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Become a member of FDL
for as little as $45 per year
✓ Personalized membership card
✓ Discounts from progressive partners
✓ Support our community
…and much more!
Last month, Firedoglake successfully launched its FDL Membership Program with over 500 new members. This month, more of you have joined because you recognize how important it is to support the writers and technical staff that bring you fiercely independent news and analysis. Your memberships make it possible for us to keep the site going, to stay independent, and to offer a forum to you at MyFDL.
That support allows us to provide in depth coverage of the most important stories, from Jane and Michael’s coverage of Bradley Manning’s treatment, to David Dayen’s excellent reporting on Congress and from Wisconsin, to Marcy’s investigations into America’s national security apparatus for its unending wars, to Jon and Blue Texan’s coverage of politics, to the unprecedented live coverage of the Prop 8 trial, the mortgage crisis, and the Japanese nuclear meltdown. Plus: Movie Night! And the always seriously funny Tbogg. Just as important, your Memberships allow FDL to organize events and progressive campaigns that help shape the national dialogue on matters you care about.
We’re about to launch a new feature for FDL Members. Very soon, we’ll begin offering our members internet conference events featuring FDL and other experts on timely topics. We’re planning sessions on Bradley Manning, mortgage foreclosure issues and lots more, and members will be asked to help select and shape future topics. Members will be able to log on and watch live presentations and participate directly via Q&A sessions. We’ll send Members notices via e-mail on how and when to sign up, and we’ll also provide reminders on the FDL front page to encourage our readers to join. We hope to say more about this in a day or two, so watch for it.
So to all our new members, a big “Thank You!” from the FDL team. And to those who haven’t joined yet and want to make sure you don’t miss out on the internet conference events, this is a good time to sign up.
And we’ve added more stuff to our bag of benefits for new members!
Last week we added a discount at ECObags, Inc, and we will be continuing to offer that through April of 2012. Today, we’re announcing we have also teamed up with Let’s Go Green.
Let’s Go Green is dedicated to keeping the economy clean and fit, and offers dozens of eco-friendly home, office, and business products. Just to name a few; they have eco-friendly/bio-degradable plastic plates, efficient light bulbs, one-use silverware, doggie waste bags, tissue paper, notepads, and much more. And you can purchase a gift certificate at the discounted rate and give it to a friend, family member, or co-worker.
Let’s Go Green is offering Firedoglake members who join NOW and our existing members a 25% discount on all purchases. There is no minimum amount to receive the discount, and shipping is free for orders over $49. This is a great offer and we are happy to be teaming up with a company concerned about our environment.
Please join our FDL Member Benefits Program today and receive the Let’s Go Green and ECObags discounts along with access to other benefits like CREDO Mobile, Chelsea Green Books, and Netroots Nation. Do a good deed by keeping FDL strong and healthy. In return, not only will you be a part of a long-lasting community, but you can get some cool gifts as well. To learn more about the FDL Member Benefits Program click here.
54 Comments
Join the FDL Membership Program and become a “Card-carrying Member of the Professional Left”
Thanks so much Scarecrow! We’re working to put together the initial conference calls right now, that will have video of the panelists and be interactive. It’s really exciting and we’ll be announcing the first ones soon.
Can’t wait for some of these new features!
Thank you FDL et al. You RAWK!
Thanks Scare.
I’ll be signing up for LGG very soon. I need some compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Hey, Boo. Make sure you check the “color.” There are soft white and not soft varieties and the difference is very noticeable.
Looking forward to the conference calls. Should be really interesting. Thanks, FDL.
Scare,
LOL.
Much appreciated.
Never would have thought of that.
Thanks again.
I’ve been hangin’ at The Lake long enough to remember when a post by Scarecrow would immediately initiate a race to see which poster could reply first with, “Caw! Caw!” Also — received my membership card last week. I’m quite tickled to actually be a “card carrying member of the professional left”, as the reverse side of the card indicates.
Good to hear from you. Where have those crows gone? And you should be retired by now?
I am, Crow. I hit the big six-two last fall — after being down-sized into unemployment three years ago.
two questions:
1) is it possible to pay the fee and participate in the virtual conferences without having to identify oneself other than by our online pseudonym?
2) will readers who are too poor to pay the fee be excluded from participating?
thanks! the virtual conferences sound great… and ever since suin’s realtime online interview with senator dodd, i’ve been hoping that tech, or something like it, would be used again.
The online virtual conferences are set up as a membership benefit. You can sign up for a membership using your online name only if you would like. We can also send you an FDL membership card that has your pseudonym!
Thanks for the post scarecrow
Hi Ryan, have a few things that might improve your conferencing setup for mobile/tablets, citizen journalism, broadcast TV quality, etc…. If you could follow up at decader at gmail com can give more info for FDL. Cheers
This is a bad idea because it creates a class system. I oppose any sort of class system which benefits people because or related to financial participation.
I am not opposed to a membership open to all. I am personally not interested in all the “commercial benefits” like discounts and t shirts and that sort of rubbish.
FDL is about progressive ideas and community.. not about capitalism. This membership things wrecks of a capitalist structure. I know you need money to grow… isn’t that what they all say?
What happened to the iPhone app?
when i got my membership card in the mail last week, my response was more “cool, i’m now an official DFH!!”
and i love my shopping bag, it has become my go-to reusable.
“…eco-friendly/bio-degradable plastic plates…one-use silverware…”
Curmudgeon old hippie moment: why add more stuff to our already disposable society? Have we become so fuckin’ lazy we can’t even wash our dirty dishes?
Why are the mods so “invisible” and never respond to comments? or can’t be contacted in email?
Why doesn’t FDL ever answer emails?
This all sounds like a public radio membership thing. Totally creepy. Our local NPR affiliate WNYC is run by Laura Walker who pays herself $450,000 and they beg for members to support their station.
Member need to see the financials.
Is this a 501 c 3 or a for profit operation?
And why doesn’t anyone respond to my questions and points?
Ariana was listed on the FDL survey I just filled out as a progressive. She was not paying most of her staff for the content they produced and sold out to AOL for $500 million. What sort of progressive is that?
I LOVE my card~cracked me up!
Good question about the Huffpost and one we should debate the Lawyers can weigh in more on that.
As far as FDL finances go if this were a public company then yes. But we are at war with the GOP if Karl Rove does not have to disclose his donors or how much they give, never mind what they pay him to do then FDL should not either.
I agree in an ideal world you are right but as long as the GOP has secret groups doing all kinds of dirty tricks FDL would be foolish to announce ahead of time what weapons we are bringing to a gang fight.
SanderO, my response is that FDL needs dough to operate and the membership drive is a way to generate revenue. Also, membership creates a bond between site users and the site. I’m thinking that, by becoming contributing members, we answer one of the on-going objections to blogs and that is that site visitors don’t, and won’t pay for blogs whereas they will pay for MSM. Now if we send dough, it won’t dispose of the cheetohs objection or the basement cavil or the DFH stigma. But it does tell critics that folk will in fact pay for what lefty blogs have on offer.
“Our local NPR affiliate WNYC is run by Laura Walker who pays herself $450,000 and they beg for members to support their station.”
Creepy and yes this type of thing should be addressed.
What FDL brings in or spends its cash on should be secret but maybe how much FDL leadership makes should not be. We don’t need to give dollar amounts but how much as a percent of revenue FDL’s paid staff makes would satisfy you?
Assuming of course FDL even makes money. Would a certified public accountant’s statement about FDL’s books satisfy you or do you have something else in mind?
Obviously a third party is needed.
As far as 501 c 3 or a for profit operation? I can’t help you.
Oh man, I just got up to check out Bob Scheiffer on CBS and he was making a total ass of himself by claiming that the ‘negativity’ in the country is due to the price of gas. Jeebers, I’m will glady buy into FDL rather than listen to crap like that.
(Yeah, I’m a member. Got my card and all.)
It seems more to me a way to weed out ringers, concern trolls and regular trolls and have honest discussions about FDL’s future in real time. I am sure a few deep cover GOP spies will slip through but to maintain their cover they won’t be able to do much to disrupt us forming plans.
My wife’s a teacher and most of what she gets from the union is credit card offers and insurance pitches. It’s disgusting. My point…I signed up as a member because I wanted to contribute, and I appreciate the news, which isn’t easy to get elsewhere. I have more than enough discount offers, enticements to buy stuff, and am annoyed to find this coming from one of my favorite blogs. By all means, offer a little FDL merchandise off to the side but please don’t push stuff on us and call it a membership benefit.
ding ding ding
Are you going to be using the Cisco WebEx app? I recently used that for some webinars with video, etc and it worked really well (after trying other solutions that didn’t work so well).
Looking forward to this, especially if we are given the opportunity to debate the direction FDL election coverage takes next year…
$450,000! Wow. We should all stop blogging and go run NPR.
The membership program is overseen by a volunteer board. I’m one of them. Never taken a dime from FDL. Principal writers, editors responsible for front page content, and essential tech people and mods, receive modest salaries to work their butts off. Other FDL costs arise from what it takes to keep a major blog running.
The separate Writers Foundation is 501(c)3, and contributions to that are tax deductible. Other elements of FDL, including the Membership program, are not.
I’m sympathetic to not pushing stuff; it’s not our mission. It’s there if you want, if not, fine.
Wow. All the negativity in this thread is stunning.
Scarecrow, thanks for all you do. The Japan/Fukushima updates are worth paying for themselves. Beats the hell out of any info in the dead tree organizations out there.
Thank you, which reminds me I need to do another update to put some perspective on the last week or so.
Well, I joined here because I get better analysis than on npr. I stopped giving to npr long ago because there seemed to be more and more begging for money and less and real analysis. Somerby used to critique the evening news, but he seems to have given up on that. I also am in the WNYC area and they hardly have anything on that I listen to regularly, except now they have bought the old nyt classical station WQXR.
Anyway, my feeling that I gave to FDL over a year ago was that to run the site money was needed and regular users needed to ante up some amount. The $45 seems reasonable to me, and there will be some trolls slipping in. All in all, I like the idea.
FDL is not a non-profit. It can’t be. It takes political stands.
You can always click on the “Dating Asian Women” ad in the sidebar. ( Clue, for FDL there should equal opportunity “Dating Asian Men ads ).
LOL at “the membership benefit” I guess my filter was turned on to not even read past the “bag of benefits”. Maybe Scarecrow has his tongue in his cheek?
Right now I’m not paying the New York Time’s a nickel, but I do miss some of their content. If FDL co-branded a package to buy some or all of their content, I’d buy it. It may not, however, be feasible for FDL to do that. The devil is in the details and getting a fair portion of the revenue.
And the US Chamber of Commerce is …? Or the Peterson foundation? Good job on the food for thought.
Don’t forget Arnie Gundersen. http://www.fairewinds.com/
The Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum data for on site radiation and the at sea measurements has seen some volatility. http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/ and seems not to always agree with Tepco.
I have not been behind the NYTimes firewall this last week on their articles on at sea measurements etc.
As for poverty, I have been there. And $45 can be a large sum when you have nothing. A number of Firepups have generously volunteered to sponsor others as I recall. IF someone wants to be a member, but cannot afford it, I would volunteer to provide financial compensation for someone.
But $45 or $145 is not that much these days. This is typical amount for political campaign contributions. FDL is not a charity. This is a business obviously. Issue after issue, this is one of the few places not controlled by the Establishment. The courage and insight and example set here is priceless.
Thanks for the kind offer. You may hear from Ryan, FDL membership coordinator, if the occasion arises.
@arcades project: great explanation of the rationale for the membership project. I’m also on the board, purely a volunteer like John, and you have explained it as we would have.
Thanks for your support.
As Scarecrow writes: FDL membership is not “non-profit” but FDL does have a separate Writer’s Foundation that is nonprofit/tax deductible:
“The separate Writers Foundation is 501(c)3, and contributions to that are tax deductible. Other elements of FDL, including the Membership program, are not.”
Have all the cards been sent out? I haven’t received mine yet.
Somebody may have called and gotten a hang up because I thought it was someone trying to sell me something. Even though I’m on the “do not call” list, I still get local stuff, unfortunately. If so, my apologies.
Whats the topic of the first conference so I can read up on the subject?
Aha.
Here’s where I’m very unhappy (as a member). You are at war with the GOP? What, only the GOP? You’ve no problem with the Democrats or the fascist in the Whitehouse?
Your not fighting the right war in that case, my friend. You must declare war on the Uniparty and work to destroy it completely, and send most of its officials to jail at the earliest possible opportunity.
I hope what you wrote was just a slip of the keyboard.
I find it difficult to justify giving my money to an organization that disappears members that disagree with the mods.
Can’t wait! I hope we have the Economic Summit that many have suggested.
that’s too bad. i was hoping that the membership fundraising being done here would be used to make the virtual conferences available all… (as with the npr model, membership is not required to access content).
a few more questions to make sure i understand correctly…..
1) is it only members who are allowed to ask questions with everyone else able to watch and listen? or is watching/listening also limited to only those who are paid up members?
2) will the complete videos be made available in some kind of archive for later watching? if so will access to the archive be limited to dues paying members?
3) what will be the copyright (if any) restrictions (if any) on the conference videos and who will own the copyrights (fdl and/or the presenter or public domain)?
thanks for responding, this are important questions.
p.s.
could please explain how to do this?
i’m confused as to how to this because as far as i can tell, the membership sign up page requires first & last name and credit card # and is an fdl webpage. there is no third party payment system to protect anonymity.
that sounds like a great organizational arrangement. any chance it could be posted and kept up to date (with list of board members, etc).
p.s. thank you for all your volunteered efforts over the years!