Saturday site stuff: For those who serve ²⁸

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BRADENTON, Fla. — A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …

• Since the site’s inception, we’ve offered free subscriptions to all men and women serving actively in our military. That will never change. I hear too many tales of how staying connected to Pittsburgh’s sports teams is vital for those far from home, and it’s absolutely our honor to give back.

If you qualify, please email us verification of service at [email protected]

Unfortunately, we’re not in a business position to include all military veterans, which is obviously a very large group. But here’s what we’ve done in lieu of that: We recommend to anyone who wishes to donate to the site that they instead buy a gift subscription for a veteran. In turn, we assign that gift and, if you want, we’ll let you know who got it.

We’ve already had many, many generous readers who have done this.

Photo-illustration — DALI KOVACEVIC

I’ve told this tale before, but every midnight on our Google Analytics tracker, we get this cluster of hits from Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, usually in the range of two dozen. I don’t know who those readers are, and they’ve never identified themselves, but it makes me smile each time.

Bob McLaughlin, longtime radio host/producer at 105.9 the X, yesterday generously donated a Lunatic subscription to a vet because, in Bob’s colorful words, “They get paid squat for risking life/limb, and I know there’s nothing like checking in on favorite sports team from halfway around the world to get your mind off what you did that day or have to do the next day. Vets I know told me it was THE thing that kept them sane.”

Anyway, rather than doing this haphazardly every time someone emails, I wanted to type all this in one space to share with you.

• The latest update for our Android app is out. If you have it, please update it through your Google Play store. It makes a difference for you and for us once it’s installed. The update for the Apple app has been submitted, too, but those people are, like, Kent Graham slow at everything they do. Keep an eye open in the iTunes Store this coming week.

One neat feature that’s been added to this update for both apps: When you click on one of our articles on any mobile social media or other mobile link, a thing called a ‘smart banner’ shows at the top. It asks if you want to read it through the app or a mobile browser. Or, if you don’t have the app, it offers an each chance to install. We’re hoping as many people as possible choose and use the app, in part because that’s how I’m designing a lot of the content.

• On Tuesday, we had 4,720 unique users on the app, our all-time single-day high. This figure is growing, literally, with every passing week, and rapidly. It’s a great thing.

Overall app count: 4,674 active downloads from Apple, 1,940 from Android. And when I say active, that’s the net sum of apps actually on someone’s phone. If someone deletes our app, it’s a minus.

If you haven’t downloaded yet, here is our app for iPhone/iPad. And the app for Android.

• Our recent server migration came with some bumps, but it’s really smoothed out, thanks to the tireless work of our wizard, Jordan Saunders. We’re getting there.

• On that note, if you’re one of the several readers who has described having the home page stuck on some date in early March, here’s the one-time solution: Log out, clear your cache, and log back in. This happened because of the server migration. It won’t happen again.

• We’re selling baseball gift subscriptions aimed at offering Pirates fans a full year of coverage from spring training onward. A custom baseball-style card will be sent to all gift recipients, and we’ll be sure, as with all subscribers, that they get all the help they need using the site and the app.

Click the big box below for all gift subscription options:

• Yes, to answer the most common question coming this way, an existing subscription can be upgraded. Email [email protected] with your info, and we’ll take care of it.

• As of this writing at 11 p.m. Friday, we’re at 8,903 subscriptions. We’ll turn eight months old on Monday, and our stated goal for the first full year was 10,000.

• If you can’t figure out something related to our site or app, please check our Support and App Support pages. About 99 percent of the questions we get can be answered right there. But if your issue isn’t there, email [email protected]

• I’ll be in Bradenton until Monday, after which John Perrotto, longtime dean of the local baseball writing scene, will contribute one piece each day on the final 10 days of spring training. He’ll be our site’s first freelance writer, as we look to continually add value to your subscription.

• Thank you, as always, for reading and for your support.