Thank you to all readers and members of the Conservative Treehouse fellowship for your continued support. Without your help this little corner of the research and discussion internet just could not exist. I will always work earnestly to be deserving of that support and fellowship.
We are fortunate, blessed and protected by a loving God, who has abundant confidence in our ability.
I am just about able to get back to regular research and article writing now, with the remaining hurricane Ian recovery challenges no longer dictating the schedule.
Thank you again for your support and gracious understanding over the past several months. As new visitors attest every day, the fellowship in this commenting community is unique, insightful, articulate, intelligent, funny and awesome. I love you guys.
In the middle of the recovery chaos, and based on numerous requests for an option, we were able to set up and beta test a one-time financial support system providing an alternative to PayPal. However, depending on your browser settings (and ad blocker software) I am also hearing that many people cannot see it. There is a screengrab below showing what I am talking about.
The alternative financial support appears directly below the PayPal link in a yellow box as highlighted. Some have said browser settings can block visibility, and I have also heard it doesn’t show up on some mobile devices. I am not sure what the technical issue might be other than ISP filters (now becoming more problematic) and/or Adblocking software.
Due to my personal requirements for Treehouse user privacy, and my firm stance on not retaining user data lists, the alternative system does not provide a subscriber option. If you use the alternative support function, each time you would want to support CTH you would have to click it and reenter your information. No data is saved.
Financial support through PayPal remains the most efficient and stable way to support CTH. I know they have received a lot of criticism, much of it well placed; however, my own experience with PayPal has been solid. When CTH was deplatformed and under attack from Big Tech (eye of Sauron) to their credit PayPal stood firm and supported CTH in providing their service. They would NOT demonetize us.
While my experience with PayPal seems to run counter to the outcome described by others, the unexpected supportive position from PayPal made a strong impression on me. Again, perhaps unique, not sure why, but my experience with them has been very good. If that ever changed, I would immediately let you know. The data security and convenience of their system is also solid and useful.
Regardless, there are now two options: (1) PayPal and (2) Proprietary. Due to legal caution and the data privacy construct, the Proprietary alternative has a 30-day access lag built in. Meaning if you use that option, in approximately 30 days the funds become accessible, whereas support through the preferred PayPal option is immediate.
March is the month when all the annual fees for licensing, email notification systems, data security, legal retainers and background stuff associated with the building of CTH 2.0 are paid. Thank you to everyone who helps offset these costs and keeps our voice in the fight…
~ Support CTH Here ~
Eyes of a mouse/Ears of an elephant…. and don’t forget to live your best life!
Love to all,
Sundance
Donated today. Thank you for all you have done for these past years……I think I have been reading since 2008 at least!
uBlock Origin needs to be temporarily turned off to see the alt. donation box or you can spend 10+ minutes like me relearning how you have to set filterAuthorMode to true so you can dynamically enable domains from the advanced menu.
To make the alt donate box permanently visible, the domain & sub to allow are publir.com and a.publir.com.
confirmed
Brave browser’s built-in adblock also blocks it unless you set “shields down” for CTH.
PayPal allowed a user within a business we owned to change the password (the password changing part was, admittedly, our own sloppy security protocols) and abscond with the funds in our account. When we attempted to contact PayPal, we were advised that we were NOT an authorized entity- because obviously, the crook removed us as users- and we had no recourse. This dragged on for 8 months with PayPal ultimately refusing to acknowledge, let alone adhere to a court order. Though we were able to recover the money- thankfully, only about $10,000 through alternative means via the courts from the criminal actor, PayPal was no help. Our only recourse was to open a new account- and no, we did not open a PayPal merchant account– nor would I ever again do so.
I use PayPal as a secondary resource from time to time– we still have an account for some pragmatic reasons. However, it is ancillary to anything we do. I would never again direct clients and customers to a PayPal link. That’s just me. Obviously, everyone has to do what works for them.
Probably the biggest revelation in everything that happened was that PayPal is almost completely unregulated. They are not a bank or financial institution, and no funds in a PayPal account are subject to anything other than PayPal’s own “Terms of Service” and the company is the sole interpreter of said TOS. Things may have changed (2008) but at least at that time, PayPal was not considered a bank or financial institution nor was it subject to the relevant laws and regulations.
(Knowing he had no resource, we eventually planted an insider in the offending enterprise and effectively “stole” our account back- without incident- unless you count him being really, really upset about it. I am NOT a believer in revenge, but I’m completely committed to justice. If you steal my car and I see you driving around it it, then at the right opportunity, I’m taking it back. Cops or no cops. Courts or no courts.)
‘Fraid I’ve got a similar personal story viz-a-viz PayPal. Problem was a CC fraud being perpetrated by a PayPal employee. I’ll spare you the details. Never again will I let PayPal have access to any of my money or credit in any form.
Love your website!
Sundance, please get that poor Vizsla out of that tree.
LOL!
I previously have had a couple of disturbing issues with Paypal, and would like to have an alternative to use. In spite of my aversion to Paypal, I have used it to support CTH. The reporting by Sundance and CTH is by far some of the BEST on the web. I will continue to make small donations to CTH because the nation needs their excellent work.
Hey Sundance, have you tried Parallel Economy?
Dan Bongino’s payment processing venture.
Just a thought.
Thanks for all you do, good luck, and love the website!
Just made a small recurring donation. Had been off the treehouse for a while, but its now again my best US source (am german).
Just one thing: if Paypal would open in a new tab … Thats an issue for me with all CTH links, to have them in a new tab would be better, but there might be reasons …
The main reason I came back is the realistic world view of CTH and most commentators. This is essential now in our troubled times.
Love you Sundance and my fellow Treepers. I use my credit card to donate, just did it now again. It is my pleasure to help out a little to someone that does so much. The only thing I detest is my country Canada, as our exchange rate has gone insane. I read below the confirmation of my support, it says $.069 to the US $$. That extra $17 could have gone to the Treehouse, not our Bank of Canada, and whoever else has their fingers in it. I have tried Support the Treehouse a few months back, but did not receive a confirmation, therefore was unsure, went back to PP with my credit card. Due to the hassles we had with PP for our Truckers Convoy, I do not trust much anymore. I have a US bank account, but not a cc. It would be my pleasure to send a cheque if there was an address PO Box. Thank you again Sundance for all the work you do. God Bless.
SD,
I use Brave Browser with Shields up and don’t see the new finance Yellow box , If I turn off shields off, and refresh the yellow box appears. Re-enabling shields up leaves the yellow box, re-starting Brave kills the yellow box.. Likely ad-blocking software with a temporary workaround at least..
Keep up the excellent work..
Sundance
Biggest problem I see is the side column is INVISIBLE ON CELLS
That is now the preferred way people surf the web
Quick fix ad a donation banner image right under your CTH homepage graphic and link it to a donation page.
I just donated using Paypal – as it was easiest and serves your purposes right now. It’s nice that you have an alternative option and maybe these alternatives will become more fluid and that will create better options and minimize the “tyranny” that corps exert on conservatives. I read the blog often, i believe in CTH and what you are doing and my faith in God gives me incentive to support CTH.
Hilarous picture Sundance. We love you too!
Done. I was in Fort Meyers recently for a memorial and commitment ceremony. Flying in, I saw all the blue FEMA roofs, kids were getting shells out of flowerbeds at hotels inland, water and fire barrels for sale. I have seen. What a job still ahead. Many blessings for you and all of us.
Isn’t there a PO Box we can send some old fashion cash?
Have noticed many have asked about sending checks. On reflection it occurs to me that the risk of accidental bounced paper checks and the entailing fees may be a concern.
Would you consider restricting offline donations to cashier’s checks or money orders where the money is guaranteed?
Both options take a little more action on the part of the sender –either going to the bank for a cashier’s check or getting a money order from the Post Office, Western Union or a few official retailers like Walmart or CVS ——but it may bring in some additonal regular donations to CTH.
I know there are March expenses to be paid. So I would be willing to pay for an overnight service to get a cashier’s check or money order to you fast this month if this offline method of donation were to become an option.
Also it may be possible to open a PObox or UPS store mailbox for 3 months or 6 months to see if offline donations restricted to money orders or cashier’s checks would be worth it to CTH.
I would be willing to pitch in extra toward that experiment.
Anyway I thought I’d toss out these possibilities as I’m one of those offline people who very much wants to help support CTH.
Hope I’m not being insulting by being so forward with these ideas. No worries, if you don’t answer —I’ll know that means it wouldn’t work for CTH to do this.
And mailing a cash donation also works for me. It would offer the best privacy-protecting option for donor and donee.
One can always use cash to buy a prepaid or reloadable debit card and use it to make your donations anonymously.
In recent years, I haven’t found any anonymous prepaid cards. Even if purchase with cash in a store, they all seem to require registering online or by phone with identifying info before the card is useable.
The annoying thing is sometimes the only way to discover this requirement is after purchasing the card. As I’ll never register, I have ended up spending money on unuseable card before.
Alleycats, can you recommend a prepaid card that you’ve used that doesn’t require this?
Ditto!
God bless you Sundance, Menagerie, Ad REM, WeeWeed, and the rest..
I wish I could name each but just know you ALL are appreciated, and loved.
Sundance – my screen does not match the one you show above. I do not see the large yellow square. It still says “create your account and sign in with paypal.”
Made my modest but heartfelt donation “on my CC.” Dropped PayPal & Venmo after their DEI bullying shenanigans. PP was super convenient for many many years. However, I see what’s coming down the pike and it’s not good. We must fight Central Bank Digital Currency with all we have. They control our money; they control us. I’ll continue to remind my CTH brothers and sisters; hoard food, water, precious metals, brass, & cash. Have community & wipe the dust off your Bible. These are serious times.
I didn’t delete my Paypal or Venmo because sometimes with my kids Venmo really is the very best choice. But Paypal was just a convenience for me that I used when I didn’t feel like typing in my info at a retail website. I believe I have only ever used Paypal on this site since the big hoopla last year. I haven’t missed it and I’m hoping with Paypal’s revenue down, they’ll recognize how valuable their conservative users are.
Thank you Sundance. I’m seeing your work more and more outside this place. Congratulations!
Sundance – that screen does not show up on my computer. It did show up last time you posted this but after putting in the required info it said “save your data and create a paypal account.”
FYI, depending on ad blocker/security software being used, both publir.com and stripe.com need to be allowed to see the alternate donation option, and possibly stripe.network in order to submit a donation.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute, Sundance. I appreciate all that you do.