Friends, it’s becoming more and more clear that Big Tech is censoring as many “free speech” outlets as it can. In response, several bloggers have already moved their blogs to Web sites and servers they own or control, or to service providers who are more independent. David Codrea did so with his “The War on Guns” blog, as did Divemedic at “Area Ocho”, and Lawdog is about to do likewise.
I’ve never had a “tip jar” on this blog, and never asked readers to cover its expenses. Fortunately, Blogger has been a very low-cost option to publish it, which has helped. However, since my content is as likely to be censored by the politically correct as any of the above bloggers, I guess the time has come to set up a “safer” site where there’s less danger of that, even if it’s more expensive to operate it.
I need to figure out how to raise the funds to do that, and to pay for ongoing operations, and also (if possible) to help cover the time I spend writing the blog (usually one to two hours every day, during which I can’t earn money by writing books, etc.). I’d like to ask readers whether they’re prepared to offer financial support for all that. I’m not talking about immense sums of money (although if you have them, I won’t say no!), but raising enough to pay for all the initial costs and then fund ongoing operations. I’d guesstimate raising about $10,000 for the first year if possible.
Would you be willing to contribute towards that, no matter how little? If so, please let me know in Comments below this post. That’ll help me decide what to do going forward. I may hold a fundraiser, or do a couple of raffles – whatever it takes.
Thanks in advance.
Peter
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Many of the sites and blogs that REAL citizens/patriots read and enjoy have had to the make the choice you are describing. Therefore, the byproduct of those actions is that capital migrates to quality. . . .which means that we have had to become fairly selective in the content we peruse, because invariably, we are going to hit the tip jar $20 here and $30 there on at least a semi-annual basis, if not quarterly. I wince that this is happening to those brave and talented people who write this content (we ALL know think we know roughly how much time and effort it takes, but we–as the readership–are not even close to a perception of what really goes into these works, are we?) at the same time that the readership is facing real and damaging pressures on their resources. So, it's going to inflict some collateral damage amid hard choices. I personally love this site. 3 digit gifts per anum are NOT going to kill me. Might even make me read it more intently.
Yes? Having the advantage of being local to the WF area, I am somewhat more motivated and whichever way you decide to go with the fundraising, etc… Happy to contribute.
I am a retiree on a fixed budget but I find a lot of value in the thee information you provide. I would be willing to contribute, especially if you have a PO box I can send a check to since I don't do PayPal anymore.
Why don't you try Locals.com? It won't you anything, at least initially, and you can do as little or as much as you want. I know it's billed as more or a blog site, but I post some of my stuff every now and again, and I've never blogged once.
Short answer – yes.
Love your blog as well as your books. In my younger years, I had a subscription to 4 or 5 gun mags. I've got 5 or 6 blogs I read religiously, yours included. I would not mind paying like a subscription. I've come to the realization I need to support the things I like. $2 a month is like one Sonic coke a month. Well, $2.49 for the Sonic coke.
Yes. I support the blogs I read on a daily basis and would be happy to do so here.
Yes- $10 a month or maybe a couple hundred a year… maybe more as God prospers.
Sure. You're one of my go-to sites for information. I'd be willing to send a dollar or two
I will if it can be sent by debit card. and directly to you…
I'd be happy to chip in for this!
I could probably go in for a bit every now and then. I've never considered it on my blog because I'm not nearly the writer as you and some others I read regularly. I've always said that I write for my own purposes, and if anyone stops by to read it, great. If they don't, also great. I'm still writing for my own reasons.
FWIW, I made the same decision a while back. Ditched Blogger, moved to a reasonably decent hosting service and a WordPress blog. Cost me about $300 to set it all up, and something over $200/year to keep it going. Of course, I spent a career in IT, so doing it wasn't a big deal for me-more like an entertaining evening than a chore to be accomplished.
One thing to consider about this move. Unless you pay for hosting fees, domain registrations and any software licenses for a very long time in advance, when you go away, your blog will follow you, probably within a year. Some may not care. I don't know yet if I care or not. But I'm not asking the Heirs and Assigns to fund something that was Dad's hobby.
I hope this is helpful in some way.
Sure, I'll hit the tip jar, or – if you offer the option – send a check.
You've been a daily read for years. And doing it directly bypasses possible shenanigans from the likes of patreon and gofundme.
Yes. Go for it.
yes I would contribute, but $10k seems very high. Freeholder has prices more in line with what I would expect.
There are enough people in this position that there should be some companies that support this for reasonable prices. Once it's properly setup, it's the sort of service that scales well to support many blogs with minimal overhead for each one added.
Who is it that's running Baen's Bar and website now? IIRC it's an author who formed a small company to do it.
David Lang
Absolutely. Would prefer an alternative to PayPal though. I reluctantly use them only when no alternative is possible.
yup
Value for content, and I believe your content has value! So, yes.
I'm in. I will help…it's more likely I would hit the tip jar rather than a subscription…
I'm willing to help. Either tip jar or annual support.
(I deleted my first comment since Brave changed to Japanese and I can't read it–I'm in Tokyo)
t-chas
I'd send some, too.
Yes, I will pitch in. You might touch base with DiveMedic at areaocho.com. He did this a while back.
Please do not use GoF***Me.
AS long as I can mail the $$$, Im in.
Never use PayPal.
Absolutely!! You, Raconteur Report, Western Rifle Shooters, NC Renegades, Burning Platform, and Area Ocho are daily staples of sanity and truth in this ever-changing world of growing insanity…Where do I send the money order??? No commie PayPal though, need an address to send to….
NCPilot
I'm in
yes
Yes. Prefer credit card, not PayPal.
I’m in.
Just move to substack.
It has a free option, and you can add subscribers only posts.
Writers are making big money in it, for those monetizing it.
The only negative is it does not allow easy marketing of your published products.
It’s post driven.
The irony of the big tech censorship of blogs etc is that it forces the replacement 'media landscape' to appear. A natural evolution of sorts, and I for one am sticking around for the journey.
Yes I would contribute. Probably a small monthly amount or hit the tip jar periodically.
Peter, Other than me continuing to buy guns from you which, lets face it, wasn't a sustainable model before I retired, I think you should take the time to look into the pricing structures and processes commonly used by other You Tubers. Just some of the available examples from my own life; Tim Pool of Tim Pool IRL program fame sets his membership price at US$10/mo, which grants 24/7 access to his website and all of the content thereon (which is pretty much all of the video he has ever produced to which he owns the rights). Members can choose to pay higher amounts, so he is fortunately able to continue expanding in scope as well as quantity. Jimmy Corsetti of the webpage Bright Insight (another US$10/mo) attracts a different audience segment for the most part, covering "Ancient Mysteries, Conspiracies and the Cosmos". If you have Spotify, he fairly recently appeared as a guest on Joe Rogan's podcast. Despite his not being a practitioner of the Oxford comma, I nonetheless enjoy his videos. Especially when his work corresponds closely with another possible example for you to consider. Randall Carlson is a house builder (and 32nd degree Mason) who fairly regularly takes part in a multi-hour video program titled Kosmographia (US$9.99/mo) which are regularly featured on You Tube under that name. Usually wandering his way through an astounding array of supporting evidence, often from unrelated-seeming fields of study, he is one of the early proponents of the Younger Dryas Catastrophe theory of historic – and as he impressively argues, future – climate change event. For only one of many historic events or locales. He offers a selection of price ranges to choose from with "perks" attached to the higher level ones.
All of the above are easily searched by even Google (Go Brave!), so I won't clutter up your page with links. Not sure if that's more courteous or lazy. Speaking from total ignorance of how the getting the money part of all this works, it mostly seems to be a function of how complex you want your offering to be. Tim Pool famously doesn't even look at his social media beyond putting up something designed to rile up said social media users, and he's equally difficult to contact otherwise. Randall doesn't really use social media personally; he has "people" to do that for him (they are respectively, his long-time friends and his program producers – who have their own program Brothers of the Snake). Their program funding model also consists of responding to "Superchats" – comments with a donation attached essentially, something Tim Pool includes as the closing 30 minute segment of his 5 night per week 2 hour show (with an additional ~30 minute "Members Only "More adult" discussion of the days events likely to get him kicked off of You Tube). I'm certain Jimmy Corsetti would be quite happy to walk you through his end of the program funding infrastructure he's used. I know he uses Patreon now as does Tamara Keel, professional gun blogger and magazine writer (and a remarkable photographer), so that's at least one probably reliable source for you to follow up.
I think you are going to have to expand your online presence to include video. There are endless examples of people just sitting at a table or desk talking into the camera, often as not a recent model smart phone (it's a matter of included camera lens technology more than anything else). You'll quickly move to a better audio recording system than your phone can offer. Beyond that, ask Jimmy.
I further imagine if you figure out what you want, we could toss a few bucks into the hat to help get the gear in place initially. Here's a content idea; host a regular "interview" with travelling sales(wo)men or the local writers in your area. If you put up a 10-to-12 minute video "sermon" on a topic you've already researched for the blog, that's got you working 8 days a week.
You'll figure it out, and we'll be here when you do.
I'm in – $100 for starters
I'd chip in. Not sure I about a regular contribution but surely a time or two.
Yup, capitalism works.
Absolutely
I would also be wiling to support you, but will not use PayPal or Patreon.
Yes, I'd like to keep it at $5 to$10 per month, but if you need more…