Important Note: SurvivalBlog in 2019

I only post a few editorial reminders about voluntary Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions. Today, I’m posting the most important one of the year.

Please keep in mind that to operate SurvivalBlog we have large expenses for our local ISP, web hosting, our backup web site, software, phone bills, and legal fees. We live in a very litigious society. Two years ago we were targeted in a frivolous defamation lawsuit just for posting a link. This was settled out-of-court, early in 2018. Per the terms of that settlement, I am not allowed to elaborate on the details. But I can tell you that we had more than $12,000 in attorney’s fees, just for the preliminary legal defense expenses.

Presently, the combined advertising income, Amazon Associates commissions, consulting, and contributions are not enough to cover our monthly expenses. In 2017, Amazon reduced its commission rates across the board. This dropped our monthly Amazon income by about 40%. And with the “Trump Slump” of preparedness complacency, our paid advertising revenue has also dropped.

In short: Our blog’s expenses are high, and our income is low.

Why We are Different

SurvivalBlog is a unique information resource. No other blog on preparedness offers the combination of daily posts and deep archives, all free of charge.

We have done our best to keep SurvivalBlog a top-quality “old school” blog. Consider that when you read SurvivalBlog, you are getting original content that is all:

• Without a pay wall and endless “Please whitelist us” reminders
• Without annoying pop-up ads
• Without “sponsored” content written by some know-nothing hack (journalistic prostitution)
• Without distracting advertisements with animations and blinking
• Without push or “opt-in” notifications (“Would you like to sign up for free notifications?”)
• Without infinite scrolling (a bottomless main page)
• Without slideshows that force you to click ten times and see ten different ads, just to read a “top ten list”
• Without profanity, crude language, and t*ts pictures
• Without obvious modern stock photos above every article
• Without daily recitations of what we ate, who we met, and the exotic places we’ve visited
• Without requiring our readers to sign up with Facebook, just to leave a comment
• Without autoplaying video
• and without taking any days off from posting.  (For more than 12 years we’ve consistently posted the blog daily, without fail!)

If you find that you get more than 10 cents worth of value per day in reading SurvivalBlog, then please donate 10 cents a day ($36 per year) to help support the blog’s costs. Ask yourself: “Since I now regularly read SurvivalBlog, is my family now more likely to survive a disaster?” If the answer is yes, then consider putting a pricetag on the knowledge you have gained. For a sense of perspective, consider that the average American adult spends more than $1,000 per year on coffee. $36 a year is not asking a lot.

There are several payment options including PayPal, cash, checks, Bitcoin, booklets of U.S. postage stamps, and even mailing a few silver dimes. (Some folks annually send us five or six pre-1965 silver dimes taped to a scrap of cardboard.)

Why Not Patreon?

I’ve had some readers write to suggest that we use Patreon, to solve our operating expense shortfall.  I did, in fact recently set up a Patreon account. But after they recently banned Sargon of Akkad–their 13th largest account, I decided to deactivate my Patreon account, on principle. Just like the various social media sites, Patreon has begun to subjectively censor the speech of those they deem Politically Incorrect. I believe that the current wave of censorship is going to get worse, in the next few years. Thankfully we have our own offshore server, but we still need to receive payments. That is the remaining vulnerability.

Some of the content creators who quit Patreon moved to a service called SubscribeStar. Then, soon after, PayPal stopped all of SubscribeStar’s payments, effectively destroying it! This was further evidence of a multi-platform conspiracy to ban conservative and libertarian speech. Their banning of Alex Jones in August, 2018 was just the beginning. (Jones was banned by Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, all within a 24-hour period. Soon after, he was also banned by Vimeo, Twitter, and several others.)

I anticipate that shadow banning, de-linking, de-ranking, de-monetizing and outright de-platforming will become the norm. I won’t be surprised to see that PayPal starts freezing or closing the accounts of those they deem “offensive”, or “non-inclusive” within the next two years.

I am not certain that SurvivalBlog will survive this growing wave of tyrannical censorship of the Internet.

Because of the coordinated wave of censorship, the only viable alternative is to build redundancy and alternatives to online payment systems. The good news is: They can’t stop the signal, and they can’t stop the U.S. Mail!  Your donations via good old Snail Mail are beyond their grasp. Our mail forwarding address is:

SurvivalBlog.com
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

Please makes your checks and money orders payable to “Jim Rawles”.

Our current Bitcoin receiving address is: 3GVcXveQGB6V9Py7WKjHN5ZC9KiiavHdgw

New Advertisers

We now have space for a few more banner advertisers in our right-hand bar. If you have a product or service that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog, then please prayerfully consider signing up for an ad. Our ads are very inexpensive and quite productive. (SurvivalBlog readers tend to buy things in quantity, and be repeat customers!) Text ads start at just $100 per month.

Another Way To Help

Even if you are on a fixed income and cannot afford to support the blog financially, then please do your bit by posting links to SurvivalBlog when and where you can. Also: Please tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow church congregants about the blog. Thanks!

Only about 1% of readers are Ten Cent Challenge subscribers. If we can boost that to 5%, then we will solve our operating expense shortfall. Please join in, and help keep this valuable information service afloat. Your contributions are needed and greatly appreciated! – JWR