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Scottie

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Since a number of people have asked if we could do this "automatic thingy," and since things are tight all the way around, we decided to do it.

It won't change anything about SOTT... it's still free, but it makes it more convenient for those who can only give a little each month to help out.

The link is on the right column of the SOTT page "Subscribe" and for convenience, here it is:

http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/signs_subscribe.php

Subscribe to Signs of the Times

Since 2002, Signs of the Times has been your stalwart companion in the world of Machiavellian politics, weather changes, and sordid propaganda campaigns. Never wavering in our quest to bring you the truth, we have also been unsellable. Though we have been offered more than 30 pieces of silver on many occasions, the Signs of the Times has never displayed paid advertisements or sold out to ANY sponsor. Times are changing; it seems the world is becoming a darker and scarier place each moment. The wilderness is creeping up all around the world and night is falling. The economic problems of today are growing steadily worse with each passing minute, and for a group of people working 8 hours a day to bring the news free and accessible to all, sometimes it seems like the walls are closing in.

Rather than bow to advertisers to support ourselves, which would mean longer download times and less readability for you, our reader, Signs of the Times is making a new option available: an automatic donation via subscription service for those of you who are still afloat in the stormy seas. Many of our readers have written to say that they can't give a lot, but they would like to give a little regularly and could we please take "payments." We say a resounding "yes" because it is the faithful ordinary reader who is the backbone of our society and for whom we are determined to remain free of any outside influence. In order that Signs of the Times will remain free for all, we ask those of you who can to consider supporting our work on a regular basis even if that support is small.

Consider the fact that you can spend 1/4 of a dollar a day and 3/4 on Sunday for a news paper adding up to $9 a month. But not every paper carries every story and so you may need to buy 2-3 papers to get a real picture of the world. You may get a copy of USA Today, the Washington Post, and maybe a local paper, that could add up to over $20 a month, if you do it daily. Signs of the Times is unlike any other news site, we condense, carry or link to every variety of story relevant on the day of publishing; we offer downloadable and printable versions, free of paid advertisements, a Signs email version, and most of all, we give it to you 100% FREE. We don't hold back, and we don't flip flop on anything. Ever.

Yes, we will remain free, but if we can't find support, we won't "remain" for very long. We don't ever see ourselves putting paid advertisements on the site, if it comes to that, we will simply close up shop. Signs of the Times is established across 2 dedicated servers, has a 6 person full time staff (4 writers, 2 IT/Designers), and is located in a remote location without DSL, so you can imagine simply accessing the internet costs over $300 per month. There is no free lunch in the universe, we are all fond of saying that, but do we really understand it? The Signs of the Times is free to access, but it is not free to make. The servers and internet costs alone top $600 PER MONTH and that's not including the occasional computer failure and the requisite replacement parts. On top of that, minimal support for the Team is all we ask: nobody is making a salary.

The Signs has survived this far because of benevolent donations by our QFG members, and certain readers of the Signs that have been our saviours on a number of occasions, and the volunteer hours of its writers and editors.

We know that the PTB are squeezing everyone, but with this convenient new service, even the smallest commitment from you, our reader, can be multiplied over time to be significant support for all of us here. We ask those that can give, to give.

5 or 10
 
last week i dreamt that i should subscribe to SOTT! I woke groaning that i was getting a bit obsessed...simply because i am 'hooked' and hungry to learn more. should i put this in dreams section? :-)

Consequently I have redirected some funds from the economist which (after hearing a different POV) seemed undigestibly right wing in its reporting. One article n particular annoyed me for its sympathy with big pharma: suggesting without evidence in one article that prozak was reducing US national suicide statistics. That may have some truth but to prove this hypothesis the editor stated that it would be unethicalnot to prescribe drugs to a control group to let nature take its course.

Their reporting of recent atrocities in the middle East was very bias, but of course that is to be expected when the main owner is the Rothschild banking family of England.

Although I had quite a mental wobble after overdosing on podcasts, I have benefitted greatly from your reporting and articles. Spot on!
 
Let's hope that others also subscribe; it's costing an arm and a leg for us to pay for the satellite bandwidth (no DSL available where we are) just to send out the newsletter! We have agreed that it will never be a paid newsletter or site, that it should remain free to the many who can NOT pay, but it sure helps when the ones who can do, and even when they give extra that covers for those who can't.
 
Laura said:
Let's hope that others also subscribe; it's costing an arm and a leg for us to pay for the satellite bandwidth (no DSL available where we are) just to send out the newsletter!
Am I understanding right that you're sending the newsletter from your location? Is there anyway you can do the sending from the webserver using a server based mass mailer (e.g. phplist)?

Dominique.
 
Hi,

Actually, the mailer is sent from the server, so the only bandwidth used is when we upload the mailer file once to the server. There are other issues that arise, however, when making the Signs page as a whole.

In order to make a good page, we need to read alot of articles. That means several people loading 2 bazillion news articles (and any related searches and web pages to check out a story or to provide additional details) each day. Then you add to that the various eBooks, PDFs, Flash movies, and net videos that we usually find or are sent links to, and all of a sudden we've exceeded our bandwidth.

The printer friendly version of the Signs page alone is typically 400-500kB. Every time we upload a podcast, we use up 20-30MB of our upload bandwidth (it's split between an upload limit and a download limit, and the upload limit is 1/4 the size of the download limit). Once the upload limit is exceeded, it takes a nice long time to load any web pages. Upgrading to a "faster" service is out of the question, because not only does it cost even MORE money per month, but we really don't even get full speed all the time with what we are already paying for. With satellite internet, that just seems to be how the cookie crumbles.

So, that's the scoop.
 
Everyone do one's bit.

At this time, Im gaining more knowledge rather than giving, so I thought that subscribing to SOTT it was the right thing to do.
 
I guess I am one of the early birds... :) I started almost 2 months ago.

and it is a nice change to see (usually I am a slow mover...)
 
How many attacks recently, someone just need to counteract this. I'm going to subscribe to the best daily newspaper ever :)

Another one is from shoutwire it seems:

http://www.shoutwire.com/comments/33082/ShoutWire_s_Hopeful_New_Non_political_Direction

It's no secret that ShoutWire was bombarded by the online political arena (within the past few months especially) because enthusiasts of politics are, generally, much louder than, say, your average guy who enjoys oddly enough news articles.

That being said, those who care most about ShoutWire (i.e. administrators, editors, hardcore members, etc.) devised an experiment to see if we could diversify the reader-base by participating more and starting a non-political trend of content. The idea is to submit anything but politics on a daily basis, in effect hoping to counter, or balance out, the political articles.[...]


No politics, yeah, there's nothing to see here... right now, how timely.
 
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