I got a new Debit Card because the old one expired so I had to update my monthly Donation, which ended when the old card expired. So I thought, "why not use this moment to speak to the Community about donations and Subscriptions - and the big difference between the two of them."
So here it is...
If you have read any stories lately here at Daily Kos
you’ve seen those big, bold, blocks of colored text boxes at the bottom of EVERY STORY published here at Daily Kos, both by staffers and by Community Authors, urging you to donate.
You know why they are there?
Daily Kos gets the bulk of its revenue, you know the money that pays salaries and the cost of Servers and Bandwidth and maintenance on all of that… and a lot more, I’m sure… from you and me.
Readers, Lurkers, Community Authors & Commenters.
[ note: in case you are unaware, “Lurkers” are readers, usually regular readers, who have not yet decided to create an account here and commence writing stories and/or comments. Sometimes people “lurk” for years before doing so. I say, jump right in and Join the Conversation! ]
The Daily Kos Community, in other words.
About 80% of the cost of supporting the site, apparently, because those are the numbers I’ve seen the past few months, in the text in those bold text boxes, asking for your assistance in keep Daily Kos up and running.
Like this one from this story
Reality check: 2025 has been rough financially for Daily Kos.
We’re powered by people, not corporations. Almost 80% of our income comes from small donations. That’s why we’re asking our readers for support.
Donate $5 today to help fuel people-powered resistance and journalism.
That’s not counting the costs of the Migration to Word Press in the spring of 2026.
So I’m going to give you a reason (if you don’t already) to subcribe, today.
Do you have a subscription to Daily Kos? I do, but I’ve been here since Hector was a pup, so I bought the lifetime subscription like a number of people way back in the 2010s iirc (someone please correct me if you know the actual year it was announced and became a subscription option). That option expired years ago, sorry.
You know the single most worthwhile benefit that gives to you? You get to read and interact here at Daily Kos WITHOUT ads. Once you’ve paid for (or someone has bought you a subscription) you get the option on your Profile drop down menu under your Icon in the top Right corner of any page on Daily Kos, way down at the bottom of that fairly long menu, to turn Ads off (or back on, if you want).
Below is a screenshot of the dropdown menu from MY Profile Icon link on the top right of any page on Daily Kos (because I’m a registered user, those who are not a registered user see something else entirely and I guess before I post this story, I’ll have to reboot my Chromebook into Secret Spy mode (okay, its just an anonymous login option, and I can never remember what its called, so that just what I think about it) and see what the front page and the top right corner of the site looks like.
(note: I did that but can’t see any way to get the screenshot I took available to me when I’m logged in, sorry)
Anyhow, as you can see in the image just below (a screenshot I just took of my Profile drop down menu), in DK Orange is “Help Desk” and just above that is “Show Ads”. I will admit, it isn’t very often, and usually after I catch some comments from people about Donating to the site and STILL having to put up with ads, wondering if there is some secret button somewhere they need to click to get rid of the ads, that I turn those ads on. I am always reminded of WHY I chose all those years ago to make (for me, at that time) a substantial payment to get rid of the ads.
Because it makes this place one hell of a lot easier to read and learn FROM and get around.
Ads suck.
So If you think you’ve just sent in a donation, maybe you did, and maybe you subscribed. THIS menu option will tell you for certain —
because no matter how much you DONATE, it will never turn off the ads.
That can only happen if you SUBSCRIBE.
Currently there are Yearly, Bi-Yearly and Monthly subscriptions available.
This image (below) does not display the bi-yearly which is $45.00 every six months.
So for anyone who wants to have the ads on this entire site GONE?
Get a subscription, of any kind. So long as you have a current subscription, you can decide to see or not see Ads.
To get a subscription, use this link (which you can find at the bottom of every page of Daily Kos, on the first column on the left side as Subscribe)
https://www.dailykos.com/subscribe
ONE bit of warning, what and how you see this URL depends upon whether or not you are a registered Community User or not AND whether or not you already have an active subscription. You can also buy a subscription for anyone else at Daily Kos as a gift — so long as you know their Profile Page URL/ their correct DK User name.
So if you ever have the thought, “I think they deserve a subscription, let me do that for them,” just go to that Subscribe page and use the link (which you can see in this image if you look closely at the text above the two boxes as “gift a subscription”, and it’s in DK hyperlink orange).
You can also check to see if you have a current subscription of any kind by going to your profile page and seeing if you see “Manage Your Subscription” here, like you can see on mine:
Donations, on the other hand, are ALSO a way to help pay the costs of keeping Daily Kos up and running. But they will not and can not help you stop the ads from displaying.
I cannot strongly enough urge every single person without a subscription to give it a try by choosing the single month at a time $8.00 subscription and as soon as you do, use your Profile Icon menu to TURN THOSE ADS OFF.
I guarantee you, that if you do, you won’t want them back.
If anyone still has any questions about this, please leave a comment.
If you are currently NOT subscribed and will give the single month option a try after reading, please leave a comment and let me know you did.
Tomorrow, on Sunday Jan 4th, I will be posting an Update story on the Daily Kos move to Word Press, and address some of the questions I’ve seen lately and the answers to those questions, relating to the move. So if you have a question about the transition over to Word Press?
THIS IS THE PLACE to ask that question.
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I’m also declaring this an OPEN THREAD story.
For those who don’t know what that is, it means ANYTHING you want to talk about or ask questions about which you think I might be able to answer or at least point you to someone who might?
Have at it!
- angie
