Free Republic 3rd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 | Receipts & Pledges to-date: $70,934 | |||
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Woo hoo!! And we're now over 87%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless. |
Posted on 07/03/2009 8:54:28 AM PDT by Rodamala
Edited on 07/03/2009 9:29:33 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I'm very new here and don't want to get perceived as a "troll", but I see the Freepathon fund drive meter every day and have a question. I don't even know if posting on the forum like this is the right way to ask.
Every quarter, there seems to be a fund drive for $80,000. I'd donate, but 1) money is tight right now, and 2) where does the $320k/year go?
I really like this place... I finally get to be around people that "get it". I feel I should contribute, but... well, see 1 & 2 above.
Rodamala
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“FreeRepublic” link on upper and lower left of page takes me here..
http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm
This isn’t the main page?
If every FReeper gave $1 a month, the FReepathons would only last a couple of days. Much less than the cost of a daily newspaper and much more informative!
C'mon people pony up!
The upper one does, but the lower one doesn’t (it is technically a link to www.freerepublic.com which automatically redirects to www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index). The problem is, even the upper link isn’t labelled in an informative way. If you’re a newcomer and typed www.freepublic.com , you’ve been automatically redirected to the main forum index at www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index. Seeing a bold heading at the top that reads “Free Republic” hardly looks like a link to a “Home” or “About” page. In fact it doesn’t even look like a link at all, but just like a visual heading on the page you’re on. Remember, newcomers have no way of knowing that there is anything like the home page. They went to the main domain name, and got a full forum index, and what they *see* there is all they know. Most websites have their main home/directory page at the basic .com/.org/.net domain name, and either have the general information about the site right there, or have a prominent link on that page labelled “Home” or “About” that leads to a general information page.
What page are you trying this from? I’ve checked both main forum index at www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index and the News/Activism index which is reached from a link under the “Browse by Forum” list. In both cases, the bold “FreeRepublic” in the lower left does not lead to the home page. But as I noted earlier, there is and has been quite a bit of quirkiness in FR’s techincal foundation, and it’s possible you don’t get the same things I get, and/or that someone who’s not yet registered at all might get different results from what either of us get.
I have it on the regular page that comes up when you go to FreeRepublic.com. I found the like by accident.. lol.
Yes, that takes me to the home page too. But www.freerepublic.com does not. And nothing on the forum pages is labelled “Home” or “About” so there’s no evidence of the existence of a home page. The fact that the link in the upper left is in large bold font, while all the things to the right of it, which have names clearly suggesting they are links, are in small non-bold font, makes the big bold “FreeRepublic” label not look like a link, but more like a logo. On most sites, a big bold label/logo like that with the site’s main name, is not a link to a home/about page, but is either just a decorative graphic or a more often a circular link back the same page that the main domain name brings up (see www.foxnews.com , www.cnn.com , www.theonion.com , www.washingtonpost.com , www.townhall.com — ALL of these have site name label which is simply a circular link, and separate link labelled “Home” which leads to an information page). If you want people to find a home page with information about the site, you need to label the link “Home” or “About” like every other website does.
No offense, but all the questions you have are answered right on FR’s Home Page - just scroll down a bit.
Hope all the good discussion here gets a few lurkers interested in joining/donating!
I’ve never run my own website, but why does the site have to pay taxes?
I'm direct with people about giving since I'm pastor of a church. Everyone has 10 bucks. You will blow 10 bucks in the next 24 hours.
So far as where it goes, here's the link: budget
If the question is really, "Do I trust these people?", then only you can answer that question.
Other sites probably use paid advertisements or are funded by news media or other big bucks activists. Who controls those sites?
That's really above-board here: Jim Robinson owns and operates FR. Type his name into the search window, punch "users", and get all his postings. REad them and see what you think.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1378851/posts?page=338#338
Kick in 5 or 15 bucks. I am military and I do not make a lot of money.
I figure 15 bucks a quarter is worth the Information I get from the site.
JJ
Gave $10 this past Monday. Not much, but I aint freeloadin’!
Right on. I did $15 two days ago.
I will do the same next month if the drive is still going.
The budget breakdown pretty much sums it up. Systems and programming at 7k month (84k/yr)is to pay Jim’s Son, John, who manages the website and does the programming. Jim’s salary (admin) is at 10.5k/ month (126k/yr) and that includes disbursements to pay income taxes on his draw and accounting is the bookeepers salary at 12k/yr. So 222k/yr of the budget goes to salaries and the rest to other expenses such as bandwidth, system upgrades, travel and misc, etc.
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