5. If they went full commercial, all the bad words would be filtered out...huh??? guess they've never actually been here...
Jim's Freepathon needs some serious attention.
-Thanks-
Its an open question whether zotting pro-Romney threads has hurt you. I don't know.
I see two other alternatives.
Cut costs through more modern hardware and software. That cloud environment is becoming more mature, and we might want to take a took at it. Also, do we really need 15 years of postings online?
Find a rich patron, one of those billionaires who supported Newt or Rick. I would understand why you wouldn’t want to be relying on one guy, but the amount this place costs is small compared to what they have been spending on the election.
A day without FreeRepublic is a day without sunshine. May FR keep on shining the light of truth!
They wish they had the participation and enthusiasm that we have on FreeRepublic. What a bunch of DUmmies!
I’m fairly sure NAMBLA sponsors DU. Can’t say for sure ‘cause there is no way I’m going to check it out.
I try to keep in mind that there'll be no bag limit once it kicks off . . .
My very first desire is to keep FR up and running. Some change may be acceptable if the alternative is to shut FR down. I would like to point out that DU has advertising and it doesn’t appear to me that much censorship of words or themes is evident there.
“And the agency would require that we install a filter to censor out any bad or unacceptable words in our posts.”
Izat working on the zombie sites?
If ads can help in some way, without usurping total freedom here, we should give it a go.
My very first desire is to keep FR up and running. Some change may be acceptable if the alternative is to shut FR down. I would like to point out that DU has advertising and it doesn’t appear to me that much censorship of words or themes is evident there.
Gear, books and so forth are a good idea. Leverage the membership through a FreeRepublic Store.
Something else you might consider, would be maybe offering extra features for paying members such as more sophisticated reporting and search features, as an example.
Work out your own advertising scheme and sell it to business that accept FR as it is. I'm not sure why you need an agency.
What ever you need to do, just keep up the good work!
5. If they went full commercial, all the bad words would be filtered out...huh??? guess they've never actually been here...
Jim: Go for the advertising. You should do very well with some good old conservative sponsors connecting up with the Freeper community. I think they will line up to be part of FR.
Just don’t take any Limbaugh cast-offs. LOL.
But you have made the right decisions for 15 years so I’m not going to argue with you if you stick to the current model.
If donations aren't doing enough, I for one would be fine with a paid monthly/annual membership model, and certainly that beats taking on advertising in any form.
If you consider memberships, I would suggest drop the registered-but-non-"member" privs back to a lower level, say for example, allow posting a max of 2 comments per day, no profile page, and no posting articles. Enough to wet the whistle but not a very significant load on the servers.
Registered "members" get to do everything that we registered folks do now, and get a listing on the "members" page (unless anonymity requested).
Plus maybe offer something like a bumper sticker or FR Pajama Patrol Deputy badge for those of us who would flaunt it. :)
Have to think about whether being a paid member grants any zot resistance. I think not immunity, but at the same time it seems like there might be something to balance there, like say suspension rather than annihilation. Hmmmmm...
Anyway Jim, do whatever you have to do to keep FreeRepublic online and independent. I can't live without it!!
I like the idea of FR merchandise as well. I’m sure we would all love to have some FReeper stuff, and it would provide great gifts to annoy the heck out of liberals.
A FR tee shirt or baseball cap is FRee advertising and a great conversation starter.
Actually, I sort of like the capitalist model. The nice thing about being conservatives is that we get to use it proudly, they have to use it hypocritically and guiltily. Nothing funnier than a street vendor selling a "Smash Capitalism" t-shirt for a profit. Well, yes there is - the guy who buys it.
Count me in.
But don’t they have those neat little gold stars for donors?
Make your decision based on free market capitalism principals.
Free Marketing, baby!
LOL.... hey I’m back on monthly pretty damned soon, looks like the financial crisis might be blowing over. Next payroll.