About The 5th Podium

The 5th Podium began as Renegade's Rants, and was the brainchild of Andrew Ross, or R.E.T.S. as many early posts were signed. 

It was a place where Andrew was free to write about anything and everything from the silly and odd to the serious and frightening. It allowed Andrew to give his point of view on the politics of the United States and the world at large without fear of reprisal from a certain social media outlet. A place where he could speak freely of religion without inciting virtual riots among friends of friends of friends.

Since the first post over ten years ago, Renegade's Rants had seen over seventeen thousand hits from nations around the world. The United States, Russia, China, France and Latvia make up the top five countries in which readers reside. Facebook, Fark, Google and OfficeHelp4Hire were just some of this blog's top referring sites. Three of the top read articles on Renegade's Rants were Random Thought Generator; Ladies And Gentlemen, The Morons Of The United States; and Equality: Homosexuals, Marriage, and Christian Blindness.

One of the things that Andrew wanted to be different about Renegade's Rants was comment and response. At the time, it was not rare to see multiple commentators discussing and debating one another regarding the content of the article. It was rare to see the actual author of that article join in, answer questions and engage his or her readers. Far more rare was the engaging author who was also courteous and genuinely grateful for the feedback regardless of content. For this reason, Andrew has sought to engage his readers as much as possible. As seen in the screenshot to the right, commenting readers can expect to receive answers to questions; replies to thoughts; discussion and sometimes even debate. These, always with gratitude for taking the time to let him know they are reading. 

Renegade's Rants had seen more than its fair share of trolls, cyberbullies and general hatred - Most preferring to lash out from positions of anonymity rather than owning their statements, questions and actions. There have even been death threats left in the comments area as well as emailed. Through it all, however, Andrew remained resolute; speaking his mind whenever and wherever.

Though Renegade's Rants went through the usual posting pattern of many blogs (that is: on again, off again), readers could rest assured that there would be new content for as long as there were things to rant about. 

Recently, at the suggestion of a friend and patron, Andrew transitioned from Renegade's Rants to something a little more fitting to the current times: The 5th Podium.

The 5th Podium picks up where Renegade's Rants left off, but with a decidedly new life. With the re-branding comes a brand new series, new features, and other changes. Some older features will also be phasing out, although this is mainly due to Google's decisions than a change of direction on the part of The 5th Podium.

If any reader has ideas for articles, or would like to get Andrew's take on any given topic, send him a message through Facebook!