Just about the only thing I’ve enjoyed about Neal Coolong’s first week with our site more than his actual work has been all the newcomers that work has brought aboard.

We’ve enjoyed one of the biggest weeks in our site’s history, and it’s been easy to tell that most of it has originated from that widespread place identified by cartographers only as Steelers Nation. Exact numbers aren’t available for a little while — I’ll explain that at the end — but in terms of overall revenue, it’s been extraordinary, almost at the level of the final week of Christmas gift subscriptions.

So welcome, new Steelers fans, and make yourself at home.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t add, even though it’s been acknowledged by so many of you already, the outstanding diligence and quality of Neal’s work. He balances a love and knowledge of the game with a respect for the job with a soft touch when it comes to the human aspect. If you’re looking for a golden example, my personal favorite was one detailing a fascinating interaction between Markus Wheaton and Mike Tomlin.

The man’s been on the job only a few days. Just wait.

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The more that our readership skews toward the app — and it was 52 percent in June — the more we’ll keep working to improve your experience on that platform. And to that end, let me toss some various items your way about stuff happening on that front:

• We love the app alerts. They’re the fastest way, including social media, to reach you directly. They’re so fast, actually, that they’ll often arrive on your phone well before the corresponding article is published.

Since so many have inquired about this, let me make this clear: That’s by design.

It’s also the industry norm. When the AP reports on an earthquake off the coast of Japan, it issues an alert and then puts together the piece. Calling up Pedro Florimon isn’t quite on the natural disaster scale, but it will get an alert. And then we’ll work to get you the full article.

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Today at 5 p.m., we’ll have our one-year anniversary Lunatic Bash at Highmark Stadium, and here, one final time, is everything you need to know to attend:

• All subscribers are welcome, not just Lunatic or three-year subscribers. No need for verification, either. When you show up, let us know why you’re there. Simple.

• Park in Highmark Stadium’s West lot. It’s $5, unfortunately, as all lots in the area are operated by Station Square, but we’ll try to make it more than worth your while.

• Each subscriber can get up to two tickets to the Riverhounds-Louisville match that follows at 7 p.m., thanks to our friends at Allegheny Health Network. No hard process there, either. Show up, find our people in the lot wearing silly DK stuff, and they’ll hand you tickets.

• Once inside, we’ll meet up by the Riverhounds’ new soccer pub. You can’t miss it. It’s just to your left as you enter, and it’s magnificent.

That’s it! Looking forward to meeting you!

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A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …

• ‘So, which company maintains your site?’

Fairly common question I get. Only it can’t be answered literally because it isn’t a company that’s doing all this. It’s a kid named Jordan Saunders, a freakishly intelligent and ambitious young South Sider who’s building up a business that he calls Saunders Solutions.

As with so many of the people involved and invested in our venture, Jordan began as a Lunatic subscriber, saw what we were doing … and decided we had no idea what we were doing. At least not in the tech sense. So he offered at first to bail us out for free and now pretty much does everything for us. He’s already replaced our servers, converted the design of our home page and, in his biggest project for us yet, currently is building us a custom commerce platform that will be only about a billion times better than the one we have.

I can’t recommend Jordan and his growing brand to you strongly enough.

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BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …

• Tomorrow is Father’s Day. And based on the base we’re building up here, it’s safe to say this holiday should be second only to Christmas when it comes to gift subscription sales.

So far, so good: We’ve processed 113 Father’s Day gift subscriptions in the two weeks since we began offering customized cards. That’s not spectacular, and it isn’t close to our Christmas pace, but it’s also a legit bump and highly encouraging going into the future.

Here’s where to get one.

Thanks so much to all who already have, by the way. And please, by all means, feel free to share in comments under this post any reaction your dad might have. Would love to hear it..

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BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …

• Please join Josh Yohe and me in welcoming Matt Gajtka to our full-time reporting staff, our second major hire since the site’s launch last July.

Matt, who already had been part of our family of contributors with his terrific coverage of the Riverhounds, will wear many hats as a staffer, and that’s part of what makes his hire so perfect for us at this stage of our continuing growth. His primary challenge — and I use the term advisedly — will be to oversee our new college network, which I’ll describe in a bit. But he’ll also write a weekly statistical analysis, with the sports varying, under a title we’re still trying to concoct. (I’m pretty sure he’ll reject my suggestion of ‘Gajtka’s Geekery.’) And beyond that, he’ll be involved with our regular coverage, including the pro teams.

Beyond all that, Matt just gets it. From the moment this site launched, I could tell he understood, inside and out, what I hoped to achieve here, from the tell-people-what-they-don’t-already-know nature of the coverage to interacting with our audience as no one else does (or wants to), and I’ve appreciated that almost as much as his actual contributions.

Trust me when I tell you the site just became a whole lot stronger, my friends.

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