Underwriters - republished 17 September 2017 - Not an appeal for donations

 

(re-published as a re-statement of SST policy)

Having had 17 million, 200 thousand visits in the last 12 years, (now - 17 September, 2017 - half a million more page views) I have decided once again to seek underwriters (sponsors) for my blogging efforts.  This is a small operation.  It takes a lot of time.  There are opportunity costs for me. 

Foundations (preferred) or corporations that make grants to my blogs should understand that the money will go in my pocket in payment for what I do.  I will pay whatever costs the blogs have.

What the underwriters will get is an acknowledgement on the blogs (if they want that).  They will also assure that I continue doing this for a while.  What they will not get is editorial control, content control or title.

I hope that pranksters do not bother me with foolishness that wastes my time.  Enquiries should include full contact data; website, phone numbers, a responsible person to contact, etc. 

I am grateful to all those individuals who have made donations in the past.  pl

---------

Surprisingly - someone wrote to me yesterday (16 September) to attempt to exert editorial control specifically on the basis of a past donation.  This was accompanied with an exhortation to be more solemn and professional  and to stop calling you "pilgrims."  I told this person that I will continue to write as I please.  pl

Comments

[Jonathan House]

I'm not a foundation or corporation, but I chose to use this post as a reminder to myself to contribute.

All the best to you and to all here at SST,

Jonathan House

[trinlae]

Respected Colonel,
I am afraid that you cannot eat it, but i trust the Nepali letter opener sent to your publishing address in December will at least save some time opening boxes and related risks of paper cuts and the like!

Godspeed for 2017 and beyond!

Trinlae

[turcopolier]

trinlae

Thank you. I have not yet received such an object. pl

[LeaNder]

Take care, be well. This is an odd day, lots of irregularities all around. Don't like that, since I am a last minute gal. ... on the other hand? Hmm. cp?

In the end it worked.

As others, pleased you share time with us. Not least this nitwit. ;)

[BuddhistHarmony]

As a suggestion, have you considered joining an ad network like Google AdSense? https://www.google.com/adsense/start/#?modal_active=none

There are other ad networks also

it's turn key, just copy & paste the code into your site once
&
you're paid per 1,000 visitors -- you can choose just 1 discreet square ad or whatever number & size you prefer

[Larry Kart]

I'm in for the duration, amount(s) to be determined. I assume you'll provide some guidelines there, as in "No sum would be too large. but if it's below [sum x], spend it on kibble."

[turcopolier]

Larry Kart

Any offering however large or small is appreciated. pl

[turcopolier]

buddhistharmony

I HAVE tried that. The actual advertisers do not seem interested in SST. "We few..." etc. pl

[trinlae]

You're welcome and sorry to hear you haven't seen it yet there!

USPS priority mail tracking says it was delivered to Leesburg Dec 23 and is available for pick up. You may have to ask for it at the counter.

(priority #9505 5115 9487 6356 0300 64 posted 12/21)

I did bring a spare so can always re-send it: use these vids to wet your whistle:
https://youtu.be/qol5Ey3sImQ. (on mfg)
https://youtu.be/mES3j-SR00A (on British service issue)

[BuddhistHarmony]

ah, sorry to hear that, your military intel site has been very informative vs. the mainstream media

for additional funding instead of ad network, there's direct affiliate marketing:
since there's alot of ex-military & outdoorsman viewers, your site might be a good fit for that targeted audience so an affiliate to the SportsmanGuide (for hunting, guns, boating, sporting goods, et)
as well as Amazon (you get paid a percentage of sales thru clickthrus) for books you recommend as well as any other items on a banner ad

SportsmanGuide affiliate link http://www.sportsmansguide.com/ourcompany/affiliateprogram
& signup:
https://signup.cj.com/member/signup/publisher.cj?cid=3616712

And Amazon affiliate link program:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

[Babak Makkinejad]

Don't feel too bad about the gambling bit, we all got married.

[Mattias]

Have you considered creating an account at https://www.patreon.com/ ? Makes it very convenient to send small donations monthly.

[turcopolier]

Mattias

Many people have various kinds of suggestions for SST. pl

[PVP]

I tried to donate but it appears you have to have a US zip code (I live in the UK). Any ideas of how to get around this?

[turcopolier]

PVP

I think I receive money from the UK through Paypal regularly. pl

[Bill H]

According to one Patreon user, the results for his blog include that $1/month subscriptions net him 77¢ and that "First, I no longer have to fight off trolls and filter spam from the comments. Second, the quality of the comments, which are now hidden behind the paywall, has improved greatly and now make very interesting reading, often as interesting as the blog posts themselves.

Seems it might kill two birds with one shot.

[The Porkchop Express]

Col - I doubt advertising is the kind of thing you'd be interested in doing and I have no idea what their blog/website policy is, but who knows? I listen to a lot of podcasts that have a revolving group of advertisers (roughly 10-20) that cycle through the podcast world.

Several of which, Bill Burr especially to say nothing of Norm MacDonald's infamous Mangrate advertisement, allow them to say mostly whatever they want about sponsors. I can't say I have any idea of how they would respond to a Current Affairs/Warfare/Middle East blog but several have contacts (I don't have specific names or contacts, just general contact info I found on the web):

Me Undies ([email protected] ), Stamps.com (http://www.stamps.com/affiliates/), Zip recruiter ([email protected]), Draft Kings (https://www.draftkings.com/affiliates), Lyft ([email protected]), Winc ([email protected]), MVMT (https://member.impactradius.com/campaign-campaign-info/MVMT-Watches.brand)

There are more, but those are just off the top of my head. Probably not your cup of tea but just a passing thought.

[aleksandar]

I like " pilgrims "
" The people of God are of two kind : those who see that they are being made to journey, those who see themselves doing the travelling ".
Ibn-e-Arabi

[TonyL]

"attempt to exert editorial control specifically on the basis of a past donation. This was accompanied with an exhortation to be more solemn and professional and to stop calling you "pilgrims.""

It is amusing that this person would be that ignorant. A regular reader/commenter here would never think to tell the Colonel how or what to write.

[turcopolier]

TonyL

The "pilgrims" thing is a conceit playing off "The Pilgrim's Progress," and the Duke's "Well, Pilgrims..." pl

[LeCashier]

I first saw you on the News Hour way back during Gulf War 1 explaining what was happening. When this Syria stuff hit the fan I thought you might be doing some analysis on TV, but couldn't find anything. Then finally found SST. Thanks for the on going commentary and the archives, a great treasure.

[English Outsider]

I like "pilgrims" too.

"...We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

[turcopolier]

EO

I think I first read TPP as an undergrad in a course on various 17th Century bits and pieces, Milton, etc. There is an excellent French TV series "Les hommes de l'ombre." In it the wife of the French president says of him that he is just trying to realize (objectify) his conception of himself." PL

[turcopolier]

LeCashier

It is as much my fault as that of anything else that I stopped appearing on TV. My indolence and unwillingness to get up off my haunches to get in the limo to go to a studio combined with neocon efforts to get me out of the public square to eliminate my transient talking head life. pl

[Nick Smith]

I've always loved the Pilgrims touch. I rarely if ever feel like commenting, but that crosses the line and its absolutely appalling someone thought their money meant they could get rid of it.

Thanks for all your troubles over the years. I have recommended the blog to friends over the years, mostly MBA types who would be otherwise oblivious to the subject, the feedback is wildly positive- someone actually told me they were "confused" by how much more informative a blog was than the WSJ's coverage they been reading and tuning out.