Welcome To Our Annual Holiday Pledge Drive!
Welcome once again to our yearly funding drive! We only beg for money once a year, and (of course) we take advantage of the fact that people seem to be in more of a giving mood as the year-end holidays approach. Just to be fully honest with everyone....
This year, however, this column is going to be a bit different. I know, I know, everyone loves the flood of kittens each year (while dog enthusiasts protest my species-ism to no avail with "where are the puppies?!?" entreaties), but this year we're going to severely limit tugging at your collective heartstrings.
Well, not completely.
Don't bite off more than you can chew!
It just wouldn't be a holiday pledge drive plea with at least a few kittens, right? But that caption is foreshadowing, it should be noted.
This year, instead of the saccharine cuteness of our usual "soft sell" (about as soft as you can get, with all the kittens), I'm just going to make a direct appeal.
Before I do, here are the usual nuts-and-bolts of donating to the site: for the rest of the month, you will see our pledge drive thermometer graphic at the top of every article and the main page, so everyone can see the progress being made. This has to be updated manually, which I will do periodically as donations come in. We hit our pledge drive goals all through the COVID times, so hopefully we'll be able to hit this year's goal as well, to keep the lights on all next year.
Clicking on the thermometer will take you to our 2022 Holiday Fundraising Drive page, which helpfully explains (with just a few more kittens) the various ways you can donate (PayPal, credit or debit card, or by sending in a check). Or you can just click on the Donate button at the top right of every column, which will take you directly to our donation portal:
Clicking on this takes you directly to the PayPal donations page we have set up. Donations are accepted from either your own PayPal account, or from all major credit cards (you do not need to set up a PayPal account to donate by credit card this way, I should mention). Another technical note: you do not have to be registered as a CW.com site user to donate via PayPal in this fashion, either. So even if you've just been lurking here, please feel free to donate.
Those are the basics of how to donate. And without any further sugarplumcoating or heartstring-tugging, here is my explanation of why this year is a good year to support this site. You all have been entreating me for a long time to upgrade the site. I have realized it needs updating for awhile as well. It is rather painfully obvious, after all.
However, when the site was first created and during the previous (and only) site update, I did all the work on my own. I am not a professional computer programmer, but I had enough layman's skills to get a very basic blog up and running. And for the most part, it worked. Parts were clunky and unsophisticated, but actual problems with serving the website to the public on a constant basis were almost non-existent. So it was all "good enough."
It just isn't, anymore. It is so outdated as to be almost unusable. It doesn't even work elegantly on smart phones. There are no updated links to share articles on modern social media sites. Like many of us (ahem), it is showing its age.
So it needs a complete rebuild. From the ground up. For the coders in the audience, I need to start by replacing the code that runs both HTML and PHP. Then I need to upgrade my WordPress. Finally, I will need to take a basic theme template and customize it so that the site essentially works the same, but works better. I hope to retain at least the basic "look and feel" of the website (because I like it). But it's a big job. The only thing which will remain largely untouched is the database where all the articles and comments and other data are stored.
Because our operating costs have been lower during COVID, I have been saving up, and I will also be changing the site's banking arrangements after this year's pledge drive -- which will also save money. And I am hoping for a good enough response this year to have the funds to actually pay a professional to do the lion's share of the work this time. So hopefully we will all get an up-to-date website soon which will work on everyone's phone as well as be easily shared on any other social media readers use.
I will not be undertaking this effort without soliciting input from you, the reader. My priorities are mostly technical, to get the code up to modern standards. Other things which are on my list (either because they annoy me or because they annoy all of you) are: (1) comments that can be edited by the user, at least for a short period after posting, so mistakes can be easily fixed, (2) updating the layout of the website to make it easier to navigate around, (3) perhaps providing more donation options than just going through PayPal.
But I'm sure there are lots of others. And I will be asking people's input on that front. I anticipate beginning the entire process some time in late winter or early spring, so we'll all have plenty of time to discuss any proposed improvements (such as: I am flirting with perhaps recording a podcast once a week of someone reading each Friday Talking Points column, but haven't really decided, as that would be a lot of additional work).
I see all of this as a real commitment to the future of this site. In the depths of the Trumpian times, I seriously considered packing it in and shutting the site down. Each year at pledge drive time, I made the serious commitment to writing columns for another year (I see the donations as paying for next year, not the past one, so it would have been dishonest to collect donations and then shut the site down during the year, as far as I was concerned). This time around, I am making a serious commitment to a much longer-term future for the site (which is going to cost some money, but I consider it a good investment).
So that's what I am asking for this year. That's why I didn't want to do the usual "distract you all with the cute kittens" thing. The site is out of date, I know. I have been saying for years now that I was going to update it, but have finally come to the conclusion that it's going to take more time and energy than I currently have to accomplish this, so the only way to get it done is to hire a professional to do it (if anyone has any recommendations for someone capable, please let me know). I think I will have enough to cover this cost as well as keep the lights on all year, but to do that I am going to need a good year in donations from all of you.
So that's it. Call it a "hard sell" this year. As always, if your own monetary circumstances prevent you from donating, then enjoy the site all next year anyway, as I can at least promise it will remain ad-free all year (even if I don't get enough to update it). If you are able to donate, please do while knowing you will be contributing to finally being able to see it easily on your phone as well as fix minor mistakes when you comment.
Although, just to close on at least one "soft sell" moment... the one thing I will not be changing is the cat in the logo at the top of the page. I like it too much.
Thanks, and I hope everyone has a great holiday season this year!
Visions of sugarplums....
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
I will not be undertaking this effort without soliciting input from you, the reader.
An Opt in checkbox to see the house troll's spam would be swell.
reality is so passe.
RIP Saavik
[1] What he said.
Look what the cat dragged in: Five kittens.
Technically, it's not even five; it's one kitten and four kitten heads, wouldn't you say? And, no, that regular cat and those two frolicking above the thermometer don't count.
:)
[4] What he said.
Which said:
[1] What he said.
[6]
What she/they/insert pronoun said.
Technically, it's not even five; it's one kitten and four kitten heads, wouldn't you say?
No, I wouldn't say. It's one kitten, four kitten heads and 5 kitten paws...
An Opt in checkbox to see the house troll's spam would be swell.
Awwww.. A checkbox of my very own!! :D Thank you JFC for proving all the power I have over you.. It warms the cockles of m' wee bairns... :D
[1] What he said.
[4] What he said.
Which said:
[1] What he said.
What she/they/insert pronoun said.
What I tell ya, CW?? It's not the VOLUME of my comments that is the problem here..
It's that they simply hate the fact that ANYONE is allowed to post comments that don't toe their hysterical cop hating, America hating Demrat Party line..
These morons prove my case with every comment they make.. :D
You restrict me to hell and back to give them a fighting chance and they STILL whine and complain and want MORE restrictions.. :D
It's simply HILARIOUS that they all are totally and utterly petrified of a fair fight.. :D
It's tough being factually accurate all the time.. :D
JL,
reality is so passe.
RIP Saavik
"Indeed"
-Teal'c, STARGATE SG-1
1/20
Michale
8
No, I wouldn't say.
Of course you would say; trolls like you will generally always butt the eff in with their lame-ass repetitive routines which they laughably hysterically insist is "political debate" when it's more aptly described as monotonous noun-verb-haters name-calling drivel that rarely varies and delivered on permanent loop as if it's novel and not the same old worn-out lather-rinse-repeat salivating troll drool.
If you had anything whatsoever to say beyond your prattling droll troll "noun verb haters" tedium ad nauseam, the number one request on the board would not likely be the "Opt In" to boredom button... but you don't, so it most assuredly definitely therefore is.
Besides, I wasn't asking you; I was asking CW.
It's one kitten, four kitten heads and 5 kitten paws...
Incorrect. Those aren't paws, they're "claus."
In the future, if I want the monotonous one-note yawn fest perfectly described as "house troll's spam" by John (not to be confused with the other John), maybe Santa Claus kitty will bring us that "Opt In" to boredom button.
Awwww.. A checkbox of my very own!! :D
It knows it's a troll, and I would wager that the "noun verb haters" routine it hysterically refers to as "debate" is sure to follow. Why wouldn't it? Rhetorical question.
Thank you JFC for proving all the power I have over you..
You're mistaking "power" for tedium ad nauseam and monotonous prattling and trolling that is in serious need of a boredom button wherein one must opt in.
What I tell ya, CW?? It's not the VOLUME of my comments that is the problem here..
Incorrect. It's both the volume and the "noun verb haters" droll monochrome boredom ad nauseam routine and moose poop nick-and-paste fox shit-ton of conspiracy kkkook crap that rarely varies and is boredom/scroll-inducing troll fodder.
It's that they simply hate the fact that ANYONE is allowed to post comments that don't toe their hysterical cop hating, America hating Demrat Party line..
*slow clap* What'd I tell y'all. It's a boring monotonous troll that insists the "noun verb haters" routine is political debate. Lather, nick-and-paste fox moose poop, repeat.
These morons prove my case with every comment they make.. :D
"Noun... verb... haters." Repeat. Repeat.
You restrict me to hell and back to give them a fighting chance and they STILL whine and complain and want MORE restrictions.. :D
Here, let me help your obvious moronic ever-present confusion.
Three things:
1. You're not a victim here, you're the effing spamming house troll. You answer on cue so thanks for proving the FACTS.
2. No one needs a "fighting chance" against a repetitive prosaic quotidian spamming house troll.
3. No one is requesting "restrictions." What we are obviously requesting is an "Opt In" button. Those who wish to be bored by your nonvarying yawn-inducing soporific routine may opt into your prattling boldified boring lifted spamming house troll kkkook poop.
It's simply HILARIOUS that they all are totally and utterly petrified of a fair fight.. :D
Here, let me help you connect the dots again; it's what I do here. No one is afraid of you. You're just a nonessential blathering spamming monotonous troll who interferes with actual political debate.
It's tough being factually accurate all the time.. :D
You're not tough. You're a plodding run-of-the-mill dry as dust uninteresting spamming troll who answers on cue and definitely merits an "Opt In" button, and the creator who gave us infinity should be able to provide it for the many of us who respectfully request it.
1/∞
Kick [9]
It seems I made the pig squeal. It's hardly surprising. Nothing frightens a needy malignant troll more than the thought of being ignored. I'm not sure why though. It could still win the games it plays by itself.
#SpammingHouseTroll?
#TwoBrainCellsRubbingTogether?
Who can choose?
CW,
You rig up an “Opt In” and I shall happily play my Green Card! Hell, I’ll even pay douchebag’s $150 wager about black voter’s non-support for Trump!
Trump Organization guilty on all counts in criminal tax scheme
MANHATTAN (CN) — A monthlong criminal tax fraud trial for the Trump Organization ended Tuesday in swift guilty verdicts.
Jurors spent just 10 hours deliberating in what has been the only proceeding to arise from a three-year probe of former President Donald Trump and his business practices.
________________
So Weisselberg falls on the sword for Donald Trump... a slam dunk paper case too. Appeal will delay but won't change the paper trail. The Trump Organization is a criminal enterprise.
Alvin Bragg: Let's roll.
John From Censornati
10
It seems I made the pig squeal.
You freaked out the troll so thoroughly that he admitted to warming the cockles of his small children.
Nothing frightens a needy malignant troll more than the thought of being ignored.
Nothing frightens "wee bairns" more than a trolling child predator.
I'm not sure why though. It could still win the games it plays by itself.
You mean like pin the tail on the donkey? It's all "fun and games" until he takes off his blindfold and learns he's the ass.
MtnCaddy
11
Both. :)