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
Your very first paragraph says it all to me Jim KEEP IT OPEN as long as humanly possable we are and continue to be a viable voice to all concerned and as you state we are growing and i hope NEY I PRAY we have an even bigger hand in turning the country around BACK to the right way of thinking.
Back to constitutionality LETS ROLL JIM AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
You knew, from the outset, that it was Jen who was pretending to be Howlin, from the get go.
Jen's on-line schizophrenic breakdown was tolerated and encouraged, as an entertainment factor, and drawing card.
You loved it when she savaged, libeled and vented on'the guild', but when you belatedly discovered she was a loose cannon, that would destroy your forum as surely as she would any other forum, you changed your tune.
All politics aside, you owe Howlin an apology, big time.
Good if someone tries to break into your house and kill you, then you can call the ACLU or some of your progressive friends to save you.
If Free Republic is not free to dissect the news our media report, the so-called "fair use" doctrine is dead. That makes the media the effective arbiters of our society's standards, unchecked in their monopoly of our information. Since information is power, concentrating the dissemination of that knowledge in media hands undermines one of the cornerstones of liberty. This isn't about Free Republic's "financial success." This is about the LAT/WP lawsuit, and their blatant attempt to crush dissent on this medium. How you can miss that "linkage" is beyond me.
How did he take a bullet for you? I really am curious.
The defendant in the LAT/WP lawsuit is Jim Robinson and Free Republic LLC. Jim Robinson IS Free Republic, LLC. The thousands of users of this site weren't named. There is no Board of Directors or Corporate Officers to share the liability. This whole thing fell on Jim Robinson's shoulders. Does Jim run this forum for himself? Does he enjoy the continual sniping and character smears spread by whiny malcontents? Or the thousands in bandwidth costs? Or the countless hours he spends shepherding this group? I don't think so. So this site exists for US, for ME. And yet, when the firing squad loaded up, they didn't sight in on me, or you, or Harry Callahan or Arator or some newbie who'd just gotten new batteries for his Timex Sinclair. They pasted the target over Jim's heart.
I don't owe the LAT/WP a million bucks. I still have a forum to use. I'm not caught up in an endless nightmare of appeals and motions and summary judgments. But Jim is.
Why?
You are demented.
What is the relationship between how much a society exhibits socialistic features and firearms?
That was an announcement of my newfound uncertainty hours AFTER my initial "HOWLINFR is a Fake" announcement.
There is no contradiction. Of course I left it open to discussion. It was all anyone was discussing that afternoon. Was HOWLINFR real or fake? My early announcement that she was a fake (based on the assurances of our mutual friend) settled the issue for no one. So, that later post of mine began a thread whose purpose was to assemble in one place, all the pro-con arguments.
By the way, if you were never a member of the original Reunion, how is it that you are accessing posts their now?
AMEN IJ AMEN
I suspect that many of us would take pride in seeing you fly to washington in your private jet, stay in the most expensive suite, and entertain the Washington elite with the most expensive champaign Texas produces.
If anone disagrees they can find my response by clicking their mouse here.
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Yeah, Riiggggtttt!!
I just started here a couple months ago and have already become a contributor but I would not like to see this site become a mandatory subscription site. -- samtheman
I agree.
I also do not wish to see FreeRepublic become a mandatory-subscription site.
Rather, I hope that those who do use this website on a regular monthly basis, will treat it as though it were a subscription service, and will choose to give monthly (hence my choice of terminology).
Best,
The Orthodox Presbyterian
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