post a brief summary or excerpt and a link to the original source.

Anonymous wrote:Just happened again while reading the Trump Tariff thread in the political forum.

My antivirus says

Threat secured, we prevented your connection to f0yhaqr9okdj.xyz because it is a dangerous webpage. Threat category: URL:Malvertising.

I received a screenshot of the ad and have forwarded it to our ad partner. Hopefully they can correct it soon.

The government can probably quite easily track users who are using DCUM from government networks. But, for random users, they would have to subpoena the IP address of a user.

The IP address is not enough by itself. A further step of subpoenaing information from the ISP is required. Things get even more complicated if a VPN or proxy is involved.

Basically, if you are using DCUM from a government network, the government probably can find out. For anyone else, you would probably have to make death threats or something to get the interest of the government.

Anonymous wrote:For me they are popups telling me a scan is starting and that it's coming from something that ends in .boats It's not my anti-virus. It happens repeatedly when I try to read threads.

This is a malicious ad. I haven't seen one in months. Sometimes they only target specific browsers. If possible, could you make a screenshot if this happens again? Then email it to admin at dc urban mom dot com.

Thanks!

The only US worker I hate is you. Quit spreading your garbage here.