Today marks the 5th Anniversary of the first Procedurally Taxing post. As we have mentioned before, the blog is the brainchild of Les. He recruited Steve and me to join him in this endeavor as he recruited us to join him in working on the “IRS Practice and Procedure” treatise. When we met to discuss the blog prior to the first post, we anticipated that we might post once or twice a week. Before the end of the first year, we were posting almost daily, and we have tried to keep up the daily posting practice though there are days when we do not get our act together. Regular readers know our blog does not run like clockwork but rather operates based on the varying schedules of those of us trying to pull it together.
In the first post Welcome to Procedurally Taxing! Les wrote the following:
Welcome to Procedurally Taxing. Our blog will be a place where you can learn about important developments in federal tax procedure and tax administration, as well as occasional musings on general items that interest us. We started this blog because we want to be a site that readers can trust to learn about important developments. In addition, Keith, Steve and I are all involved in editing and rewriting books that deal with tax procedure; we are constantly reading and thinking about cases and administrative developments that may not jump out at the reader. We will highlight some of these less obvious developments and provide analysis and context reflective of our many years of practice in the area.
The most amazing stats of our first five years involve you. We have 1841 email subscribers to the blog. It has been 1825 days since we started. We have maintained a pace of approximately one additional email subscriber per day since the beginning of the blog. We know that readers access the blog through media other than email but the one additional subscriber per day stat has been a constant. You have accessed the web site slightly over 750,000 times since we started.
Some other stats about the blog:
– 373 guest posts written on a wide variety of topics which greatly enriched the blog
– 332 posts by Les, 372 by Keith, 164 by Stephen and 3 by Christine (plus 10 guest posts)
– 96 posts by frequent guest blogger Carl Smith
– 392 comments by frequent commenter Bob Kamman
In addition to bringing on Christine as a regular contributor, we have added regular bloggers Samantha Galvin, William Schmidt, Caleb Smith and Patrick Thomas, who comment on the Tax Court’s designated orders.
We hope that we have met our stated goal to keep you current on important developments in federal tax procedure and administration. We also have reported on less obvious developments and we have definitely provided our views on the developments.
As we mark this anniversary we invite you to comment on the blog – the good, the bad and the ugly. Tell us about anything that has made the blog useful or not useful to you and tell us how we can improve it going forward. Thanks for being our loyal readers. Our hats are off to you.
I look forward to reading PT daily. Congrats!
Congratulations on the birth and development of an exceptional blog.
As an non-lawyer CPA with an active practice in Tax Problem Resolution, I am most grateful for the opportunity to “go to school” at PT daily. I have on numerous occasions lifted analysis, comments and rulings directly from PT (with due attribution where applicable) and applied them to existing cases. Thanks to the founders and current contributors for donating your time and sharing your knowledge.
Guys, you have done the profession a tremendous service. I think you have found a great balance between frequency and utility. None of the posts are mere fillers; all add value. But keeping up the frequency helps keep the content fresh and makes it worth non-subscribing readers’ time to keep coming back to see what is new and perhaps start subscribing. Part of that balance lies in your generosity of opening the blog to guest bloggers (like myself) which not only takes a bit of the pressure off you but also opens the blog to a wide variety of voices. I notice one statistic you omitted was the number of different guest bloggers you have had. I would guess it would be upwards of 100. That willingness to allow guest posts does not diminish one bit the high level of commitment and professionalism you three (and now four!) demonstrate in keeping the blog active. I know I am grateful for the work you do.
Happy anniversary! I greatly respect the highly intelligent tax analysis you provide and am honored to be included as a regular contributor.
I don’t recall exactly when I first stumbled across Procedurally Taxing, but as a tax controversy practitioner, I find this blog “required reading” more than *any* other tax news source. There are some great sources that provide thorough reporting of tax *news* but PT provides top quality context and analysis. That reputation has obviously contributed to attracting all of those guest bloggers over the years, who have shared insights in their areas of expertise. Whether you’re pointing out a new development that I missed or explaining the nuances of an issue I’m just vaguely aware of, the blog is invaluable – and your archives are one of the primary sources I recommend to my students.
I read PT every day. I am truly appreciative of the effort and for Keith’s generosity with his time and information when I reached out some time ago regarding an OIC issue. After many years in general practice, I had a real taking to tax work after helping a friend through a rather serious NOD. It’s been a long journey . . . eating the giant “tax elephant” one bite at a time. Thanks for PT. I look forward to it each day.
Thank you for PT. It has a significant impact on my practice.
Congratulations! You provide excellent commentary and analysis, especially on the Tax Court Orders, which are so often overlooked elsewhere.
Guys and Christine,
Thanks for running PT all these years. Not only do I read it daily and continue to learn a lot from it (especially on new cases or rulings), but it gives me a hobby to write for in my retirement. Because of the high quality of the blog, I know the readership is potentially going to use things I write about in their work. That’s a large part of what motivates me to write posts.
Keep it up! Invaluable info.
Thank you! You do a tremendous job!
Congratulations on this milestone. This is blog is a great resource to the tax community. Keep up the outstanding work.