[Jim Robinson]

Thank you very much for your continuing support. Hoping most people prefer to just stick with what we have. It’s relatively clean and uncomplicated and thanks to our devoted FReepathon teams and our beloved FReepers, lurkers and donors, it actually WORKS!

[onyx]

God bless you for putting this out for our membership.

As a member of your FReepathon Team, please know that I am willing to keep Free Republic just like it is: completely member funded and totally independent of ads and outsiders!

I know that our FReepathons are taking a longer than in the old days, when our THONS would only take one week, but in those days our financial needs were at the amount of our Monthly Donor donations = $40K!

Whatever y’all decide, will be A-OK with me. I would prefer to keep us completely independent, but if that’s not possible, then go for the least intrusive.

Pop-ups are the pits!

[rightly_dividing]

I like it the way it is, but I ain't going nowhere if it changes.

I have heard it said that $5 per month per user would cover things well. Come on people, get up off of it. Donate monthly.

[TheOldLady]

It will be 12 years since I signed up here in October. I am used to the site and know how to use it relatively well, so I am averse to having it changed.

But of course, I'll go along with whatever you decide.

[MEG33]

It’s all up to you, Jim....I like it like it is.

[RedMDer]

We are with you 100 percent, Jim!

[boatbums]

I also think sticking to the current model is best. One idea for additional funding may be to get those you have links to on the Free Republic Home Page pony up some $$ for the privilege of being there. Freepers can go directly to those links and buy the various products those sites have available. You could also have them pay out a "royalty" or give FR a percentage of all products Freepers buy while they are there. Don't know if that is doable but Rush, Hannity, Coulter, etc. get the big bucks and they can show their gratitude to FR by sending some "finders fee" type rebates back to Free Republic.

Another thought may be to only allow posting to those members that pay at least $? (whatever is the minimum) for how many actual members there are here. I remember reading that FR has about 300,000 members. If you need $400,000 per year to operate, that is less than $1.50 PER YEAR per member. Obviously, not everyone sends in money, but I don't think a measly $5 or $10 fee per month is too much to ask and, that way, you may not need to do quarterly fundraisers and sweat it out each time. I'll continue to send in my automatic monthly payment either way. I can't live without my Free Republic!