Dear Jonathan,
Although I greatly appreciate your gracious thought, I feel
constrained to remind the list membership: We do not solicit, or accept,
outside contributions. We are very well funded, and enjoy
an extraordinary experience of professional and personal freedom.....through
being exempt of governmental, political---even social----pressure attendant to
accepting other peoples money to fund "our personal" choices for research
pursuits. It is more in keeping with our principles of operation that we
should give financial support to the Silver List......than to accept financial
benefit from it.
Best Regards, Brooks.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jonathan B. Britten" <jbrit...@cc.nakamura-u.ac.jp>
> To: silver-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: Re: CS>[List Owner] Future plans...
> Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:17:39 +0900
>
>
> I have a few thoughts, Mike. Here goes:
>
> First, yes, I would be willing to make a modest financial
> contribution, preferably via PayPal. However. . .
>
> Although I think that the non-commercial status is valuable,
> certain kinds of carefully-chosen fund-raising might defer most of
> the costs of a web-site format, and might even provide some modest
> research funds distributable to those who have non-profit
> laboratories, such as Brooks. Bradley.
>
> Just as an arbitrary example, a PayPal link to Bob Berger's new
> book, channeled through the SilverList, could include a small
> surcharge for site maintenance.
>
> Bob's book is just an example, and I apologize if this example
> seems presumptuous of me. How he sells this book is his business,
> naturally. My point is that I don't think the integrity of the
> List would be compromised by such a service, nor by links to, say,
> SilverGen or SilverPuppy, provided that the exact financial
> relationship between the list and the vendors was crystal clear to
> everyone.
>
> A two hundred dollar purchase from a vendor might yield, say, two
> dollars to the List. Or more. Or less. I am no businessman.
>
> This discussion may soon need to move to the off-topic page, but I
> wanted to put a few ideas out on the main page.
>
> NB that the excellent Whole Earth Review started a
> carefully-controlled experiment with advertising, after many years
> of forbidding it. Done properly, I think, some sort of arrangement
> of the kind I suggest could make the List financially
> self-sustaining.
>
> JBB
>
>
>
>
> On Sunday, Jan 29, 2006, at 09:10 Asia/Tokyo, M. G. Devour wrote:
>
> > Hello everyone. I hope the day finds you well!
> >
> > During the last few weeks I have researched, with excellent help from
> > many of you, ideas for what to do next with the Silver List and our web
> > archive situation. I think I've settled on a plan that will take us a
> > long way.
> >
> > What I want to do is ...
> >
> > * Create a web-based forum that will serve as archives and home for our
> > community.
> >
> > * Integrate it with a fully functional e-mail interface for those who
> > want to continue subscribing that way... Like Yahoo! Groups done right.
> >
> > * Recruit a team of volunteers to spread the workload, preserve our
> > healthy group culture, and lessen the risk of the community failing if
> > I decide to retire someday or become incapacitated.
> >
> > * Make sure the list is on a solid technical and financial footing for
> > the foreseeable future.
> >
> > The basis for this effort will be software from Jelsoft, Ltd., called
> > vBulletin. See: <www.vbulletin.com> This is a good commercial package
> > for running web forums. It's secure and scalable, support is solid, and
> > there is a vigorous developer community adding new features and options
> > all the time.
> >
> > I have purchased a copy of the software and am starting the long
> > process of configuring and adapting it to the way I want things to
> > work. What with converting our archives to forum format and integrating
> > the e-mail functions, I am mentally prepared for it to take the next 3
> > to 4 months to bring everything online.
> >
> > If it seems that I can get the archives up sooner than that, of course
> > I will try to do so.
> >
> > As we approach launch, I also want to do some fundraising. I will ask
> > the community to pitch in, with the goal of raising enough money to pay
> > for the next 5 years of domain registration and hosting. Paying for 5
> > years up front gets us a major price break from Eskimo.
> >
> > My estimate of the cost -- excluding wildly unexpected growth rates or
> > significant legal fees -- works out to somewhere around $1500 (US). I
> > have already received a donation from one generous soul which has let
> > me buy the software and will be a start toward the rest. I have faith
> > that we can achieve this goal.
> >
> > Meanwhile, I plan to create a voluntary subscription option that will
> > reward those who contribute a small amount each year with a number of
> > functional and cosmetic enhancements to their membership to the forums
> > and list. I won't do anything to prevent free access to the information
> > we have to share, but I hope to create at least a small incentive for
> > people to contribute. A searchable CD of the archives is another
> > potential product for us.
> >
> > Together, these ideas should create a modest cashflow that will help me
> > keep the site free of advertising and preserve our non-commercial
> > character.
> >
> > There are benefits for me in all this, sure.
> >
> > For one thing, having other people helping will mean I can take a
> > vacation from time to time and know the group will be well cared for. I
> > also won't have to worry any more about being a single point of failure
> > that can take down the group for good.
> >
> > For another, I have kids starting to apply to college, so money is
> > going to be tight around here for a long time. Taking the financial
> > burden of running the list & forums off my family's shoulders will be
> > very helpful. My wife thanks you! <grin>
> >
> > It'll even give me the incentive I need to update my computer skills
> > enough to complete my personal quest to be free of Microsoft products!
> >
> > What's most important, though, is that we can carry on our mission of
> > getting good, clear, impartial information on CS and related subjects
> > out to the people who need it, and do it better than ever before.
> >
> > It will be easy to build a 'Getting Started' section filled with all
> > the information new people need.
> >
> > We should be able to handle growth with fewer problems.
> >
> > We'll have our archives back, finally, with in-house control and much
> > better search functionality. <haleluja!!>
> >
> > So, there's the state of my thinking. Nothing is cast in stone, people!
> > If you have thoughts, ideas, suggestions, fears, questions, complaints,
> > or any sort of advice, please feel free to contact me privately at
> > mdev...@eskimo.com, on this list, or on the OT list.
> >
> > I've been at this job for going on 8 years. If I'm going to keep on
> > doing it, it would be nice to do it better -- for your sake and mine.
> >
> > Be well,
> >
> > Mike Devour
> > silver-list owner
> >
> > [Mike Devour, Citizen, Patriot, Libertarian]
> > [mdev...@eskimo.com ]
> > [Speaking only for myself... ]
> >
> >
> > --
> > The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver.
> >
> > Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org
> >
> > To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com
> >
> > Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com
> >
> > The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down...
> >
> > List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com>
> >
> >
>
--
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