As to fixing the problem - the only thing that comes immediately to mind, assuming we want FR to continue to be the BBC to the liberals CNN, is for us the users of the site to introduce it to more of our friends/relatives/associates, with the idea of expanding the user base, and therefore the donator base.
As a programmer, I am interested in how FR works. It looks like the site is using Linux/Apache, so I would guess that the database they are using here is MySql. Hopefully, not a flatfile system. Linux, Apache, PHP, and MySql are free software.
The big cost would be in the hosting bill/bandwidth per month at NTT America, Inc. Plus throw in switches, back up storage, a firewall, and whatever GUI server software they use, it can get expensive.
One problem I noticed is that this website does not take advantage of compression using Gzip or Deflate which would speed up access. Most modern websites use this easy to implement change.
Example:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index is not gzipped
Actual Page Size: 71.67 KB
Size if Gzipped: 22.15 KB
Potential Savings: 69.09%
I find it odd, considering some of the vehement opinions often expressed on the subject by many people on these boards, that financially FR operations, in comparison to that of KOS etc, are much like PBS versus commercial television!
Yep, Jim and John Robinson have been even cleverer than PBS in hiding all that taxpayer money they've been getting from the government!
As to fixing the problem - the only thing that comes immediately to mind, assuming we want FR to continue to be the BBC to the liberals CNN,...
Are you sure you really want to make that analogy? First, there's that troublesome matter of government funding of the BBC. Secondly, the BBC and its personnel are even deeper into leftist moonbattery than CNN. Although your current profile doesn't show it I seem to recall that you're in Germany, so perhaps your skewed perspective of the BBC is understandable... /g
... is for us the users of the site to introduce it to more of our friends/relatives/associates, with the idea of expanding the user base, and therefore the donator base.
This last, of course, is an excellent suggestion. Increasing the donor base would be the most helpful thing possible.
I make up business cards with the FR logo and it’s mission statement and URL and hand them out to interested parties.
Have no way of knowing how many people actually come, but it is a way to get the URL into people’s hands with out them having to ‘try’ and remember it. I just print it on plain paper and cut them out.
I’ve been doing this for at least 3 years now. I print them 1 sheet at a time, 10 to the page. I use Borderbund Print Shop.