0 thoughts on “1st of the month–please help us do our part by donating to TUT”
I’ve initially subscribed to TUT specifically for the podcasts by MCP (RIP) and Mark Glenn. Not to sound callous or mercantile, but now that MCP has passed there hasn’t been any new shows from Glenn for quite some time. So, what are we subscribing/donating to exactly? As far as I understand it, wordpress is free. I’m willing to support TUT, but I feel that there should be some content provided other than random blog posts. ed note–wordpress is indeed free, but in the process of my doing ‘random’ blog posts, I also do ‘random’ appearances on Press TV 2-3 times a week, make ‘random’ trips half way around the world to Iran, make ‘random’ trips to various cities in America where I give speeches, and NONE of which I am ever compensated for.
What I DO get however, in return for all this ‘random’ business, are ‘random’ visits and phone calls from various US law enforcement agencies who want to talk about my ‘random’ political activities, as well as being taken out of line while waiting to board various ‘random’ flights I have to make, only to be taken away to a room where I am interrogated by DHS, FBI, etc, have all my belongings dumped out, have my computer and phone taken away where all of the contents therein are viewed and recorded, etc. In the meantime, every time I do one of of these ‘random’ blog posts, articles, appearances on international media, trips both here and abroad, etc, the file ‘they’ maintain on me gets thicker, bringing me closer and closer to some kind of unpleasant action.
So please, ‘John’, don’t come off as if you are getting a raw deal here by being asked to contribute a little something. You have no idea what kind of dangerous, thankless sacrifices people like me & others have to make so that people like you can sit back and benefit from it.
So make a random contribution, John
It’s obvious to me that you’ve misunderstood my question, which I do believe is valid. I’ve been donating for quite some time and was enjoying the podcasts. But for at least this year the content has been “random”, meaning irregular and without any predictability. Original content is few and far between and I’m wondering about the direction or goals that TUT is working towards.
When you ask people to “donate” money or “subscribe” then it’s important to tell them exactly what they are getting. Money is not something I have in abundance, but I’m happy to contribute if I believe it is being used in a manner that would further my own interests and the cause.
I speak from personal experience as well. I have a forum that is run through donations. I tell my members exactly what the costs for keeping the forum going and all the benefits they receive by donating. They know we need specifically $X amount for how long and I tell them when we reach this goal. And the few pay so that the rest of the members can enjoy the content for free.
Something that has bothered me about the TUT is that the podcasts used be free, but now require a password. As a donator, this area should continue to be free for everyone. If, however, not enough money is earned to keep this feature available for free then 1. People need to know how much is required to do that OR 2. Make it subscription if you can’t reach the donation goal. Right now it seems like a subscription, but we the “subscribers” are not getting “Regular” podcasts. It is exactly “random”.
And while it’s appreciated that you make appearances, give speeches and go on PressTV to further the spread of information, this is not a substitute for making podcasts for your subscribers. These are decisions you’ve made for your own career. I’m not asking for anything that I don’t provide my own contributors, just clear communication and information about the future of TUT and how our money is being used towards that end. ed note–John, firstly, thank you for helping out with things here, and you should have gotten a password to give you access to the programs. If not, then contact me by email and I will get you one.
However, I disagree in that I have misunderstood what the gist of your previous comment was. In essence, it was/is a variation of the old line from the Wendy’s commercial featuring the old lady saying ‘where’s the beef’?
My podcasts became more random beginning a year ago when I was working full time to remodel the house that was to be Mike Piper’s home. Once he got here, I was then busy taking care of his needs–as well as those of my very large family, which obviously took up a big chunk of my time, energy, etc.
As you may or may not know, 5 months after Mike got here, the house caught fire, and besides all the remodeling work I did, as well the original work was destroyed. Shortly thereafter, Mike passed away, the result of all of it being for me personally that I have at the moment little to know motivation to do anything right now except to painstakingly repair the damage done to the house amidst a family that presently is in a state of mild shock because of the event of the year.
So the long and short of it is this John–for years–close to a decade to be precise, I did all of this FOR FREE. never charging anything for my work, which is dark, dangerous, demoralizing and discouraging. My reason for charging for podcasts was not to make money, as they are relatively few subscribers (less than 100) but rather to keep the riff-raff out, given that every time I did a free broadcast that was accessible to certain problematic elements, I would then have to spend the next week dealing with the flood of emails that came in. The subscriber system cured that.
If this does not suffice as an explanation then you are of course free to close your subscription, assuming of course that you currently have one.
I’ve initially subscribed to TUT specifically for the podcasts by MCP (RIP) and Mark Glenn. Not to sound callous or mercantile, but now that MCP has passed there hasn’t been any new shows from Glenn for quite some time. So, what are we subscribing/donating to exactly? As far as I understand it, wordpress is free. I’m willing to support TUT, but I feel that there should be some content provided other than random blog posts.
ed note–wordpress is indeed free, but in the process of my doing ‘random’ blog posts, I also do ‘random’ appearances on Press TV 2-3 times a week, make ‘random’ trips half way around the world to Iran, make ‘random’ trips to various cities in America where I give speeches, and NONE of which I am ever compensated for.
What I DO get however, in return for all this ‘random’ business, are ‘random’ visits and phone calls from various US law enforcement agencies who want to talk about my ‘random’ political activities, as well as being taken out of line while waiting to board various ‘random’ flights I have to make, only to be taken away to a room where I am interrogated by DHS, FBI, etc, have all my belongings dumped out, have my computer and phone taken away where all of the contents therein are viewed and recorded, etc. In the meantime, every time I do one of of these ‘random’ blog posts, articles, appearances on international media, trips both here and abroad, etc, the file ‘they’ maintain on me gets thicker, bringing me closer and closer to some kind of unpleasant action.
So please, ‘John’, don’t come off as if you are getting a raw deal here by being asked to contribute a little something. You have no idea what kind of dangerous, thankless sacrifices people like me & others have to make so that people like you can sit back and benefit from it.
So make a random contribution, John
It’s obvious to me that you’ve misunderstood my question, which I do believe is valid. I’ve been donating for quite some time and was enjoying the podcasts. But for at least this year the content has been “random”, meaning irregular and without any predictability. Original content is few and far between and I’m wondering about the direction or goals that TUT is working towards.
When you ask people to “donate” money or “subscribe” then it’s important to tell them exactly what they are getting. Money is not something I have in abundance, but I’m happy to contribute if I believe it is being used in a manner that would further my own interests and the cause.
I speak from personal experience as well. I have a forum that is run through donations. I tell my members exactly what the costs for keeping the forum going and all the benefits they receive by donating. They know we need specifically $X amount for how long and I tell them when we reach this goal. And the few pay so that the rest of the members can enjoy the content for free.
Something that has bothered me about the TUT is that the podcasts used be free, but now require a password. As a donator, this area should continue to be free for everyone. If, however, not enough money is earned to keep this feature available for free then 1. People need to know how much is required to do that OR 2. Make it subscription if you can’t reach the donation goal. Right now it seems like a subscription, but we the “subscribers” are not getting “Regular” podcasts. It is exactly “random”.
And while it’s appreciated that you make appearances, give speeches and go on PressTV to further the spread of information, this is not a substitute for making podcasts for your subscribers. These are decisions you’ve made for your own career. I’m not asking for anything that I don’t provide my own contributors, just clear communication and information about the future of TUT and how our money is being used towards that end.
ed note–John, firstly, thank you for helping out with things here, and you should have gotten a password to give you access to the programs. If not, then contact me by email and I will get you one.
However, I disagree in that I have misunderstood what the gist of your previous comment was. In essence, it was/is a variation of the old line from the Wendy’s commercial featuring the old lady saying ‘where’s the beef’?
My podcasts became more random beginning a year ago when I was working full time to remodel the house that was to be Mike Piper’s home. Once he got here, I was then busy taking care of his needs–as well as those of my very large family, which obviously took up a big chunk of my time, energy, etc.
As you may or may not know, 5 months after Mike got here, the house caught fire, and besides all the remodeling work I did, as well the original work was destroyed. Shortly thereafter, Mike passed away, the result of all of it being for me personally that I have at the moment little to know motivation to do anything right now except to painstakingly repair the damage done to the house amidst a family that presently is in a state of mild shock because of the event of the year.
So the long and short of it is this John–for years–close to a decade to be precise, I did all of this FOR FREE. never charging anything for my work, which is dark, dangerous, demoralizing and discouraging. My reason for charging for podcasts was not to make money, as they are relatively few subscribers (less than 100) but rather to keep the riff-raff out, given that every time I did a free broadcast that was accessible to certain problematic elements, I would then have to spend the next week dealing with the flood of emails that came in. The subscriber system cured that.
If this does not suffice as an explanation then you are of course free to close your subscription, assuming of course that you currently have one.