TO BOLDLY GO …

I know it took us a while, but the tipping jar is now up and running. It’s down there on the right, just under the three most recent pieces. (Alas, this is true only of the lite site. The heavy site will be fixed soon to include a tipping feature). In the end, we’ve kept it to two options. You can send from $1 to $50 by credit card to Amazon.com and they’ll send 85 percent of it onto us. Or you can write us a check and send it to the address you’ll find if you click on the Tipping Point. (Another option – a direct credit card link to our site – proved too expensive and cumbersome for now. But if we get some cash, and pay off our debts, we hope to add an e-commerce credit card option soon as well.) What’s this all about again? Bottom line: we’re trying to help pioneer a new way to bring fresh content to the web. Most traditional journalism sites are having a hard time. Ads aren’t working too well. Mandatory subscriptions suck. This way, you can voluntarily support a site with low overheads and keep us on the web. How much should you give? Your call entirely. Anything would help. If our regular readers all gave a buck a month, we’d be fine. If some of you want to really help, more would be great. Lots more would open up a host of new possibilities. There are all sorts of options we can add to the site – a feedback page, quicker scrolling, more regular updates – but these need money. I’ll report back on progress (or not) as soon as we have any hard numbers. The skeptics are saying we don’t stand a chance. Prove them wrong.