I've been a member since 2004. I've visited this page almost day of that 9 years, usually lurking but sometimes doing more. I've been with you for the election highs and lows, survived the Meta and i/p wars, experienced the thrilling format changes, still don't get the whole "group" thing and am lousy at tagging, and struggle every time I try to embed content.
And now you have the nerve to ask me for $3.00 because you need to raise a $100,000. You even sent me mail by somebody named Will Rockafellow (really!?) and think that will work?
$3.00? You want my answer? Go below the fold cause I don't want to offend anyone.
UPDATE: Well, that's embarrassing, he actually asked for $5, not $3. No big deal, I guess, MY ANSWER IS THE SAME
Ok, I signed up for a subscription. Was way too late in doing so. Should have done it years ago. You happy now?
Me too.
5:44 PM PT: As requested, some context: Here is the outrageous request......
I hate to say it, but Markos is right. Daily Kos needs your help.
As General Manager, I oversee our income and expenses, and it’s clear that our business model is changing—and fast.
Ad revenue dropped 21 percent this year, even as site traffic surged. We think that dynamic will continue next year, meaning that Daily Kos can no longer fund operations on ad revenue alone.
With ad revenue cratering, community support is more important than ever. So, yeah, we need your help.
Can you chip in $5 to keep Daily Kos fighting?
Daily Kos is a small organization. We have just 22 staff and had over 40 million readers this year. We have costs like any other major website—like staff and servers—but we keep things running on an annual budget of just $2.5 million.
The business model is changing so that we’re more dependant on the readers we write for and the community we work with. That’s not a bad thing, but it does mean we need your help. So, please chip in if you can.
Keep fighting,
Will Rockafellow
General Manager, Daily Kos
P.S. I’ve included Markos’s email from Friday in case you missed it.
B, you’re probably still in a food coma, out shopping, at a protest, or spending time with relatives you don’t often see.
No matter what you’re doing, you’re probably not thinking about Daily Kos. But I am.
I’ve spent 11 years building Daily Kos and it’s amazing to see what it’s become. We’re the largest progressive political publication in the country. Our email list recently crested the one million subscriber mark. Our site reaches over five million unique readers every month. We reach twice as many people more via social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. We provide a million community members with a platform to report news, connect with each other and make change in their communities.
And we have real successes to point to, such as raising over $1.6 million for great candidates in this non-election year. On policy, our advocacy work was specifically cited by CNN as the catalyst for filibuster reform.
And we have just 22 staff members who help make it all happen.
Meanwhile, the economics of online publishing are in flux. Ad revenue, which once supported the bulk of our activities, is no longer able to fund operations. In fact, community support has become more important to our ability to operate than advertising revenue.
So we need your help. We need to raise $100,000 by the end of the year.
Can you chip in $5 so that Daily Kos can keep fighting?
If every one of our readers this month chipped in two cents, we’d be all set. If every reader chipped in a dollar, we’d be able to finance operations for two years.
Not everyone is in a position to give. So, if you’re fortunate enough to make it through Black Friday with a few bucks in your pocket, please chip in to help Daily Kos keep fighting for the issues that matter to us.
I’ll chip in $5 so that Daily Kos can keep fighting.
Keep fighting,
Markos Moulitsas
Founder and Publisher, Daily Kos