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
To: Jim RobinsonThe anti-FReepers come crawling out from under their moss-covered rocks. LOL Right on cue.
84 Posted on 08/02/2001 21:08:02 PDT by Clinton's a liar
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Hi CaL! What did you mean by "right on cue" in this reply? This is from the long-gone Where's Clarity thread. Care to "Clarify"?
LOL.
Guess again, pup. I started posting here more than two years before you did in December of '99. But, hey... who's counting, right?
You and DaffyPappy spend a lot of time "rifiling" on the AF boards.
Never heard of ________ .
P.S. Don't let A+Bert come back if he ever wants to.
Thanks again!
LOL!!!!!!!
I can see I have MUCH to learn from you. Maybe you could do a graph with a time-line, and sort things out.
For the newbies, and me.
Jim has NOTHING to do with the Network organization. He may or may not be a member but he has NOTHING to do with setting up the organizational structure.
SO STOP BUGGING JIM ABOUT THE NETWORK!
I also don't mind debate. I don't like them insinuating that Jim is a fraud, cheating, profiting from the contributions, I don't like them continually attacking people and doing all the things that get them banned in the first place. They are not that great at debate to be worth the trouble.
This is Jim's site and I honestly wish he was making enough to provide him a full time salary. I expect that he spends all of his time on it. Why should he not get something out of it? Why is he supposed to slave for us to have fun and, on top of that, to be sued and insulted?
To: aligyrl-02Classic! LOL!!No. I just post at different times now. I still have the same systems to support.
Besides I never read anything I respond to. It's quicker that way.
332 Posted on 08/03/2001 13:27:06 PDT by AppyPappy
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What else does he have to do besides pretend we're all too dumb to figure out what's going on in our own lives. Maybe I need him to come over here and log on for me, I'm so dumb. How about you?
Losers, the lot of them.
This site has been my saving grace during the Clinton years.
I've sent a few bucks and as soon as I clear my Christmas bills I'll send some more .
As they say in Hillary-ville:
YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!
BADJOE - since a Freeperthon is coming soon - will wait to send you donation then. It will be a - Merry Christmas, thank you God, for America, for our Freedom, and for Jim Robinson's Free Republic - gift this year!
Forced him to face the truth...it broke his mirror.
Petunia got tired of kicking A Rat or similar rodent's arse and remarried Sir Bruce (BTA's nephew who put up the bucks for Babe in the City). Arator likes Mojo because Mojo can be counted on to quote every anti-semitic publication on the internet with every gory detail. Mojo is of course a closet anti-semite (the worst kind) who pretends to be tolerant. Arator is not an anti-semite; Arator is just stupid.
I'm sure Jim knows that by not publically posting every single expense of FR that it may tend to raise questions (almost exclusively from antagonists) about how the money is spent. The alternative is much worse and is just something we have to expect and trust Jim about. I do.
Anyway, if you want to give people a general breakdown this is what I would estimate...
Bandwidth - 45%
Site supervision (Jim) - 27%
Website management/programming (John) - 13%
Accounting and bookeeping - 7%
Miscellaneous (equipment, legal, office, etc.) 7%
The Afers keep making accusations that donations go to pay travel, hotel and bartabs of "organizers". This is a flat out lie. In the past, travel expenses may have gone to pay Jim's way to SOME events (for all I know he may pay out of his pocket), but, the only travel related expense paid for by FR that I can remember was a room at the March For Justice (Oct 98) that ANV decided to book for organizers and guests to meet/plan/execute the event (We were at different hotels). As it turned out it wasn't used much so we haven't done that since.
As far as I am aware, and I've been involved in just about everything we've ever done, all volunteers at EVERY FReep event we have had have paid their own way. For the malcontentents and cretins at the AF sites to claim otherwise is a lie and slanderous and one day may end them up in court themselves. As soon as we get around to deciding if they are worth it...heheh.
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