The big one out front…
We are shutting down our subscription-based services. The original goal was to generate enough recurring income per month to pay the costs of the site. We don’t like asking for donations, and I thought this was a good model.
We considered other models, moving to a pay for views, something like Substack. The other option was to shut the site down completely.
It costs money to run this site. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it all adds up. We have a few things that we pay for, along with the resources.
We aren’t going away.
J.Kb. has hit on the idea of selling swag. His first offering will be a moral patch. It has been designed, it looks good, we’ll be setting up an option to purchase them on the site shortly.
We are also going to be selling “Supporting Person”. I’m not sure exactly what yet. This will allow you to donate money directly to the running of the site.
For those that have already paid for the upcoming year. Thank you very much. I hope that you will consider that membership a “donation”. If you feel strongly, please contact me at awa (at) troglodite.com.
I intend to continue the Friday Feedback articles. Multiple reasons, one is that it is a day when I don’t have to research and invest time to write. The second is that it gives you a place to comment without being off-topic.
If you can think of swag you’d like us to consider, please let us know.
Thank you for staying with us. We are glad to have you with us.
Comments
12 responses to “Friday Feedback”
Just make sure yall never close down… I will do what I can to help. This is my “alternative “ news site.
As far as swag goes, (and this might be a challenge to offer only American Made products) hats, shirts, patches, flags, stickers for window or bumpers, with the many, many, sayings Miguel, J.Kb, have used over the years. There’s a lot of material, content, and other GFZ stuff that I believe the membership would appreciate and support with their dollars. For instance, today’s post by Miguel on Hosea 8:7 Files, could go on hats, shirts, patches, etc. I could go through the archives here for the next week and come up with enough marketable content to fill a storefront. And I think you should provide a support option for anyone to personally determine how much and how often they want to contribute.
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Awa, I know you published the GFZ’s budget previously, or perhaps it was just your generous contributions, but perhaps you should provide an option for anyone to access the GFZ expense sheet. Members could select which part of the budget they would sponsor or contribute to.
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Waiting with pen in hand.
I’m in for whatever keeps our little community going. If there’s to be swag, make it subdued. I try to be a grey-ish man. 😉
Scrappycrow agreed, I’m not for conservative and low keyed too.
Thanks for addressing the already paid. Enjoy my donation 🙂
Please let us know when ya get a donations page or option set up. As for merch I know a fella who has been doing laser engraving work on everything from ar mags, glasswork, leather patches, and wood that might be interested in the work. I can pass on his email iffen yall are interested.
I lurk more often than comment. Please consider my previous meager offering a gift. Send me a reminder, like, once a year and I have no problem passing $$ to this site. It’s a good value for the money. I’m trying to pare down, so swag has little attraction for me.
Enjoy the site, especially the legal reviews (thanks AWA, could not do anything like that myself, would lose interest), and Hagar’s perspective from left of center as well. And, of course, Miguel and j.Kb have been a solid draw for ages. I would certainly be interested in keeping this going.
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Donations are good, merchandise is better. Personally, I like to get stuff in hand, rather than just the warm glow…
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Things that I have purchased from other sites include challenge coins, patches, “currency” (fake, but still fun), tools… well not really tools, but gadgets. (Check with these guys: https://milspin.com/) I would not be surprised if they can do some custom work. Of course, that totally depends on how many readers/viewers you have.
Hmm. Special run of 1oz silver rounds GFZ challenge coins?
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I’m not much for self-billboarding, but something like that I might go for. 🙂
Oooh, patches!
Got some Velcro that’ll soon be calling out for patches. Just ordered a Sacred Cow Shipyards patch; already have one for Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems; always looking for others that I could get away with displaying.
I do like exonumia…… And stickers over patches 🙂
Don’t know their exact policies/procurement/manufacturing, but bunker branding does lots of gun stuff for shirts etc.
I’m in for a morale patch and decal if one becomes available.