The original post was an assembly of thoughts from the fantastic team helping to keep CTH level and steady. It was accidentally published prior to my review.. /SD.
The Treehouse previously operated on the WordPress/Automattic platform without a lot of fanfare; a genuine labor of love. At first it was just a blogging platform, but as technology became more sophisticated, things got better for you, the loyal reader and the admin team. Specifically, CTH was able to monetize the site with advertising, which allowed me to spend more time doing research, writing articles and managing the direct concerns of the readers. Running ads was a checkbox, we turned it on and it just worked.
It’s safe to say that we were unaware of the amount of technical value, managing day to day technical issues, that blogging platforms like WordPress.com delivered. That all changed when CTH was deplatformed by Matt Mullenweg’s WordPress.com.
Fortunately, the software that operated the site was “open-source,” which means we had the option of moving the whole site to new servers without a lot of TECHNICAL issues. It was was really the scale of content and the goal to preserve the decades-long library (w/internal citations) that provided the greatest challenge. However, keeping the machines running is a different game when every page view now comes at a cost.
Within the migration process we also discovered the dynamic of cost driven by the commenting system; the conversation on the porch about the stories, research and analysis. As we have often repeated: it is the conversation that matters; that conversation is your comments and fellowship.
These lessons about self-hosting a website have been very expensive. It turns out the popularity of the site requires a six-digit annual budget just to maintain the technical status quo. Independent server costs, the cache system, the CDN and bandwidth allotments, the auto-leveling needs for stability, the software licenses, the email notification system and the support developers all come with an expense. Those costs do not include all of the unpaid effort by loyal moderators, tech support and volunteers that are managing these things right now.
The initial saving of CTH and the relaunch (a great accomplishment by some fantastic tech support) was also expensive. CTH was blessed and thankful to have people that care about truth reach out to offer assistance; and CTH readers were generous in offsetting those emergency costs. Many people stepped in to help save our little corner of the internet and with a core tech team (scruffy but smart) we stand on solid ground again.
My task now is to find a revenue model that works best for the important people, you; the Treehouse readers.
Advertising seems like the obvious move, but like many nowadays, we have long been suspect of things like covert tracking (3rd party cookies); and we accept the entire content delivery ecosystem is in flux at the moment. Privacy has been our CTH priority for years, and recent events -which include our own targeting- affirmed the wisdom of putting privacy at the forefront of our discussion.
As we are seeing corporations are now openly operating their businesses with the intent to influence politics, their advertising money is now a weapon they can use to generate leverage over website content. Not only is Big Tech making ideological determinations over monetization, but advertising companies are now using their budgets to align with Big Tech’s ideological goals. This is not a good outcome. Corporate fascism is on the advance.
As Scott Adams points out in the tweet below, ad revenue is now determining the type of information we can find on the internet. Many “conservative” information websites and platforms are increasingly making content determinations in the same way that MSM cowers to the almighty corporate dollar. You might be stunned to know just how prevalent this is; I know I was.
It won't be long before consumers of ad-based news media are seen as mental slaves to ridiculous narratives while the consumers of subscription-based news are the only free thinkers remaining to preserve our system. @RubinReport @ggreenwald
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) April 19, 2021
My priority with content has always been to stay steadfast to the motto: “The Truth Has No Agenda“, and CTH has declined financial offers because we never wanted to be in a position where outside elements have any influence on our content or conversation. Additionally, our crowdsourcing efforts not only produce great results, but our community credibility is our strength.
With all of the operational costs in mind, here is what we need to figure out: What is the best revenue model for the readers of the Treehouse?
I need to figure this out soon, or there is a slight risk there won’t be a Treehouse. Fortunately, software is soft, meaning we can experiment with models until we get it right.
We like the idea that we are in charge of our own destiny in that we are running our own servers and out of the reach of Big Tech, so while other “Free Speech” platforms like Substack, Locals and Minds look very attractive, it’s always going to be somebody else’s platform, making the enterprise dependent on their viability (remember MySpace?).
Additionally, from the outset I have always wanted to provide information free to everyone; that remains my priority. I do not like the idea that information comes with a cost; as a result a subscription based website was always a non starter for me. That said, I foresee coming up against pressure to find a revenue model (which pays for the expenses) before it’s too late.
That leaves CTH with a few paths forward to consider:
- Turn on 3rd party Advertising (we’re likely going to do that for now)
- Some kind of crowd-sourced sponsorship (PBS annual drives, Reoccurring PayPal or Subscribe Star)
- Subscription with tiered content (not all content is free) [I don’t like]
- Pay-to-not-get-what-you-don’t-want (Pay to turn off ads)
- Something else (because we are considering everything)
There also might be something else I just don’t know what it is.
As I look at the landscape I see in front of us, my goal would be to establish a proprietary system for revenue via ads that allows CTH to work directly with sponsors and not with 3rd parties. In that process we would have full control and retain 100% privacy. But to achieve that goal CTH would need to have seed capital to launch a business model and at least one person to coordinate it.
The Conservative Treehouse has always been about you, not me. For me the sharing of information is a labor of love; I truly enjoy the fellowship, the research and the writing assembly. Together with tips, crowdsourcing and research we put the information together and write articles about the ‘Occam’s Razor’ conclusions. Through the years CTH assembled a network of allies in the fight who form a deep rebel alliance of information. However, staying outside the reach of Big Tech and keeping the site anti-fragile to their attacks is a little costly.
So I turn to the experts… the people who really matter… YOU !
Before any decisions are reached I want to hear what scenario makes the most sense to you. Let me know, below.
Love to all,
Sundance
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” [Isaiah 54-17]
Do whatever you think is best,????.
Or maybe you could offer the Daily Thread (resistance thread) for free as it is now and if you want to view any others you have to subscribe. THis ways those maybe who can;t afford to pay can still read something here and then any other content is a subscription..
Having a free thread would also allow any new viewers to read and then decide if they want to subscribe.
This sounds like a good idea—would bring in new conservatives. I’m for subscribing for the bulk of the content.
Absolutely not. The poorer a person is, the more we need them seeing everything here. No to anything that puts saving America behind a paywall.
This isn’t Netflix or the propaganda at the New York Slimes for God’s sake.
Do you realize how little info is out there now? We cannot afford to have anything hiding the truth.
Falana, I agree. I like the annual drive or semi-annual drive, occasionally William F Buckley did this with National Review.
Warning that I don’t know enough about the legal validity of this suggestion, but it struck me and I wanted to post it before I forgot.
Keep the results of research reports, study and conclusion, etc. available freely to all comers. Allow a small selection of CTH admin-curated adverts in a tasteful sidebar (SurvivalBlog did this fairly well in my opinion) that doesn’t get in the way of readers. And finally, add on a paid ‘tier’ where instead of just extra content, people get *involved*. If they’re helping fund to the tune of, say, 5-10 bucks a month, give those folks some work to do. Collecting reports, action alerts, perspective/ insider knowledge that’s somewhat tailored to their region or profession. (They can offer what information like that they feel comfortable about when subscribing.)
Having to buy in should cull the wild trolls, and while the chance of enemy operatives is there, you can see about finding some SIGINT/HUMINT analysts somewhere and give them some meaningful work sorting through chaff.
Hope this is helpful, or at least sparks more ideas. Thanks for all you do!
The site is currently getting about 2 million unique visits a month. When perusing topics, though not logging them, I see a lot of familiar handles over and over. Divide 2 million by 30 as a rough estimate of daily visits and that’s a bit over 66,000 unique visits a day. I think your number of 4,000 out of that current number is reasonable, of course depending on subscription levels, your sample of 25/yr sounds quite affordable and there could be other levels at greater cost with extra perks.
I’ll tell ya, there’s this 30-something chick I ran across, currently in Florida, who lives in her ’94 Bronco and does nothing more than broadcast her daily life and when she live streams I’ve seen her make a couple grand an hour before Youtube’s cut in ‘donations’. IMO, a group as solid as the Treehouse should not feel bashful at all about a subscription model. Their work is deep, informative, and topical. That has value.
Thank you Dunes, I’m so old I was about to write bash script to grep the content, awk for names, sort -u, and wc the stdout, just to find out what you probably did with one click! Cheers!
Unstoppable Morgan – cute dogs and a cute girl that shows a little risque t/a. I admire her ingenuity – all except the combination drivers seat with a toilet cut out. Visions of Dave Matthews band’s bus dumping grey water from a downtown Chicago bridge
An annual donation of some sort would be an option. We need the Treehouse and I will certainly be willing to pay to keep our refuge.
Consider a “shop” – sell gear such as coffee mugs, hats, tee shirts, etc. with the Treehouse logo or some snazzy, Treeper sayings. I see a number of sites that have them – Do they bring in revenue? Talk to your peers – other sites.
I think ads would be advisable, at first. You can transition to something else, later.
How about some calender’s of sexy Tree house woman in bikinis for 25 dollars each…lol
Threaten to send people pictures of Maxine Waters in a bikini (and no wig) if they don’t donate $25 right away.
I was thinking the same, I like your detail! It has to work to some degree since everyone does it.
Sparkly travel mugs
Then whatever men like
Oh … and something like “The Truth Is Out There … Conservativetreehouse.com” that peaks curiousity like X files
But only not copyrighted. Like “Bury the UniParty, Conservativetreehouse.com”
I know his concept of the UniParty is what always reminds me to return here, because once seen, you cannot unsee
Then “Bury the UniMedia, Conservativetreehouse.com” when we need to remind people FOX and libs are all shadow boxing for the same fixers
I canceled Direct TV and it is amazing how much money can be saved by cutting out the communist propaganda legacy media! I have given occasionally to CTH in the past, and I sincerely believe you all deserve much more. The level of in-depth research is breathtaking! Count me in.
Auctions
Some of us have valuable stuff or skills
That’s original.
I will say this: I would support a donation but only if it can be made by check.
I donate via PayPal but I would gladly mail a check!
I already e-mailed admin about sending them a check and they declined. I guess they don’t want to be doxed. I am sure they want to protect their actual physical location.
By the same token I don’t want to be doxed when they get hacked.
A word about ads. I’m one of those hated individuals who uses Brave, the browser that blocks the ads. It also blocks the trackers, so I consider it to be an essential tool to protect myself and my Internet wanderings. I can elect to put the “shields down” for a particular site, but alas, I forget to do so. I also hate ads in general, but that’s because they can be obnoxious. I wouldn’t mind ads if they were from people I like and trust; MyPillow for example. I’ve noticed Brave becoming more popular, and I hope it continues to be. Not because I’m trying to “cheat” the website owner from ad revenue. It’s because I value my privacy more than being tracked and matrixed all over the Internet. I refuse to be a commodity.
Subscription model is my vote, as I stated earlier, but as one poster mentioned, it’s a turn off for new people. I agree and it’s the primary reason I don’t read Epoch Times. I also like the idea of a low cost monthly subscription model + a “thermometer” fund raiser, as suggested by another Treeper, so we can all see how well the monthly costs are being met. Some can chip in more, some cannot. It sure looks like we have consensus on a Subscription model.
The only problem with a subscription model is it requires a Login and Password, right?. Easy enough if one’s Browser will save that information so logging in every time is not a problem. The only word of caution with saving logins and passwords is – make it unique and not the same as your banking login and password, etc., to protect against cross-site scripting attacks, etc. Normally I never save any information in my Browser.
(Just adding more thoughts to the discussion).
I’ve always wondered what it must cost to operate a site like this, so it’s equally difficult to land on the right amount of $$$ for pay to play.
I pay on the average $90 to $120 for yearly subscriptions for various intelligence and legal sights in support of my personal view points. I’m currently utilizing 6 web sights and not one really provides the information and insight I receive here at the Treehouse. I’m willing to cancel all of them and forward the revenue as an annual subscription. Stay strong my friend
Just do the ads. There is a reason why most platforms use them.
So, I’m one of those nickel-and-dime donors, but I’ll kick in some cash from time to time.
I’ll also sit for any ads you’d care to run. Thanks for asking.
have American companies that GIVE A DAMN – advertise here – and we buy there stuff, cause you won’t find a better place for that type of purchaser.
A possible three way win?
And ONLY if they sell stuff MADE IN THE USA!
Agreed, WhiteBoard!
Regarding “something else”, I would like to suggest that you could provide comprehensive blog hosting services on a fee-for-service basis. Personally, I would like to start a blog, but I want to spend 100 percent of my time writing and zero percent of my time publishing, solving technical issues, etc. I would like someone else to make decisions about fonts, software, look and feel, and this and that and the other thing. You are looking at your investment and costs in developing a system as an expense center, I suggest that you also look at it as a potential profit center.
Also, start small, for example with an email hosting service. Personally, I pay every month but not for my email service (earthlink) because I refuse to use gmail from Google. I would rather send money each month to CTH – who knower, maybe Google has bought Earthink, or will.
This ↑
The Tree house is my first, and often only, daily stop for news and information. I don’t like ads. Breitbart & American Thinker are 2 examples of how disruptive they are and some of the Conservative sites I get emails from are awfully disrupted by ads. Several months ago I discovered Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi and signed up on their email distribution. Some of their articles were provided fully, others were partially provided to non subscribers. A couple months ago I subscribed to Glenn for a year and about a week later I ante ed up the $50 for a year of Matt too.
For the Treehouse, I would subscribe as I can’t imagine being without access. I think the tiered approach Glenn & Matt took allows new people to see what the conversation here is and make their choice on partial or full access.
Once you put yourself behind a paywall you create an echo chamber. To inform people, to influence people, to educate people, to sway people, you need an open, digital, speakers corner, so the passerby can stop and listen. You need to put food on the table so you can focus on spruiking at the speakers corner, so ask the local pub, who benefits from the crowds you attract, to chip in. In other words, target small to medium businesses for advertising revenue. There are millions of them striving to be heard. Do reciprocal links to their websites. Stay away from the corporates.
Level 1:Email subscriptions. Every three months send an email saying it is re-up time and ask for a bit extra. Daily emails on what is happening to members only. Consider phone notification for those that want them. I have a software subscription that does this.
Level 2: Annual dinner with a raffle or other fund raisers including sponsors. The is what Glenn Beck does to fund his charity arm
Level 3: Donations of stuff and services for auctions to email and phone list. The Predators Foundation (Nashville Predators, NHL) does this. Members or sponsors to donate stuff to sell.
The standard stuff is all good. Whatever you decide, I will do.
I subscribe to the Epoch Times (the only time I every subscribed to online news media). I believe my subscription rate is $45/year. I would gladly pay for a subscription to the Treehouse for continued newsworthy, honest, unbiased and beyond information no other site provides due to the remarkable host: Sundance.
I have gifted Epoch Times in addition to my own subscription.
I want my friends to be informed, and I owe favors to some likeminded people.
And I try to donate to the Treehouse ay least yearly with the biggest chunk i can give. I imagine what it would cost me to go to an excellent doctor or therapist without insurance covering it.
The Treehouse keeps my mind where I want it to be. This is invaluable and I cannot thank all Treepers enough, especially Sundance and Moderators but also the names I see regularly. I treasure your company.
I’d love to see this site remain free of outside influence…and that includes advertisers that could be boycotted and that drags this site into that whole mess. We should try to self fund first…annual PBS-style revenue drive, to see if that gets us where we need to be. Since we lost Rush, this is pretty much my only go to site. I supported Rush annually for the podcast downloads…I’d be happy to support annually now here.
I’ll pay also. I don’t like the online option though. Would prefer a yearly or semi yearly subscription fee.
I like the idea of an endowment to cover bulk of costs, incremental cost coverage becomes easier.
Annual subscription is good.
The Chosen has had success with the pay it forward model, something to consider.
I vote subscription. Is $30 annually with “badge status” for those willing to pay extra a viable business model?
I don’t need a badge. I am here every day and that helps me to distinguish the trolls when I see new names…some are new participants, but trolls stand out and I can refuse to engage or be swayed.
Also $30 is peanuts, although everyone has a different budget limitation. Everybody should give what we can, taking into account the value this Treehouse provides to each of us.
I know that for me, the Treehouse is worth MUCH more than $30/yr. however I cannot donate what I would like (that would be in the millions at least) i givr what I can.
‘Wondering’ is right.
We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.
Here’s my $0.02. I like most of your ideas.
A annual subscription wouldn’t bother me. I pay subscriptions for other publications, but the problem with a subscription pay wall is many people will not pay and the site will not grow, and that it was is needed to take on the MSM public relations firm and be the number one site in the public arena.
Stay away from the third party advertisers and hire a someone to sell ad space like local papers and radio stations. You can then charge a subscription fee for ad free content.
Time for a gift shop. Most of the visual agitprop on the site is excellent and I’d love to have a poster or Tee shirt with some of them. You could farm that out and take a cut, but people would need to know their payment information is going to a third party even if their is a NDS on the buyers information between the CTH and the retailer.
And the annual appeal for donations shouldn’t be overlooked as well. Give out gifts from the gift shop with donations like NPR does. As an example, a pack of 3M post-it notes with “Biden didn’t Win” for a $10 donation.
Thank you Sundance and crew for keeping this site going uninterrupted. CTH is a national treasure, and its best times are ahead.
I have never understood the concept of giving in order to get some freebie gift. Growing up we were taught you give because you want to give and not because you expect anything in return. Those days are long gone now. Makes me feel old.
Maybe ask Chris Muir how the yearly donation campaign goes? He’s been doing it for years, but I think he may have a smaller audience. Whatever solution you choose, I’m in.
Sundance, the yearly subscription to the Wall Street Journal is about $500.00!
would much rather see a subscription to the Treehouse at an amount you deem fair to all.
Maybe those of us that could would sponsor someone else!
will honor whatever you decide!!!!!
I would pay for access to CTH, but I am not sure that is the right solution. As someone rightly pointed out upthread, there is so little good information available on the internet, that to hide good information behind a paywall will deny many the chance to come out of the dark. Although the daily thread is great with it’s comments, new visitors might not realize what gems are in the thread nor have the time to read through hundreds, or thousands of posts, trying to put things together. Most people scroll through, looking for the easily digested meals. Sundance’s articles need to be available for free. They make sense of all the noise. I like the idea of merch. Which would double as advertising for the site (but that would also increase costs with visitors). What about funding like GAB does, where they rely on donations.
Annual subscription for viewers determined by the value the viewers assess to the information provided. Those that pick up an article here and there, might decide to give $5.00 a year. Those that read all articles and like to comment will naturally feel incline to give more, especially when it becomes known that the subscriptions are the life blood for CTH. True enough there will be those that will abuse the system but the most important thing is to share information. On whole, what has been exhibited so far, people on the right are very generous and have no problem giving money for value.
In addition, be sure to allow subscribers to share articles. Someone that reads an article posted on Gab will be more likely to check out the CTH. Newcomers checking out the site, could be given a guest subscription for a month or two.
I hate ads of any kind on a site such as this one…too distracting. I don’t know how many “followers” are here but the quality and quantity of information provided by CTH on a daily basis is surely worth more than the cost of a good latte or two…on a daily basis. Surely it’s worth at least $5-$8/month from each participant (reader)? Perhaps more from some if they’re feeling it. The info is worth the $$. WELL WORTH THE $$. (And I’m on a fixed income but willingly give up a few bucks if it’s worth it…and CTH is worth it.) With that said, just deprived myself of several lattes for the “team” over the next few months. Who’s next…
OK, changed my mind. Kind of. This does need to be made as free as possible because the people the truth needs to reach is not those who will pay. BUT I still want to pay for a subscription.
So, what about, like when you were in DC trying to sound the alarm, a part that is free but with your stellar content to drive traffic and comments. And then part behind a paywall with comments, research and other articles.
I don’t know. I’m rambling. Don’t charge by the word HA.
Or what about this idea?
$30 annual subscription with badge status for $10 more. $50 dollars gives you badge status and allows you to sponsor a visitor for one month.
This avoids the problem expressed by some that a few valued Treepers would get shut out by their inability to pay.
If you have valuable and constructive comments, you may be able to find a sponsor. If you are a troll, expect to get no financial assistance.
Ugh.
I say use ads. We have learned to live with them. I would turn my ad blocker off here. I also would pay monthly for the content here. The first 5 articles free and then 5 per month. That number might not satisfy though. Please don’t bifurcate the community though.
If only good sites would plainly tell the readers how much per reader it would take. I bet I could find the money per month.
My husband suggests pay to comment/first 10 comments free! Oh lordy, I’m laughing so hard ? I’ve been relaying the articles and comments to him for years. He doesn’t quite understand the scale of the comments
Build a data center on an Indian reservation. Lower cost, free from tyrannical censorship, scalable. Make it the home not just for CTH but other conservative content creators. The revenue will come when there is nowhere else to go (soon).
Per Gateway Pundit. Mobs attacking trucks already.
I have been on this site on and off for about 10 years now. I found my way here from doing research on Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman back in 2012. I have pointed dozens of other patriots to this site as the go to conservative site on the internet. I have donated multiple times over the years and would be devastated if this site went dark. CTH to me is one of the last stands of the republic left
I like the idea of a subscription based model or maybe using ads and being able to pay to opt out of ads (it’s what all the subscription services are doing now)
Also your comment
“But to achieve that goal CTH would need to have seed capital to launch a business model and at least one person to coordinate it.”
Not sure what type of “seed” capital your looking at but I’d be interested in helping in this area as well.
Steadfast…my fellow Treepers
I have no problem paying for a subscription. My bigger concern is doing anything that hurts privacy. With the current administration and “justice” system, the more privacy can be protected the better. In reality, I know there is actually no privacy. Whatever it takes is fine with me as long as the Treehouse can keep going. If it is ads, it is ads. Thank you for all you do.
Speaking of Scott Adams, a good explainer of corporate stuff.
He’d suggest AB testing.
Today he’s being a total a$$ but regardless, he’s good at explaining how to do stuff like this.
I’d go with sort of a multi pronged approach, several roads at once and then stop anything that doesn’t work and just have a message up that you take suggestions.
Really, better than AB testing, a few irons in the fire and then adjust
So NOTHING behind a paywall. These are emergency times and we can’t afford to have the truth hidden.
But you could do 1) ads (more on this below) 2) requests for donations on literally ALL sites that do that or just those you want to support like Subscribestar. 3) Also donation drives can be fun. I used to tune in for them at PBS. Boring PBS was fun during the drives. You could partner with RSBN, make it a 50-50 split. They find all these super fun chattermouth Conservatives who know how to gab nonstop during waiting periods. I love them all. They could easily do a drive, connect it to a Trump event of some kind.
Or your own, or just one fun blogger
I think you could sell merch, that would be cool!
Promo codes with MyPillow. If there is one guy who has proven love and loyalty to America more than Lindell I can’t think of who.
It would be an honor to support this unbelievable site. The fact that truth, God, America, a can do spirit and outing the UniParty are here alone is a service.
I cannot name another site with so much integrity, plus winking fun and feistiness.
Just never ever any paywalls. I even think suggesting it smacks of Soros trollery because it makes a site make ITSELF invisible. And makes sure if you’re broke and really need to hear who’s robbing you, you will never see it here. Yeah, not good.
In fact, do drives to ask us to share links with trusted people, rather than the opposite, a paywall.
WE can help network.
OH……….and let us know if you want us to share this site links or NOT share it.
Out of respect, I have NOT been sharing it because I have no idea how much time you’re forced to spend on troll stomping.
So also let us know if you’re interested in readers sharing links or if that is more of a drain on the system and you’d prefer we not.
AND WHY ADS COULD BE REALLY GOOD
If you don’t change any content for ads, I’d gladly support any company advertising here.
I’d LOVE to know WHO to buy from that SUPPORTS the truth here. So I think Conservatives MUST use our buying power and it would actually help to see who we should be BUYcotting. Supporting.
Yeah, now that you’ve promised that ads will never change what we see …. if you had a message that any company advertising here is freely choosing to support this content we’d actually know what few companies are left in America worth supporting.
ALSO … I like the idea of making companies work for OUR money.
It is REALLY important we start using our buying power, and it would be an honor to see that unified here, partnered here, in some way connected to the great work that you do
I think we MUST marry how we spend our money to the goals
Because don’t forget, Conservatives are natural supporters of business, entrepreneurs and all that.
We’ve been betrayed. How often did we explain to people that you make money fulfilling a need?
When did we hate the rich? Never.
They betrayed us.
But that Harvard guy explained how you CAN have positive business through actual capitalism.
How awesome would it be to have this site show how you are SUPPOSED to connect your spending choices to honest, good values and building your country?
But I will say I’m sick of pundits profiting off our pain like FOX noise just becoming a book selling racket endlessly “explaining” why we’re scr3wed and keeping the pain going, doing nothing to solve it
So I want to SOLVE our problems. I want to do NOTHING to continue them.
I also subscribe to The Patriot Post which has kept its access free from its inception in 1995. Like PBS it has periodic funding campaigns to sustain its operating expenses, but it also has a team of sustaining members who contribute continuously. They also have a webstore that sells Patriot merchandise. Check it out at patriotpost.us. I am sure if you wrote Mark Alexander he would be more than heppy to assist you with other suggestions.
Fwiw would love an associated forums section that could be topical and sticky.
Sending a donation tomorrow. I’d be in favor of fund raiser or subscription. I just want to keep CTH going.
With all due respect to the in-debt starving student, the senior citizen living only on Social Security, and the minimum wage earner cleaning the toilets, I believe anyone and everyone interested in honest, investigative journalism and research can afford $5/month for a subscription to CTH.
I believe you should focus on moving forward with your end goal of creating the ad platform that enables direct business with 1st party sponsors, post-haste.
I truly believe there would be enough people who would contribute in the following manner:
Provide private, interest free LOANs for the start-up capital.
By making it a loan, rather than investment for some kind of stake, you remove the worry of investors feeeling at any point in time they have some influence over how things are run.
By making it interest free, you know only truly benevolent people are getting involved, since there is no profit to be made, and as just stated, no influence to be bought, as it’s just a loan. You could define the terms of repayment to ones you believe are reasonable based on future revenue projections even if they are in years and years.
I think this is something you really should consider.
Pray. We all pray for the answer we need to keep things rolling. God will provide. Perhaps some wealthy conservative out there will come along and donate an anonymous cash cow.
I do not like subscriptions, or membership access only. Those always reek of elite mentality to me. People don’t seem to mind the auto-monthly payment, some of the You Tubers made a ton of money off Patreon.
For one thing do a quarterly or bi-annual fund raiser via the site. Ask and ye shall receive. I do suggest hold them at the first of the month when people get paid. Avoid the holiday time frames where people get tapped out. People need to understand the amount isn’t as important as is the giving, $5 or $1,000 it goes to helping people keep their sanity, and that is a worthy cause. We must keep the truth available to all.
I pray this evening that Sundance has been covered in the span of this very afternoon.
Absolutely. Don’t make this site a subscription only. That would no doubt cut down on the number of people, and that should never happen. Let people comment up to 500 characters, and only paid ‘subscriptions’ could make comment content as long as they’d like.
I just arranged to have PayPal send money monthly.
When I consider the value of this site, more than a site, actually a group of participants with much of a common moral compass. Sadly I suspect most of us are so mature that we grew up in a different time when the enemies of our country hadn’t made the inroads we bemoan today. Looking for the American dream we (I ) spent too little time challenging the value of changing “culture”.
Donate and participate.
yes, peeps..if you can right now..hit the tip jar!! I will do anything you decide to do…ads don’t bother me at all..and at the end of the day. we CANNOT let this site go away..I am just wondering..Rush loved CTH..that is how I initially found it..maybe, Kathryn could help..
Rush’s Kathryn is definitely a billionaire! What a good idea!
When we all thought there was a chance that the Treehouse would soon be gone I think every person who visits here donated cash in one form or another — to not lose our home.
I’ll admit I’m not good at donating, but when things get tough I always put something in the passing plate.
And although it is hard sometimes to just say, ‘Hey, I need money and I need it now,’ I know that would kick donations in, too.
You and the Treehouse are the best, Sundance. This site is the only place I go to for real news, especially when I hear blather dribbling from liars in background noise from time-to-time; this is where I come to where BS isn’t the highest standard.
Do what you must, and please let us know when it is serious crunch time.
I’m not always here, but I count on you being here when I need you.
Thanks for passing the plate. . .
I just made donation and requested other friends to do so as well. Whatever you choose, I will always support. You are the Go To site for real news. Thank you, Sundance.
I think it would be optimal to say how much is needed each month and let people donate. If PayPal or any other service could be avoided it would be best as they could up and cancel your service if they don’t like a post or a comment. Make sure people in ?? can donate we rely on you as well.