I think some of those at "the little forum" are finding that out...much to their chagrin. Perhaps they are also learning the wisdom in the old proverb "Never criticize a man 'til you've walked a mile in his moccasins" and gaining a new appreciation for Jim Robinson and what he has accomplished here.
Long live FreeRepublic, and long live Jim Robinson....There's no substitute for experience, wisdom, and integrity. Some guys have it, and some guys wouldn't know it if it walked up and introduced itself.
I thought that bore repeating.
When you go out asking for money, you invite scrutiny. "Why do you need $60,000?". "How much are the Robinson's making? What are they paying the people bumping the fundraising? The more you pay, the less you're censored." People were challenging Jim's integrity in this regard back in the spring of '99. It'll never stop.
That financing model has to go. It was necessary during the litigation, but it is heavy-handed, unpredictable and does not force the linking of site use, perceived value, and user payment. Freeloaders have the same privileges and standing as those paying $20 monthly donations. The deadbeats don't cover the cost needed to fund their individual forum use. That's got to change.
Jim and John need to build a business model that involves subscriptions and window ads. Revenue needs to be linked to forum access, because the number of people with forum access will determine operational expenses. They have stats that can tell them what subscription price and advertising package they need to breakeven. It's not a shot in the dark, they need to find out who is willing to pay a standard annual fee up front for using this wonderful resource. I am.
The people who refuse to pay $30 or $50 per year don't value the forum in the first place. That's their choice. I don't want them around. Freepers who will post here can support Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Bush, Keyes or Buchanan, or no political party at all - but they have to support Free Republic. Many here don't respect or support the forum, they use it as a diaper for their releif of every oppression or as a platform to poison the view of Conservatives by fomenting ugly dialogue and topic selections. At least they'll have to pay up to do that in the future.
I don't care to see Jim Robinson have to go hat in hand to finance this enterprise, and I don't want to ever again see him have to defend the FR use of proceeds. He's above that.