Posted on 03/03/2010 9:35:16 AM PST by patriot08
The following announcement was on The Obama File this morning:
I would like to thank the 7 people who contributed to the support of The Obama File in the last 48 hours.
I hate to put that reminder on this site, and I only do it once a month.
I have decided to convert The Obama File into a subscription only site because of lack of support.
If you don't care, I don't care.
I don't know how long it will take, but I am suspending posts until the conversion is complete.
I will direct my activities today to returning all 10 contributions received in the last two weeks and contacting a consultant who can perform the necessary work to convert this site to subscription only.
Anyone who has contributed to the support of The Obama File in the last six months will be automatically enrolled as life subscribers, and will never need to pay another dime.
This is a done deal.
Any contributions received after this notice is posted WILL NOT BE RETURNED.
And please don't send me any emails telling me how important it is to continue operations, and how much this site will be missed.
Beckwith . . .
It's a sad day when the excellent Obama data base, The Obama File, which the United States Library of Congress selected for inclusion in its historic collection of Internet materials, folds because we were too miserly and uncaring to donate a few dollars a month to our fellow FReeper, Beckwith, to help with maintainance expenses for his website. Now the public will be deprived of the best Obama data base on the net.
,
related...
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/tp-to-bill-colombo-clinton-come-and-get-us-by-judi-mcleod/
Huh? It’s the Freeper’s fault? Get a life.
It seems a shame, but honestly, I’d never heard of the site before now.
It’s a BLOG, for crying out loud.
Are you trying to embarrass Beckwith with this whiny post?
How am I included in your “WE”? I’ve never heard of the blog before?
No no, I let myself down.
patriot08- Since May 28, 2008
>Female college student
>Live in Texas
>Interests:
Politics
Photography
Computers
Classic movies
Love cats, all animals
Sappy vanity threads
First I ever heard of it. And I don’t appreciate some guilt trip stuff acting like FReepers are responsbile for whatever went wrong here.
another bitter good bye?
Last year I only found his site a couple days before he reamed everyone for not sending money, took his marbles and went home. So I deleted my bookmark.
good luck.
Again? LOL.
According to the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) that site hasn’t been updated since mid 2008. Is that true?
I never heard of it either.
Unless he had active moderation going, and more than a few dozen posters, there is ZERO cost in reality. Getting a custom domain, loading a copy of WordPress, and maintaining the site runs no more than $20/year. If that’s too rich for your blood, then best work on getting more money than whining about “expenses on websites”.
The exception would be sites like FR where you need dedicated hardware, full-time moderation staff and the like. For a blog or information clearance site? Not a chance...
Neeever heard of it. Don’t really see a need!
I don’t care.
I have a life, and a great deal of it has been and is devoted to getting the Marxist/Muslim usurper in our White House booted out on his sorry a$$.
Beckwith via his 'The Obama File' has done more than just about anyone to bring about this objective.
Beckwith's articles from 'The Obama File' are often posted to Free Republic so everyone should be familiar with the website. FReepers should also be familiar with numerous appeals for help with maintenance of this website.
.
No. It was updated daily with the latest news on Obama.
I blame today’s youth. And cilantro. I hate cilantro.
“Sappy vanity thread(s)”
An obscure blog bites the dust? Who ever heard of such a thing?
I love a good opus. LOL
Now he can post directly to FR and get way more viewers.
Yep. I’ve run a few. Unlimited storage and plenty of bandwidth for about $60 to $100 a year.
Ran dedicated boxes too. And you’re right it’s a bit more pricey and time consuming, but still under well $200.00 a month.
I’m so sorry. I just sent them a check for $1,000,000.00
Never went to the website.
Didn’t know it existed.
Didn’t care.
Still don’t care.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
You better stop payment.
Or you won’t be getting it back.
Well I was going to, but since you already did it, I won't.
I can feel the love......really. Truly, I can.
/ sarc
Eat me. Pay for your own web space.
So you didn’t get enough donations, so you’re switching to a subscription based model? Good luck with that...
Obviously your web site was a failure and not worthy of support. In the free market those business models that are useful and fill a need succeed, those that are useless or don’t fill a need fail. Yours failed. The only person to blame is yourself for having an inferior product.
Extracted from an article by Steve Baldwin. Read the whole thing here . . .
Basically he copied information from other sites, posted it on his own site, then posted HIS site's version on FR. Blog and article whoring, at the worst level.
Bush’s Fault?
:)
Sorry. Never heard or it. But I’ll try to feel guilty for a few minutes.
.
The Obama File wasn’t ‘some obscure blog’.
It was the most comprehensive Obama data base on the net.
It contained all the history we have on Obama (and his associates) from his African relatives to the present- all in one place.
It was an excellent research data base and all of it backed up by links to his speeches, books, and matters of record.
Nowhere else does such a data base exist.
.
Is this an opus?
That's tax deductible, you know.
well who do you suppose is responsible for the fact that a majority of freepers, myself included, never heard of it? conservatives accept blame, don’t assign it to others. how the heck can you blame US for not knowing about it?
Well, that just ruined my day.
What exactly constitutes “help with maintenance of this website”? Most blogs are assumed to be personal part-time affairs (a la hobbies) with annual costs in the double digits. What kind of traffic was he getting?
Like what?
Sounds great. ... but what were the maintenance costs, really?
I just skimmed the site and looked at its usage statistics. Looks like he’s getting about 10x the activity that my site gets; FWIW my site has been stagnant for years, costs me just $160/year (I keep it just for the email domain now), and AFAIK is nothing to speak of. I don’t see what he’s spending so much on; if he’s spending more than $100/yr for that (he did allude to “hiring a consultant”), he’s being ripped off.
For a while I was using my signature line on chat forums (pity FR doesn’t support sig HTML) to just list books I’m reading, and link to Amazon. While not a lot of money (double digits, pennies at a time), I was surprised at how much I made without much effort.
How about VAS- Value Added Services to support the site- sell Cafe Press t-shirts or other items (you can make some pretty good money). Create an Amazon store and work off commissions, etc.
People don’t respond well with just requests for donations, they need additional benefit to justify what they are expected to give.
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