Posted on 07/17/2017 9:48:56 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Received a copy of the message pasted below that apparently is circulating via freepmail.
In response, all I can say is John is my son and my partner in FR along with Chris and Amy. None of us make a six figure salary. I designed and wrote the original version of FR back in '96, but it was my very first internet project ever. It worked, but codewise it was a dog. And virtually impossible to maintain.
When John came in with me, he rewrote the software and made it work greater than ever before and included maintenance tools that were sorely needed. I never dreamed that a homegrown internet site could handle the traffic and the millions of posts that we do. And even including the few times when we were down hard for more than a day, over the last 21 years we have better than 99% uptime.
And later, when our growth saturated and used up all the resources of our original ISP, John designed and built our multi-server hardware system, negotiated a contract for sufficient bandwidth and installed it at the San Jose data center. I'm not a techie so the hardware and software are John's baby.
And he and Chris are planning on running FR after me and Amy are gone. We are not about to let it die, assuming there's still a need and willing members.
This is about 20th warning being circulated during the last 20 years that FR's demise was imminent within the next year. Someday they may be right.
Lastly, if the guy who wrote the message below thinks he can do a better job than we do, he should go for it. And, for crying out loud, if he thinks he's being ripped off he should stop donating immediately and possibly should start posting somewhere else.
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“I don’t want to answer this question out in public, but I do want to answer it because I believe that many potential donors are in the same position. I have donated fairly regularly, but am becoming increasingly hesitant to continue on.
We see from the numbers that EXCLUDING expenses (collocation, bandwidth, legal, credit card processing fees, etc.) Jim (and I assume John shares) is pulling in a cool quarter million per year from this. Its his baby... he created it, he does what he can from home to babysit it... that’s fine... more power to him. It seems that his son John is the other principal who does the running to the data-center when things need fixing.
I don’t know how much John gets from this... but there’s enough profit there for BOTH Jim and John to make a six-figure salary. John apparently already has a full time job... he gets around to FR issues “when he can squeeze in the time”. If someone’s getting a six-figure salary to mind a system then that system ought to be sort of a high priority, not something that can be squeezed in on weekends now and then.
It is what it is... but here’s where it’s reaching the breaking point for me and I think many others:
Given the frequency of hardware failures, it’s becoming clear that it is now more likely than not that FR won’t exist a year from now. Many of us have suggested that hardware upgrades are becoming increasingly more of a priority... they’re now imperative.
There in NO discussion of this even being considered. I get it that Jim’s a stubborn guy... no one likes change, and a migration is a scary project.
But, without it, this site is going to evaporate... soon. Hardware is cheap... he could get a pair of great servers for $20K... the software is fine, no need to spend a ton of money writing some fancy new system. Just replace the hardware with something modern. Get some of the many experts here to volunteer a few days to work on the migration.
A brand new setup would cost less than one month’s “salary”... but would guarantee that FR survives. If giving up one month’s pay to invest in the future of his site (and the future of his income) is too much to ask, then hold a special freepathon to raise it. I can almost guarantee this money, if it was known that it was being allocated to a legit hardware upgrade plan, would be raised in a matter of a few days.
Perhaps Jim’s plan is to simply squeeze as much money out of it until it dies, then forget about it... we don’t know... he’s not saying anything (at least publicly that I can see). If that’s the case, he should at least be honest about the plan to the people he’s asking to pay his salary. If he has a plan for the site to continue, then he would be better served telling his donors what that plan is.... that would encourage more to be on board with the plan.
I would hate to see FR die abruptly and permanently. The likelihood of that happening soon is becoming very high at this point if these outages and other hardware issues continue on their current trend. If that’s NOT the plan, then I wish Jim would communicate to his donors about it and get moving to prevent that... before its too late.”
Thank you all very much.
FReepers are the absolute greatest.
God bless.
I can’t believe someone would write that crap Jim.
But yes, over the years how many of those have you seen? I know I’ve seen a lot of them over the years - more back in the beginning.
Personally, I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done - and for giving us a home. When the site is down life sucks.
God Bless you.
I would be delighted if all of you made that much.
I can’t imagine that any but a tiny, irrelevant minority would begrudge you a good living from FR.
You don’t have to explain, or justify what you make from FR, the best Conservative web site on the internet, influential to powerful people who give you very little public credit, and followed by people all over the world.
I would give more if I could, and if my business ever starts to make money I will.
What is really killing FR is not getting rid of the jerks that get on here and insult posters for every little faux pas.
That is getting really old.
What he said.
You and John should be millionaires.
I’m thinking the Clinton/Obama intelligence community is after FR. We all know Hillary has feared and hated FR for years.
If your current business model works for you, who am I to judge?
We are offering a prayer here for you and John and your families.
May God bless you abundantly.
According to the Intertubes, your site is worth $2million to $28,953,896
I’ve been here almost 20 years, and with the grace of God, I’ll be here 20 more, and FR will be right there with me.
I actually was hoping you earned more. It would suggest your model is successful and be an encouragement to other hopeful startups.
One of the original reasons I like FR was the light weight format. Not riddled with third-party ad monsters and unnecessary image and video fluff.
But I gotta say, both as a simple site user in a world of many options and as a web and database developer / IT guy myself... the performance issues are baffling. It does not (should not) take much power to serve a site like this. Assuming you have sufficient bandwidth, it should be relatively easy to have stable performance. And should require little maintenance.
Take that for what it’s worth to you, but it is accurate.
Rush picked it up and repeated it on the air within about twenty seconds of it's being posted.
He definitely keeps track of what's said here, in real time during his show. There are others also, as I'm sure you are aware.
Sounds like a written version of one of Rush Limbaugh’s “seminar callers”. I’d ignore it for now, and keep an eye on any other posts coming from the person. If they get too obnoxious, use the “ZOT” button.
As someone who attempts to maintain a Facebook group and page as well as a YouTube channel, no matter how hard you try, once in a while some flamer gets past the gatekeeper and throws in an inappropriate comment. My deal is to banish them from the group and forget about them.
I would advise the same for you and other moderators here and other places. It’s certainly not worth the lost sleep!
You're doing fine, and keep doing what you're doing, we need you. 99% uptime is fantastic. I've been on other forums, and they have their downtimes also. It's the nature of the business. Before I retired, I maintained mainframe sites and we had a tough time trying for 99% uptime. Computers hiccup, even the biggest ones. I sweated getting a hospital mainframe back up while doctors were screaming on the phone at me. I just wish there was more gratitude given to the ones who keep things running, instead of grumbling the few times there is a hiccup.
I love FR and thank you for keeping it alive!
The same usual suspects?
Just give your credit card number and make it monthly. This in itself is a safe and secure manner in which to donate.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do, Jim.
I’m eagerly awaiting my Freepmail so I can tell the moron to go piss up a rope.
What you’ve done founding and maintaining this site is a tremendous public service. Truly. You could likely make a ton more money taking advertising money. That you’ve decided against this in order to avoid any outside influence on the honesty and autonomy of the messages presented is highly admirable. You’ve made a difference, probably a bigger difference than you even realize. Thank you.
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