Where Do We Go From Here?

Three days ago Dymphna and I were summarily ejected from Pajamas Media. That same night I posted a report about what happened, and floated the idea that we could avoid taking on any new advertisers by appealing directly to our readership for financial support.

Well, folks, it looks like we’re going to be able to do it.

You really came through: in three short days we made up the PJM shortfall for the rest of the year, so we won’t be launching any more annoying fundraisers until at least January.

Thank you all for your extraordinary generosity.

Gifts have arrived from the following places:
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• Argentina
  
• Australia
  
• Canada
  
• The Czech Republic
  
• Denmark
  
• Finland
  
• France
  
• Ireland
  
• Italy
  
• The Netherlands
  
• Norway
  
• Sweden
  
• Texas (Yes, I’m listing it separately, due to the number of donations that came in from the Lone Star State.)
  
• The UK
  
• The USA

From now on our site should load quickly. The last time I timed it, fourteen seconds elapsed between clicking the link and whwn the full text was displayed — unprecedented!

The only ads or links remaining on the sidebar are for friends and/or allies, and none is being paid for. No scripts are left except for the TTLB listing, the site meter, and the 910 Group blogroll. That’s why the page loads so quickly now.

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My temperament is naturally optimistic, so I tend to see this crisis as an opportunity.

Our operating costs are minimal, and the donated funds will cover them. The basic requirements are the satellite internet connection, various online hosting services, the site meter subscription, and occasional hardware purchases. There’s sufficient overhead left after meeting those needs to pay for a few field trips to blogging-related events in Yankeeland. There may even be enough spare change in the budget to cover a beer or two.

So we’re working with a new business model here — a worldwide voluntary collaboration involving hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, one which requires almost no money to operate.

What kind of precedent is there for such a thing?

What marketing director worth his salt would even consider it?

So we’ll see where it goes from here. As usual, we’ll be taking suggestions.