Once a year, I ask for your direct help in keeping this place running the way we all like it. This is that time of year.
One of the most important parts of the coverage here at Bleacher Nation, in my opinion, involves the endless stream of rumors generated by the nature of Major League Baseball. From the Lukewarm Stove to the Obsessive Watches, I can’t help but cover every little rumor that comes the Cubs’ way. And we’re coming up on the busiest, rumoriest time of the year – the weeks leading up to the July 31, non-waiver trade deadline.
I plan to cover those rumors, obsessively, as always.
But, for just the second time since I started running this place as a job, I wondered if I might call upon my readers’ good graces to help keep the lights on. I hate the idea of asking for donations, but last year I had an idea that could combine your desire to get ridiculous amounts of trade rumor coverage and my desire to not have The Wife beat me with a frying pan when the site’s expenses outpace its revenues.
Since I hate asking for handouts, and you probably hate giving away money for nothing, what if we came to an understanding?
If you all collectively donate enough to Bleacher Nation to cover the site’s hosting costs (or, let’s say, get within 80% of the costs), I will blog at the trade deadline for 30 hours straight – no sleep, no breaks, minimum of one post per hour (even if it’s just to tell you how close I am to losing my mind). From 10am CT on Monday, July 30 until 4pm CT on Tuesday, July 31, I will be here. Constantly.
That is, if you help me out by helping me cover the costs of Bleacher Nation for one year.
Obviously the site’s hosting costs have increased considerably in the past year, as the site has grown. Our little home here costs about $120 per month to host, so that’s $1440 per year. Since your donation would be tied to the direct costs of running the site, I figured you might be a little more willing to give. Mom and pop shops like BN need advertising to survive, but donations help. And if the total donations go over that amount (which would be nuts), I’ll consider it salary, and I’ll thank’ya kindly.
We did the Blogathon last year for 24 hours (I’m stepping it up this year!), and, even though it was a relatively quiet deadline for the Cubs, I’d like to think you all had a good time. And, once I’d regained my sanity, I think I had a good time, too. (Here’s the wrap-up from last year’s Blogathon if you weren’t around and want a taste of what it was like.)
So here’s how you donate:
Just click there, and throw whatever bones my way you’d care to. And then laugh at me while I slowly go mad on July 30/31. Or do it because you like BN. It’s all appreciated.
Let me know in your donation if you don’t want me to give you a shout as a thanks; otherwise, I plan to sing some praises throughout the month. I’ll keep the amount anonymous, but I want to recognize everyone that donates.
I’ll keep you all updated on how we’re doing. I hope this works once again, though I’m not sure how excited I am by the prospect of blogging for 30 hours straight. I was seriously very loopy by the end of the last one, so we’ll see how an additional six hours go. What can I say? I don’t want to miss that July 30 morning window of rumors…
I’m in Cartersville…and originally from Chatt….what a great ball park. That being said, nothing will beat the old Engel Stadium
They just finished filming 42 at Engle Stadium. We had Harrison Ford in town for a few days. Let’s plan a road trip to Smokies Park and visit Brandon, your not that far away, either.
I did catch a couple of nice bass this morning early. I have had people come buy to drink a beer all day. My neon OPEN sign is flashing on my man cave.
I won’t be able to donate today, but come tomorrow I will throw some money your way. It is the least I can do since I visit here more than any other place on the net. And for the most part the community here is top notch. I am actually really glad I found this place.
Donation made! Looking forward to the trade deadline!
Thanks, rhino. I am also looking forward to it (mostly).
Contribution done. Can’t say thank you enough Brett. By far my favorite and most visited Cubs site. Worth paying for!!
Thanks a lot!
How long will you be taking donations for this? Right now I’ve got all my money tied up in my vacation, but I’m notorious for over-budgeting and will likely come back with a good chunk of money, but that won’t be until the 29th. If you happen to wind up in Chicago for the Cubs-Cards game on the 27th, I can make a cash/beer donation in person.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to make that series (I do have tickets, though). I’ll gladly accept donations all the way up until the trade deadline, though if memory serves, you’re already waaaaay on the plus side on donations.
The people I work for keep giving me money, I have to do something with it.
I had a stroke of genius earlier: you need to film a commercial. It will begin with “In the arms of the angels…” then cut to you on a couch, holding a cup of Chik-Fil-A coffee. You start in on a speech about how $0.37/day can supply a needy blogger with the life-sustaining caffeine needed for a blog-a-thon. As you’re going through the speech, pictures of Starbucks beverages, shots of 5-hour Energy and cans of Red Bull appear on the screen. It ends with an impassioned plea for the viewers donations.
You’re welcome
The way I see it, I just paid you about $.005 each for my 5-6 visits daily to this site… Definitely a bargain! Keep up the good work.
Thanks much!
Predict the Cubs end of the season record if they trade: Dempster, Garza, Lahair, Soriano and Shawn Camp? Maybe Barney? I predict 61-101. That would guarantee the Cubs the #1 overall pick and the most signing bonus pool for the draft and international free agency. I think having this season as a wash would be worth it
Here is another donation until I can make a cash contribution tomorrow.
http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g471/RatedXTroy/rizzowallpaper.png
Wow Baseball America ranked Baez as MLB’s #25 overall prospect!!
What are the hours of the blogathon? If you get up to $2000 would you do 36? If you get up to $10000 would you do 72? If you get to $50000 would you try to break the world record for staying awake?
Done! Keep up the good work!
A few Swedish krona have been sent over!
Is it possible that the Dodgers would trade Zach Lee for a package of Dempster if the cubs ate the rest of the money contract, and Lahair? Maybe we through in Barney too which is no bum and has value because he is an Gold Glove caliber 2nd baseman, and probably the ability to be a slightly above average offensive SS.
Honestly believe that is too much to give up just for Lee. Wasn’t Lee involved in the trade talks for Carlos Lee? Should be able to get more for those 3
In my mind LaHair for Lee straight up is appropriate.
Over / Under: Does Javier Baez have the potential to hit +30 homers a year in the major leagues CONSISTENTLY year to year? I’m not asking if his career year he’ll be able to hit 30 homers. I’m asking if he could put up +30 homers every year. There is a big difference
Yup. Baby Gary Sheffield.
I think it might be too early make that kind of judgement IMO.
Definitely in for a donation, I visit BN at least 5x / Day and I spend plenty on my ESPN Insider so why the hell not! Good luck w/ the site cost thing, I’d be down for a site membership fee for being able to post or for certain content etc.
Keep up the good work Brett!
Thanks a lot for that!
Brett…You are out of your mind asking (oops, more like begging) for donations — and I find it offensive.
One of the many reasons people, like yourself, go into blogging is to earn an income.
Based on your constant reference to leaving law to write the blog and the creation of a corporation it seems that was your goal. You have said on at least one occasion you have a benefactor and your blog is littered with advertising. So you must be generating income.
But, if you can’t pay the bills and put food on the table from that generated income, than — don’t you think — it is time for you to go back to being a part-time/full-time lawyer.
Or just maybe you need to find a different web host that costs a lot less before begging for a donation.
Just my two cents.
This statement just wreaks of BetterNews/Joe/GoldFinch all over it.
Thanks for reading!
(On a sincere note, I think you have a pretty serious misunderstanding about what this place is, about what a community is, and about what it takes to keep a site like this operating. But thanks for the two cents – make sure to use that link and donate them. I beg you!)
Well done.
I definitely wouldn’t have written so constrained and polite a reply to such a presumptuous comment. Nicely done, sir. Also, I just donated a little money. Least I could do! Keep up the good work!
Just saying if you can’t afford it find a lower cost provider or go back to be a lawyer. Or the other option is to gate the community and charge a fee like most all of the media outlets (Forbes, Tribune, Sun-Times, Crain’s, etc.) are doing.
I don’t see other blogs begging or asking their ‘community members’ or visitors to make donations.
You must not read very many independent, professional sports blogs (there aren’t many). They all welcome donations. It’s a part of the culture.
And what you keep calling “begging,” I call a clever fundraiser. Folks like it, and are insanely generous – and I thank them for it.
See lefthand column here: http://ace.mu.nu/
Righthand column here: http://patterico.com/
Righthand column: http://www.whitehousedossier.com/
Here’s a whole link about how to add paypal buttons to your blog: http://weblogs.about.com/od/partsofablog/qt/PayPalDonation.htm
Why would they publish such a thing if it wasn’t a, you know, thing?
Other than that, great point, aCubsFan.
@aCubsFan:
Please go root for the White Sox. You seem to have the right intelligence level for it.
There is the door over there >>>>
Don’t let it hit you on the ass on your way out.
There are hundreds of thousands of Chicago Cubs News (About 31,300,000 results in Google) that any of us, including you, can visit. The only 2 that rank above Bleacher Nation are the Cubs Official Site and Tribune Cubs Section. That’s it. The only way that happens is through a LOT of hard work, lots of posts, and a TON of time to rank that highly. There are very few careers where you can work hours and hours without ever making a penny, so any money through ads is not only well deserved, it keeps this content free.
And on ads… Many network pay between $2-$3/1000 page impression. I have no idea what Brett makes, but you better have lots of awesome content to make ANY money. Brett does. I’d MUCH rather have a ad-sponsored, user donation website with awesome content rather than the other option, which is a paid, monthly payment.
The beautiful thing about donations are… You don’t have to. You get the choice whether to pay or not. You get to enjoy the same awesome content and enjoy the awesome community here, whether you’re offended by asking for a donation or not.
Ive only posted on here once and I just had to again because I have to ask how dumb can you be man? This website is free and Brett asks for a donations that is optional and you are bitching about it? If I had money I would be more than happy to donate money because Brett and Luke do an amzing job and because of the hard work that goes into running a blog. Then your basically telling him that he has no right to ask for some help to keep the blog free? I’m sorry when did you ever contribute to here like Brett or Luke?
Thanks for all the work You guys do, Brett and Luke, if I run into a little extra money i will deffinetly be donating some.
Thanks for the kind thoughts, Austin.
Butthead
Hey Brett, I’m more than happy to help keep this place going. It’s probably the site I check most often, including the typical Facebook/Twitter/miscellany you’d usually expect from people. Sorry I couldn’t donate more (college is ‘spensive).
Thanks, man. Very kind.
Donation made. I am an avid reader who absolutely loves this site. Thank you for all your hard work!
Thanks a lot, Luh.
Out of curiosity Brett, how much are you looking to get? Are you going to do a thermometer type thing to hit your goal? I believe that was brought up earlier and I don’t remember where to see if you had answered it.
The hoped-for total is in the post ($1440), and I’ll just do periodic updates with where we stand.
Aw crap, i didn’t even notice that. (I just went back and looked) lol. My bad.
Hey Brett, something I meant to ask in that “instructions to receiver” thing on pay pal, so sorry if this is too public a place to ask this question….
How does ad revenue work on this site? Are you seeing any boost in revenue from me clicking on a few ads everyday?
Most of the ad revenue is just based on “impressions” (i.e., the number of times they display). Individual clicks don’t *directly* help me, but they do help in the long-run, because, over time, advertisers will see that their ads “work” on Bleacher Nation, and I’ll get a higher rate over time. I wouldn’t encourage folks to click just to click, though, because sometimes that ends up having a negative impact (if advertisers never actually make sales, for example, they start to believe all clicks from BN are fake). So, what I tell folks is if you see something moderately interesting in the ads, go ahead and click. And I appreciate it (and appreciate your question).
awesome, good to know.
Hope this fundraiser goes super well!
Donation made.
I just want to say that I greatly appreciate all of the work that you do, Brett (you too Luke). I definitely spend more time reading your website than I should. I knew that last season the Cubs would be terrible and not have a chance to win it, but this season (even with the same scenario) has still been fun thanks to all of the info about the minor leaguers and the future of the team. Keep the site free as long as you can, as I would not have become a reader if you charged.
Once again, great job guys. Keep it up and I may even buy another shirt.
Thank you, Dougy.
Thanks, man.
25$ donation made. Wish I could have done hella more. But this is MY FAVORITE site! So I would do it again in a heartbeat!
Plus you follow me on twitter (only got the twitter to follow BN/MLB/ESPN) so I consider that payment for being my follower on there lol
Thanks, M4.
I love free things, and take advantage all the time. HOWEVER, I don’t mind paying for quality. I don’t know what a reasonable donation is, but I figure 10 cents/day is well worth it to me! You guys do a great job, and this is my first place to check out Cub’s news.
You are awesome. Gracias.
Done.
I hope for all our sake’s that this year’s trade deadline is much more exciting than last year’s!
Haha. Thanks, and yes.
Donation is in.
I won on Draftstreet.com, though this site. The least I could do is donate some on my winnings. Thanks for that link and this awesome website.
Go Cubbies!
Here is my donation-just like everybody else,yours is the first and last site i check for all cubbie news and good luck on your blogathon.
Thanks for that.
I donated yesterday. I hope you received it. I want you to be blogging sleep-deprived while I do market research sleep-deprived
You rock, Ben.
Donation submitted yesterday! Sorry that it wasn’t more, but I also have to avoid the frying pan beating! [wink]
Thanks for all of your efforts! MUCH appreciated!
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_)oug
Not even a tiny need for apologies. I’m hugely appreciative.
Wish it could have been a little more, Brett, but I need some pocket money for Cooperstown in a couple weeks! Go Cubs!
Enjoy the trip, and thanks!