DF! is not a moneymaker. That's hardly a surprise, but now it has become critical. I have spent far too much time writing, working freedom projects, and editing - not just DF!, but also (in case you hadn't realized) North American Samizdat and Simon Jester -and not enough on anything that pays bills. I am now broke.

Since I have effectively no revenue from DF!, I must shelve it in favor work that will pay my bills.

There have been a few generous souls who paid for the domain name and hosting, a few non-specific donations from other people. In deference to their privacy, I never publicly acknowledged them. Possibly I should have; maybe that would have encouraged others.

As may be, those people helped. A lot. I appreciate all of you. A lot. They did their best - and more - but in the end, it wasn't enough.

I don't have enough money to maintain my Internet access. I don't have enough money to pay my phone bill, or any more rent; I'm giving up my apartment on the 31st of December, when my paid up rent runs out.

Rather than see DF! go silent again, Sunni Maravillosa has said she'll take the editorial reins back. But Sunni needs a paycheck, too; and unlike little ol' single me, she has a family to feed.

If DF! keeps going, whoever runs it (and I want to keep at it) needs your support.

Shifting DF! to a monthly basis was a lot of work. Writing, editing, chasing down other writers and begging for material, proofreading, encoding, coordinating the (very) occasional donation to an author, uploading pages. I get requests for articles on specific topics and try to find someone who can cover it; sometimes I've studied the subject myself just to get a requested article out. I thought it was all worth it when our monthly hits rose to the 100,000 range; that's a lot of readers.

But not a lot of donations.

This is the free market at work: If Doing Freedom! is not valued enough by readers, it should - quite properly - end. But likewise, if DF! is providing valuable content, it should be paid for.

So here's my plea: If just one percent, one hundredth, of those 100,000 hits - just 1,000 - came with just a single dollar per month, I could run DF! in high style. I could even start paying my writers. Which, in turn, would mean more material for you. Please, times are tough for everyone, but if you can help, please do.

For many people around the world, this is a season of giving. If you aren't "all gave out" already, consider helping DF! stay on-line. If you can help, please let me know if you prefer to stay anonymous; otherwise, my new default setting is to publicly recognize and thank you.

If DF! isn't enough, to sweeten the deal, I'll give a free copy of my novel, Net Assets, to anyone who makes any donation to DF! through January 2003.

I'm already set up to take donations via PayPal, but I can accept through E-Gold, too. My account number is 106608. I'm sorry to say, though, that the relative difficulty and expense of out-exchange makes E-Gold rather less immediately useful.

Write me to make other arrangements. Since I'm losing my apartment, snail mail may not be the best idea until I know where I'll be.

Help?

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Carl Bussjaeger
Editor, Doing Freedom! Magazine