My
recent post about being dropped again by the
Amazon affiliate program prompted renewed calls for a Blue's News Patreon.
Since advertising revenue is not supporting
the site, it seems the time is upon us for the first steps and launch a pilot
program. Patreon is something Frans and I have been discussing for some time,
and our planned rewards for patrons include an ad-free version
of the site. But implementing and
testing this is not ready to happen yet, as it has taken a back-seat
to our ongoing responsive redesign, which is
still being completed. Also, since I do not have firm ideas about
what sort of payments would seem appropriate, experimentation before things take a
final form makes sense. Patreon suggests three supporter tiers starting at a
minimum of $3.00/month. So I'll start things off by asking for feedback on what
everyone thinks about that, what would be appropriate for higher tiers, and what
you might eventually expect in return. It may be farfetched to imagine paying more than
that basic starting price. Especially for now, since to begin, aside from
supporter designations in the forums, self-satisfaction will
be the main reward for every tier. But if some of you are in a position to
comfortably go above and beyond, it will probably be a big factor in how
successful this will be towards a self-sustaining Blue's News. So please feel free to
express thoughts on Patreon, pricing tiers, and rewards in
the forums or by email. And a big thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in
helping in this way.