If you are reading this it means that the hit counter for the Sandpit has ticked over the one million hits milestone which is worthy of note in anyone’s language, more so in the case of this blog because for most of its existence there has been a sustained campaign to harass and denigrate yours truly and the other authors who post here.
I started blogging on a whim mainly because I needed to register with Blogger to comment on an Anti Andrew Bolt blog, I have changed the name and the platform on which this blog is published several times until I settled upon the current title and I am very happy to n0w share this blog with three other regular contributors who ad greatly to the diversity of the posts published here. The heart of blogging is not so much the posts themselves but rather it is the comment threads that those posts inspire and over the years we have had some very lively discussion threads that have given their participants lots of fun.
You see fun is what this blog is all about. Even when we have covered the most serious issues I like to think that we can do so with enough levity to keep it friendly.
So in the style of an awards night I have to offer a very sincere thank you, firstly to my fellow authors Ray Dixon (and his alter ego SockPuppet), GD and to Leon Bertrand, further I want to thank our readers for coming back on a regular basis to enjoy the musings on this page especially those of you who disagree with what I and the other authors write because without that disagreement we would not have the lively arguments in the comment threads. I also want to thank my wife and family for putting up with this sometimes grumpy blogger on a daily basis and last but not least I want to thank our family dog Bonnie for reminding me on a regular basis that I am only human and that nothing is more important than “walkies “
Cheers to all of our Comrades
Walkies!!!!
Iain Hall's SANDPIT 
Congratulations on a true blogging milestone, Iain. And congratulations for providing a forum that, despite its detractors, has stood the test of time and makes a valuable contribution to public debate without getting itself bogged down in boring tedium, like so many others do.
Sure, there are often disputes and a bit of argy bargy between commenters but that’s life. Your blog is a good reflection of our cultural and political diversity, Iain. I mean, we’ve had everyone from the extreme left to the extreme right here over the years. We’ve had muslim-bashers like GD and muslim-lovers like Damian. We’ve had ‘Saints’ like me and absolute shitheads like Bridgit ‘Chandler’ Gread (I wonder where she’s working now?).
And we’ve had sanctimonious bloggers and social media ‘experts’ like you-know-who-I-mean drop in to lecture you on Internet ‘behaviour’ (while not having the greatest of records in that regard themselves). And then we’ve had the nutters like the flyboy from Flinders Island and the real piece of work from down on the Bellarine Peninsula (well, two of them actually).
And we’ve had anonymous hate blogs set up to discredit you and others here in a bid to have you taken down, only to have the tables reversed on them.
It takes a fair bit of courage and perserverance to blog under your own name on politics and social issues and you’re still here. Congratulations and well done.
Congratulations! So there’s not such thing as the ‘lone haranguer’ then? ;-))
Thanks for the blog Iain. Now will I get paid?
Thanks Guys
Ray
They tried but failed
Deknarf
Is that a Wizard of id reference I detect?
Socky
I have half a packet of Good Os that Bonnie doesn’t like…
Congratulations Iain! For the few years that I have been here it has been a fun ride. Thanks!
Of course I won’t indulge in character assassination like Ray Dixon did with his comment, but what else can you expect from a Muslim apologist and Labor union advocate?
Oops…
MUSLIMS BUTCHER GD and andrew bolt. oh well “shit happens” !
GD, I’m going to apologise for what you call my “character assassination” of you:
I’m sorry that you are a muslim basher.
I deply regret your prejudices.
I wish you could change.
A question Iain:
Is it just my medication or is your blog wallpaper spinning me out?
Nowonder Craigy is not here to congratulate you on the mill hits.
Its your medication Socky you are clearly not taking enough drugs!
As for Craigy , well who knows…
They will all be back Iain you can count onit. My years of super iconic blogging has taught me that Things go like washing machines – in spin cycles. And your wallpaper is living proving that.