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
BigMack
I believe the actual quote is "All is not gold that glitters."
As you should be!
:-(
See? All the more reason he needs a hug and a kiss from Nita. ;-) ..... Gotta run. Y'all take care.
how many posters do we have registered? I thought I read somewhere once 60,000??If expenses are $22,000. thats 37 cents a month per person....why can't we charge a buck a month, $12.00 per year membership to support the site? I just can't imagine that a quarter a week is too much $ for anyone...
Thanks again, Jim.
All of us can gain information about such things from only one source, and that is posts by FReeper insiders to this or other forums. Wasn't the $100000 Eschior fiasco and the subsequent departure of Clarity made public by Jim Rob in posts to FR? As I recall, that's how the AFers and the rest of us came to learn about it.
I apologize if I spoke out of turn or in error on this matter. FReeper finances are minor matter to me compared to censorship/banishments and I certainly can claim no expertese in such matters. In fact, I really could care less about what transpires at the top of the FReeper pyramid so long as I and others at the bottom are left free to post our political opinions to FR without fear of draconian censorship and/or banishment.
Selling internet ads doesn't bring much revenue. No one clicks them.
I would gladly click on every ad on every post I read if it would help FR stay afloat. Cheers, Jim and John. Thanks for this site. Bless you.
I posted this to Inspector Harry Callahan for his story and would like to hear your side also so those of of us that don't know what is going on could have both sides of the story, if you would please. Thank You
BigMack
He founded a couple of Anti-FReep sites and got into some scraps with FR's pro-bono attorney, who was an active FReeper. Eschoir found out some info on one of this attorney's past cases in which the judge supposedly said that he was "morally unfit for the practice of law" or something like that, as I recall.
Well, the attorney went ballistic over it and wanted Pesky to pay dearly. So instead of just mailing a registered letter asking Pesky to cease and desist, the attorney gathered a "crack research team" and sued Pesky under a Virginia statute dealing with electronic vandalism or somesuch. What the crack research team missed, was that Pesky doesn't reside in the Commonwealth of Virginia, he only works there. LOL!!
The whole thing was moved to a Federal court and Pesky signed an agreement promising that he'd quit posting on Free Republic. Anyhoo, in the process of all of this, a heavy-hitting law firm was brought in. They were not the "crack research team" I mentioned earlier, they were just there to do the heavy lifting.
Their bill turned out to be something like SEVEN TIMES that which was originally quoted. Nobody knew of the MASSIVELY INFLATED bill except the FReeper lawyer, and it is rumored that he kept it a secret on purpose.
DISCLAIMER: The above is only my OPINION and POINT OF VIEW. If I'm in error, please feel free to correct the record.
Inspector Harry Callahan
is simply an anagram for
Richly charlatan persona,
or
Oral/sphincteral anarchy?
BigMack
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