Doing Freedom! has been published for more than three years. Initially, there was a subscription option of which few people availed themselves, since effectively all regular content was available for free. The subscription model was dropped as pointless, and Don Lobo Tiggre and Sunni Maravillosa continued publishing DF! out of pocket, in hopes of helping the freedom movement by providing useful information.

TANSTAAFL.

This is the simplified version, but their pockets weren't bottomless; Lobo had to let loose his editorial reins in favor of a paying job, to support his family. Sunni pushed on.

TANSTAAFL.

Stripped down version: Sunni tried, but financial pressures also induced her to give up DF!'s daily operation. She had to pay the bills, and work on DF! didn't do it.

TANSTAAFL.

Enter yours truly, a full year ago. I had grand ideas about what I might be able to accomplish with DF!. I cranked up the editorial schedule and began publishing the magazine on a monthly basis, instead of the previous quarterly issues. I contacted past writers and persuaded them to generate more material for you, and found new writers. I made extensive use of voluntary donation buttons in an attempt to draw some financing. I ran polls in an effort to find out what you most wanted to see. I made changes accordingly, and added new monthly features.

Based on the positive feedback and an increase in visitors and traffic of roughly 300%, you might think my work was successful.

Define success. Based on donations to DF!, the magazine is a miserable flop. Out of 24,000 visitors now, a piddling 30 or so think DF! is worth supporting in 2003. And while all that support is valued, not all of it was monetary. I can't even be a tax rebel; there's no income to tax.

On the contrary, I've been working full time on DF! for no pay. I've been publishing out of pocket. I'm now rather heavily in debt.

TANSTAAFL.

As of July 2003, Volume 3, Issue 7, Doing Freedom! magazine is shifting back to a subscription model, for marketing test period of three months. Publication of the July, August, and September issues is guaranteed. Further publication will be determined by subscription performance during the marketing test.

TANSTAAFL.

Some material will continue to be available to nonsubscribers, as a form of advertising. Some won't. It breaks down like this.

	Subscription	Nonsubscription
Full Table of Contents listing
All articles		1
Article illustrations		2
Read article Comments
Leave article Comments		_
Leave Feedback		_
Complete Freedom Advisor column		3
Complete Improv column		3
Reading Room		_
Ad-free issues (except ToC/Classifieds/individual author's banner)		_
Fiction		_
Full article archives		4
One free classified ad listing per month.		_
Download zipped issues for off-line reading.		5

TANSTAAFL.

A one quarter (three issue) subscription is US$6.00, cash, check, money order. If paying on-line by credit card (via my Honor account) or E-Gold, a subscription is US$7.50. The difference in subscription rates is due to fees and charges associated with getting currency out of those electronic accounts. I can no longer afford to absorb the expense personally.

Please note that $6/quarter is just two bucks per issue, each month; less than seven cents a day. Skip one beer, or a couple candy bars once a month, and you've got it covered. If enough subscribers send that seven cents/day, it'll make a huge difference to DF! and myself. As individuals, seven cents is probably less than the spare change you dump out of your pockets at the end of the day.

TANSTAAFL.

I've written elsewhere about savekaryn.com, but this woman solicited donations last year to pay off her credit cards and to finance shopping trips for designer clothing and delicatessen treats. She collected over $13,000.

That was simple charity. I think expecting DF! readers to start paying for what we provide is fair.

TANSTAAFL.

I'll continue to do what I can. But if I receive insufficient subscriptions, it's like this:

I cannot afford to indefinitely maintain DF! out of pocket. If the marketing test fails, I resign and turn the magazine back over to the Publisher to do as she sees fit.

TANSTAAFL.

* - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch; from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein.