Posted on 11/28/2001 7:31:29 PM PST by Jim Robinson
Free Republic has had one helluva run over the last five years or so. We helped impeach one president and helped get another into office. We've been active in demonstrations and protests in nearly every city across the nation. We've participated in conventions, petition drives, activism campaigns and projects for dozens of conservative causes.
We've grown from a tiny web site with a few hundred posters and readers from the time of inception in 1996, to one with tens of thousands of participants today. Along the way we've made lots of great friends and, unfortunately, also made lots of bitter enemies.
We've grown from a small web site that I could manage myself on a part-time basis to a huge monster that has totally consumed all of my time and resources plus nearly all of John's time, plus the time and resources of many dedicated FReepers who volunteer or contribute large amounts of their own time and money.
The site is now consuming all of a 10 mbps dedicated line with two servers and we're still growing, and it consumes large amounts of money to keep all this running. In the early years, it only took a few thousand dollars per month to keep Free Republic on the air, but it is now costing over $20,000 per month to cover all expenses.
The major costs include approximately $8,000 per month for bandwidth, 3,000 for systems management and programming services, 7,000 for management, operating and administrative services, plus two or three thousand per month for miscellaneous office expenses, telephone, communications, repairs & maintenance, travel & lodging, postage, rentals, insurance, legal fees, accounting fees, etc., etc.
We anticipate a reduction in bandwidth costs next year as we renegotiate our contract (the market price for bandwidth has fallen recently), however, that will be more than offset by an expected increase in costs of our legal expenses. As most of you know, our pro bono attorney has left us and we've hired a new attorney to continue with our case, plus we have the suit against eschoir to pay for. My projections are that our regular monthly expenses for next year will be running in the neighborhood of $22,000 per month, or approximately $264,000 total for the year. This means we will need to raise approximately $66,000 per quarter.
Talking about making enemies, we've got several ex-FReepers and other detractors who are claiming on their anti-freeper web sites that I am ripping off the donors and that Free Republic is a fraud. Now, Free Republic is what it is, and it is definitely not a fraud. It is a conservative news discussion forum that encourages participation in politics and activism projects. It is not being billed as anything else. We are not selling or promising anything. And I am being up front about our operating costs. The costs of running Free Republic are what I've stated above and they are necessary to keep FR on the air. I do not have the financial wherewithal to operate this site without your help. If the majority of the FReepers feel that these costs are out of line or too much to bear or that Free Republic is no longer wanted or needed, then we will either cut it back or shut it down or do something altogether different.
I've also been criticized about not making our financials public. Well, the reason I do not want to do this is that I have been sued, both personally and as Free Republic, LLC. The people suing us want to bankrupt us and shut us down. They subpoenaed our financial records, but we refused to turn them over. The judge agreed that the plaintiffs have no right to the information, thus I have no intention of making any more of it public than I absolutely have to, until this lawsuit is resolved. You all know the amounts of money we raise if you follow the fundraising threads. It is all above board and out in the open. The totals posted by BadJoe are usually pretty close to the actual cash received and the amounts expended are pretty close to the amounts projected. No one is getting rich here and no one is being ripped off. The funds raised are being used for the purposes stated, and that is keeping this website on the air and that's it. Nothing fraudulent about it. Those who want to help fund us freely do so with nothing expected in return. Those who do not want to contribute do not have to.
There was a thread running this morning where people were making all kinds of accusations about Free Republic "hiding the truth" or whatever. These accusations are being made by Chuck Allan and others and fall along the same line with the accusations being made by some of the earlier banees or AFers including Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan, Arator, keep U.S. Sovereign, TKEman and others. Some of these people are existing FReepers and some are banned. I am going to reinstate Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan and Arator's accounts so they can join Chuck Allan, TKEman, K.U.S.S. and whomever else wants to get involved, and I invite them to come onto this thread and make their accusations public. As long as they do not go onto other threads and make a nuisance of themselves, I will let them have their say.
Like I said above, if it is time for Free Republic to go away so be it. Those who want to keep it going speak up. Those who want it to go away, tell us why. But if those who want it to be gone lose out in the debate, then I'd say they should just go away themselves, or, in the very least, shut up and quit whining about it.
Thanks,
Jim
Spoken like someone (who's been posting here all of 5 months!) who hasn't got a clue as to what he's speaking about. Typical nouveau FReeper. Screech first, think later... and then only if told to.
He is far to cowardly to show up here...no surprise.
(twenty bucks says he's barking orders to LOTF on what to post here.)
No, YOU da man. ;^)
The reason why guys like us get banned has nothing to do with insulting repartée, for indeed, we only responded in kind to the mental midgets who were stupid enough to insult us first.
Our banning had to do with numbers. There are far more sheep out there waiting to be herded to the abbatoire than there are wolves like us who will chomp those attempting to kill the sheep.
So, basically you are saying that democracy inevitibly devolves to lowest-common-denominator majoritarian tyranny. You know, I think many of the founding fathers worried about the same thing and attempted to build a constitutional bulwork against such tendencies. Unfortunately, their bulwork failed. Of course, FR has no bulwork at all. It's mob rule run amok.
FreeRepublic, and Jim Robinson, rely on those larger numbers. This site does not need the insightful, confident and un-bullyable few... its existence relies upon the many.
So, when a brave and outspoken few make it uncomfortable for the sheep to play "ostrich," we get banned so that the sheep still have a pen (here) to mill about in without having their vapidness challenged, or their comfort zone encroached upon by people who learned at a young age to think for themselves, and who never forgot that all-important lesson.
Where shall we hole up to await the inevitable end of the world, your bunker or mine? LOL.
Has the last 12 years (and especially the last 4)disillusioned you about politics as much as it has me? I considered the Reform Party and Buchanan to be our last best hope to escape globalist tyranny. Now, I see no way out. How about you?
Ahoy! How's your fibre?
I appreciate FR for the news, insights and exchanges with other conservatives. So, I'm glad FR isn't going away.
Free Republic and Jim Robinson's Finances
Miscellaneous Free Republic
Source: Free Republic
Published: 07/15/99 Author: Jim Robinson
Posted on 07/15/1999 01:02:53 PDT by Jim Robinson
Just trying to set the record straight.
Well, I'm working double shifts seven days a week for Free Republic and I'm not getting paid a whit.
Jim Robinson
1 Posted on 07/15/1999 01:02:53 PDT by Jim Robinson
[ Reply | Top | Last ]
Is it accurate that, at the time of this post, you were receiving a six figure annual salary from Talkspot? Wasn't Talkspot also paying for FR's bandwidth, as well as providing FR with technical support?
Despite this, were you not still holding fundraisers on FR? In light of the foregoing, was it accurate to claim that you weren't being paid a whit?
Thanks again,
Callahan
Jealous of your success with the site.
Trying to get attention and many replies to their obnoxious views.
Are malcontents, disruptors, negative people that have problems getting along with anyone.
Are people that are not happy unless they can stir up a controversy.
Are ones who are attempting to take over the running of the site, or if that fails, to draw people to their alternative site. However, on their alternative site they are unable to provide the draw of FR but instead merely gossip about FR and run it down. They therefore can draw those who like to tear people down and trash the site or reputation of the owners.
How come when these people are posting here, they eat up tons of bandwidth with all their complaints, questions, etc?
Why invite them back and why worry that they are content here. They won't be content but will only seek to do you and your site harm. If they are unable to abide the rules, then they need to go somewhere else where they will be happy - not attempt to change this site to make it conform to them.
Nonconformists? No - they don't want to conform - they want all of us and the site and the site owners to conform to them. Let them go and take their fans with them. Why do they keep trying to come here.
My knee-jerk reaction is to defend chuck allen because I have known him to be good guy and friend of FR. I still am not sure what chuck's beef is, but it is not my beef. My statement was that I empathize with his questions and my preference would be as transparent an accounting of FR as possible(damn liberals and thier lawsuits!), and I don't think what I have seen of chuck's supposed transgressions were worthy of him being banned, but none of that changes my mind about JimRob and BADJOE being honorable men that try very hard to be fair and that Free Republic is very worthy of my support. I am content that the dollars raised for FR are spent wisely. Anyway, if JR put all the money on the floor and burned it I would probably still support the site. I would just like to know this so that when prospective donors ask me I could tell them.
I love this site and I think it has and will continue to make a difference in the causes that I believe in, I'm just dissapointed that chuck got mixed up in some kind of misunderstanding.
For all the good things that it does support Free Republic by secure server here
ROFL!!
Am I the only person on this thread who thinks THIS POST, see No. 795, could be by Mojo?
The Hatch Act is irrelevant. That only applies to federal government, not state.
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