A SAD DAY. WE LET OUR FELLOW FREEPER DOWN. THE OBAMA FILE IS NO MORE

The Obama File ^ | 3/4/10 | Beckwith

[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.

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[xsmommy]

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?

[humblegunner]

Well, that just ruined my day.

[ctdonath2]

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?

[humblegunner]

'The Obama File' has done more than just about anyone to bring about this objective.

Like what?

[ctdonath2]

Sounds great. ... but what were the maintenance costs, really?

[ctdonath2]

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.

[GLDNGUN]

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.

Well, here's a great opportunity for a capitalist. Create your own site and do what this guy did. Only KEEP IT FREE and come up with a way to make it pay. Sell ads. Join affiliate programs. Take donations. Hire a salesperson on a commission basis. Whatever. Why would anyone pay for such information at another site when they can get it for free at your site? The better you do, the more you can put into updating the site and make it even better than your competitors.

When life hands you a lemon...don't suck on it and complain how sour it is.

[ctdonath2]

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.

[mnehring]

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.

[capacommie]

It a news archival site, not a blog.
It’s even listed in the Library of Congress.

[patriot08]

It wasn’t his article... Per your own link:

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
_________________________________________

That’s what The Obama File DOES. It scans the web for the most accurate, important data and articles on Obama and puts in all in one place with links back to the original.

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[capacommie]

every morning by 6 AM he had up all the latest, with analysis, plus then he’d archive it

I’m getting a subscription

[Lockbar]

Even tho I never heard of it, I feel bad. I will now go to the back yard and beat myself with a moldy twinkie.

[Servant of the Cross]

Wow, I bet you didn't expect this grief! And I thought most FReepers were well aware of "theobamafile" and FReeper Beckwith (aka Shannon Parker). After all:

we celebrated his birthday last July;

He's been profiled in the news; and

TheObamaFile/Beckwith threads have been plentiful on FR for years.

No good deed goes unpunished, eh? (at least Rick Perry put away KBH for you yesterday)

[SoCalPol]

I have know of Obama File right along.
I think many on FR who haven’t heard of it
have bought into the PaulBot mantra,better Obama won than McCain and don’t care to know what Obama is up to and
his background.

Well, how is that Hope & Change working out

[Shimmer1]

Yawwwwn

[ConservativeMind]

May I suggest you get a subscription to the site? Why do you insist Free Republic members pay to keep it free?

[ConservativeMind]

So if the site closed itself off last July, as your WND link seems to show, why is Patriot08 saying this happened now?

[patriot08]

.

Thank you.
I’m only a college kid, but I have practically put my life on hold to try to do what I can to help get the Marxist/Muslim usurper out of the White House.
I have sent hundreds of emails and faxes, made dozens of phone calls and gone to many tea parties and have done everything it was possible for one person to do.

I accidentally discovered Beckwith’s The Obama File while still in high school.
I read all about Obama- his Muslim/Communist ancestors/relatives, his recent/present day association with radicals, Muslims and America haters, his voting record and his agenda. I knew what I was reading was true and not just another hate site because it was all backed up with links to reliable, original sources.
It made me realize what a danger Obama is to this country.
Before then, I hadn’t a clue- in fact I neither knew nor cared about politics. (like most people my age today)
The Obama File educated me and made me appreciate and love this country.

Judging from the vicious comments and insults I’ve had on this thread, you’d think I accidentally posted on DU.
Perhaps all this has been good. At least I, and many others, now know the true nature of some of our fellow ‘FReepers’.
Well, that’s alright. Doesn’t faze me.
I’m used to it. After all, I’ve been dealing with vicious DemoRats for several years now.

I don’t know why Beckwith is having financial problems with keeping his website up and running.
I do know that he is a 70 year old on Social Security.
Having read the material on his site for several years and having corresponded with him on and off, I believe he is an honest gentleman and a fine patriot.
If he says he needs donations to keep it up, I believe him.

And yes, it is a shame that some of us couldn’t find it in our hearts to donate a few bucks to his PayPal- and that even though his website has been up over three years, he has only had less than $200 donated to help keep this excellent, one of a kind Obama data base on the web.

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