In a change to the usual programme, today there’s no “Daily Betrayal’. It’s a sign of things to come if this appeal to you all remains fruitless. You’re aware of the state this site is in, after Debbie had to go to hospital three months ago. You may not be aware that this state of affairs is unsustainable in the long run. 

So firstly, here are two ‘reports’ – and then the appeal to you all.

The first report is regarding Debbie. Many of you have asked how she is and when she’ll be back. The sad news is that she is still in hospital, or rather, has been back in hospital for weeks now. So far there’s no end in sight. This is not the place to give personal, medical details but suffice to say Debbie has felt it necessary to resign from her many activities and posts. I’ve persuaded her to stay with us even though she won’t be able to do any work here for the foreseeable future.

This brings me to the second report: how Debbies’ absence has affected this site. Three months ago we all thought and hoped that Debbie would be back within a few weeks or a couple of months at the most. So all editors have put in extra hours to fill the gap left by Debbie, regarding this additional work as a stop-gap measure. 

Let me praise here the amazing author – not an editor – who has stepped up and produced the ‘News Review’ every morning. This, like the extra effort put in by all of us editors, was meant to be temporary. It won’t continue beyond the end of this month – unless one of you is willing to step up.

Sadly, the comments facility has also deteriorated. Moderating them was one of Debbie’s tasks. Now that has fallen to me, in addition to the other work involved in running this site. However, I’ve not been able to keep doing all of this properly because I’m plagued with various health issues that make it physically impossible for me to be ‘en guarde’ 24/7. Btw – you might have noticed that a slew of comment posts on yesterday’s and Monday’s articles have been binned. When ‘warfare’ breaks out in the comment section because you need ‘policing’ then it’s obvious that things cannot go on as they are.

That brings me to the appeals – yes, there are two.

Obviously, without your input, the site cannot survive. ‘Input’ means: your help is needed. One pressing issue is that we need more editors so that the burden can be shared. Doing extra work was feasible when it seemed to be for a limited time. It’s unsustainable in the long run. Without more editors the site will have to fold. The state of the comments section mentioned above is one striking example: no editors, no comments facility.

Let me take this opportunity to praise our two current, wonderful assistant editors who’ve been shouldering some of the work Debbie used to do, above what they usually do. Both have other jobs, needing to earn their daily crust, unlike Debbie and me who are ‘retired’. You’ll understand that they cannot go on doing the extra work indefinitely.

So this is one of the appeals to you all: please consider stepping up and become an editor! It’s not a hard job, not when there are more of us to do the work. Training will be given, and no, you’re not obliged to spend 24 hours a day chained to your PC. Contact me at the usual address given on the home page.

Here’s the other appeal: like all ‘alt media’, we need content. That means articles – articles written by you. If you can write comment posts or pieces on your facebook pages you can write articles! Don’t worry about writing – we editors are here to help you and we’re very good at silently correcting typos and whatever grammar errors crop up! More articles on more and different subjects means more readers and better discussions.

Take for example the ‘new authors’ whose articles and essays have been published in our issues to great acclaim – not all of them are professional writers. If they can do it – why not you? Those of you involved in the current local election campaign, standing as ‘LMI’,  might like to tell your colleagues of the opportunity this site provides: to be heard outside a small locality.

So what are the alternatives if no new editors, no new and previous authors are coming forward? 

One alternative would be for me to reduce the site to publishing just one new article per day or per alternate days. No more ‘Daily Betrayal’, no more “News Reviews”, perhaps one article on such issues as LMI or other issues if and when they are submitted, but without a comments facility. 

Another alternative is to reduce the site to a personal blog with a comment facility for you all. In the first instance that won’t reduce my workload which is already exceeding that which I can sustain in the long term. If this is how this site ends up I’ll have to pull the plug and shall close the site down when the rent for the server runs out. 

Perhaps, some might say, this is how things are going anyway: so many other important sites have been losing readers and writers because more and more people prefer watching videos and listening to podcasts rather than read and/or write. True, but consider: videos and podcasts can and are censored by Big Tech at a rate that is truly frightening. The written word on a site like this one is still ‘safe’ from the woke-generated hate campaigns. That’s why losing this site would be a blow to all who want to be heard, who need to promote alternatives like LMI. 

So the appeal is simple: use this site or lose it, where ‘using it’ means helping out and stepping up to support us by becoming one of the editors or by committing to write articles which so many others love to read. Add your thoughts and proposals in the comments section and/or contact me at the contact address given on the home page.

I so wish to be able to welcome Debbie back, in due course, to a site that is flourishing!

Thank you all.

 

Photo by Adrian Hart

Print Friendly, PDF & Email