One of our most impor­tant projects, which we’ve been invest­ing a lot of ener­gy into late­ly, is turn­ing sev­en today: Pacif­ic NW Por­tal, first launched on Jan­u­ary 31st, 2005, has now been online for a grand total of eighty four months. Since the day it launched, it’s helped to bring the net­roots of Wash­ing­ton, Ore­gon, and Ida­ho togeth­er, and it’s made fol­low­ing polit­i­cal news from around the region much easier.

A month and a week ago, the Por­tal received a huge makeover with the unveil­ing of Ver­sion 5.0, code­named New­port. (Por­tal releas­es are named after cities and towns on the Ore­gon coast). New­port was sev­er­al years in the mak­ing, and we’re very hap­py with the recep­tion it has received.

We are con­tin­u­ing to make improve­ments to Pacif­ic NW Por­tal — just last week, we released Ver­sion 5.1, a minor update to New­port, code­named Agate Beach. And pre­lim­i­nary work is already under way on Ver­sion 6.0, dri­ven by your ideas.

In hon­or of Pacif­ic NW Por­tal’s sev­enth birth­day, here is a roundup, or com­pi­la­tion, of com­ments we’ve received over the years from NPI read­ers and fel­low blog­gers about the project and what it means to them.

From the day it was launched, Pacif­ic North­west Por­tal instant­ly became a must-have book­mark for any­body inter­est­ed in perus­ing pro­gres­sive news and views from the Pacif­ic North­west.

— David Goldstein

An ambi­tious blog of blogs for the pro­gres­sive Pacif­ic North­west plus news and weath­er. An indis­pens­able resource.

— Michael Hood

Of course, the need for a handy online fix of pro­gres­sive polit­i­cal news is even more acute in places like Ida­ho. Red State Rebels is hon­ored to be part of the Pacif­ic NW Por­tal mix.

— Julie Fanselow

I can imag­ine the amount of work that goes into doing all this.  Your site pro­vides a great resource to the NW Blo­gos­phere. Resources like this and the PNW Top­ic Hotlist pro­vide Pacif­ic North­west­ern­ers with unique tools for the ben­e­fit of pro­gres­sives. Oth­er regions of the coun­try should be jealous!

— Daniel Kirkdorffer

It’s always good to see you guys on top of things, I know that for at least me you are a huge asset to Ida­ho blog­gers and the politi­cians we support.

— Chris Oates

<3 Pacif­ic NW Por­tal is my home­page. Rock on.

— NPI read­er Sandals

It looks great — and is much improved. I like the high­lights of NW blog­gers a lot. I just reg­is­tered with the site and book­marked it, which I did­n’t do the last time I vis­it­ed before the changes.

— Tom Kertes

On behalf of the Ore­gon House Democ­rats, thanks for this crit­i­cal work.

— Ore­gon State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Chip Shields

I am a Cor­val­lis, Ore­gon pro­gres­sive and occas­sion­al blog­ger. I have been keep­ing my eye out for NW-relat­ed sites, so I will make sure to head over to Pacif­ic NW Por­tal right away. I have been mean­ing to begin writ­ing more reg­u­lar­ly, so I am hap­py to see that oth­er NWers will have a chance to see my writing!

— Robin Ozretich

Lib­er­als in the North­west have been behind the game in get­ting their mutu­al-sup­port act togeth­er (yours tru­ly is notably slow on this par­tic­u­lar uptake), but the appear­ance of Pacif­ic NW Por­tal is decid­ed­ly a step in the right, er, left direction.

— David Neiwert

The North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute has a nice link for Pacif­ic NW Por­tal. I’m still look­ing around but it’s got good info, and is well organized. 

— Carl Ballard

Pacif­ic NW Por­tal is tru­ly a “por­tal” into pol­i­tics and polit­i­cal blog­ging in the Pacif­ic North­west. It is a fount of infor­ma­tion and con­nec­tion to pro­gres­sive groups and thinkers.

— Rowan Wolf

To every­one who has sup­port­ed Pacif­ic NW Por­tal over the years — whether by send­ing in sug­ges­tions for improve­ment, report­ing bugs, spread­ing the word about the site, or just vis­it­ing it and using it — thank you, from all of us at NPI.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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