reasons to subscribe at $1 per month: Part I

• I make you laugh.
• I make you think.
• I point you towards movies you would otherwise have missed.
• I point you away from movies you therefore don’t waste time and money on.
• I got blacklisted by Disney because of my honesty.
• I prove that geek and grownup are not mutally exclusive.

(I’m cooking up more reasons…)

I’m looking for at least 5,000 readers to subscribe to FlickFilosopher.com for at least a buck per month by October 1.

GOAL: 5,000 4,803 (as of 08.20)

Subscription/donation links after the jump. Detailed explanation of what this is all about is here.

Subscribe via PayPal @ $1/month
(in almost any currency):





     Subscribe via Amazon Payments @ $1/month
(in almost any currency):















Subscriptions are set to run monthly until you cancel. I hope you’ll let it run for at least 12 months.

Or, make a one-time donation of at least $12/£10/whatever the equivalent is in your currency:

Donate via PayPal any amount (in almost any currency):





(Sorry, I can’t accept donations via Amazon Payments. That’s Amazon’s restriction, not mine.)

And since readers asked for more options, here are a few. If you want more options, just let me know and I shall oblige:

Subscribe via PayPal @ $5/month
(in almost any currency):





     Subscribe via Amazon Payments @ $5/month
(in almost any currency):

















Subscribe via PayPal @ $10/month
(in almost any currency):





     Subscribe via Amazon Payments @ $10/month
(in almost any currency):
















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DaveTM
DaveTM
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 12:49pm

I’ve been meaning to donate since you announced it but have been putting it off.

However anyone who pisses off Disney enough to be blacklisted is worth a subscription.

Dre in Spain
Dre in Spain
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 1:49pm

More reasons:

* Doctor Who obsession
* Male gazing at actors who don’t always follow the normal asthetics of Hollywood. eg. they may be good looking, but their sexiness is due to their talent as actors, their ability to bring a warmth, humanity and an individuality to a role.
* One of the few places on the web where the vast majority of the commentators bring real intelligence to their posts. It’s made up of people who ensure that their comments are not only insightful, but respectful. How rare is that? (Notable exceptions include the MacGuyver post, although that was hilarious)
* MAJ answers her critics
* 1 dollar (or 81 centimos in my case) is bugger all. I couldn’t even buy a coffee for that amount, and so to help keep one of the most interesting communities on the web alive, it really isn’t a sacrifice. Seriously, what can you buy for a dollar? Wouldn’t it be better spent on supporting MAJ?
* It was her birthday yesterday!!

markyd
markyd
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 2:25pm

Full agreement on all points. I agree with Dr Dre above me, too, minus the male gazing. Not that I have a problem with it. I just don’t click.
Like I said in the other thread. $1/month is NOTHING. I you seriously can’t afford that, you can’t afford the internet that you’re reading about it on. Pony up, slackers.

Dre in Spain
Dre in Spain
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 2:43pm

Markyd, please tell me you are an accredited and respected university so I can keep the PhD you’ve just awarded me?

Although, to be honest, the nickname did come from Dr Dre, unfortunately I am not aware of his music since I prefer more of a rock guitar flavoured melody. Still, I’m trying to think what my PhD could be in.. drinking. talking shite.. loud music..?
Let me know if your personal eductional institution is accredited, and we’ll work it out from there.

Cheers
Dre.

Dre in Spain
Dre in Spain
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 2:59pm

*ahem* ignore the typos. My spelling is usually better.

markyd
markyd
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 3:00pm

Ha! I just thought Dr. sounded better than Mr. or Ms. Plus Dr. is genderless.
I’m more of a rock guy myself, but everyone knows who Dr. Dre is. Don’t they?
Whatever. Back on topic.

Bluejay
Bluejay
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 3:06pm

If you arrive early at a party, and the host says “I could sure use your help preparing the food” (that you’ll enjoy later), you don’t have to pitch in. But it’s the right thing to do.

If you’re on a road trip with friends and the car gets stuck in the mud, you don’t have to get out and help push. But it’s the right thing to do.

If you go to a free event in the park or a pay-what-you-want museum, you don’t have to put a voluntary donation in the jar to help keep things running. But if you can afford it, it’s the right thing to do.

And if you regularly come to this site to enjoy the writing, ideas, conversations and arguments, and MAJ asks you for $1 a month to help keep everything afloat, you don’t have to chip in.

But it’s the right thing to do.

And you’ll feel better about yourself for doing it.

Won’t you?

Lady Tenar
Lady Tenar
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 3:33pm

I’ve already subscribed and I hope I speak for everybody else who as when I say that even if you don’t get enough subscribers to make it financially possible for you to take down the ads, I’m still happy to pay a buck a month to keep this site going. You deserve to be paid for all the work you do and dollar a month from us readers is so little to ask. Like markyd says, if you can’t afford that than you can’t afford the internet you’re reading it on. A dollar a month to be part of this community is well-spent to say the least, ads or no ads.

Jurgan
Jurgan
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 3:43pm

If you arrive early at a party, and the host says “I could sure use your help preparing the food” (that you’ll enjoy later), you don’t have to pitch in. But it’s the right thing to do.

If you’re on a road trip with friends and the car gets stuck in the mud, you don’t have to get out and help push. But it’s the right thing to do.

If you go to a free event in the park or a pay-what-you-want museum, you don’t have to put a voluntary donation in the jar to help keep things running. But if you can afford it, it’s the right thing to do.

And if you regularly come to this site to enjoy the writing, ideas, conversations and arguments, and MAJ asks you for $1 a month to help keep everything afloat, you don’t have to chip in.

But it’s the right thing to do.

And you’ll feel better about yourself for doing it.

Won’t you?

Excellent point. I remember Ira Glass made the same pitch during one of NPR’s pledge drives- no, unless you’re a huge donor, it actually doesn’t matter whether you personally donate. No one will really notice if one single listener doesn’t donate. But it’s still the right thing to do. And if I can afford $5 a month to them, I can afford $1 a month to a place that I spend far more time with (plus, proportionally, $1/month here is larger than $5/month to NPR).

Jurgan
Jurgan
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 3:51pm

even if you don’t get enough subscribers to make it financially possible for you to take down the ads, I’m still happy to pay a buck a month to keep this site going.

Oh, yeah, this too. I honestly don’t mind the ads (although more aggressive ones, like the ones that cover up your whole screen, like Salon.com has, would bug me- and those stupid green underlined words). Ads on the margin are just that- marginal. I just want to chip in. Then again, even if the ads don’t bother me personally, I’d still enjoy the moral victory of showing that you can make a profit without advertising.

Kevin
Kevin
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 4:29pm

I would love to donate, but paypal won’t let me do it without a credit card and I have none. :-(

Orangutan
Orangutan
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 5:00pm

I’ve already subscribed and I hope I speak for everybody else who as when I say that even if you don’t get enough subscribers to make it financially possible for you to take down the ads, I’m still happy to pay a buck a month to keep this site going. You deserve to be paid for all the work you do and dollar a month from us readers is so little to ask. Like markyd says, if you can’t afford that than you can’t afford the internet you’re reading it on. A dollar a month to be part of this community is well-spent to say the least, ads or no ads.

Um… what she said. :)

This site is worth at least as much as my NatGeo subscription is to me, so I have no problem at all keeping up my subscription even if the ads do return.

funwithheadlines
funwithheadlines
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 8:18pm

OK, I just now canceled my $1/month PayPal subscription and created a new $10/month PayPal subscription.

For Dr. Who alone it’s worth it.

TempestDash
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 9:32pm

This is absurd. I thought at least the first year this would be an easy goal, but it’s a week later and there’s less than 200 people who have subscribed?

Come on, folks. It’s pennies a day, as they say on TV. Just a quarter a week! Leave your change in a bowl and by the end of the month you should have more than enough!

amanohyo
amanohyo
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 10:34pm

Maybe a large percentage of the daily visitors are spambots and trolls? Maybe you’re all spambots, and I’m the only real human left…*audible gasp* maybe I’m a spambot too? I always wondered why I enjoyed low priced Nike knock-offs, free online movies, the secrets to being thin, wealthy, and totally ripped, and counterfeit Coach handbags. It all makes sense now! None of us have souls. We’re all just spambots trapped temporarily in movie review limbo because we failed to meet our sales quota for the quarter…or maybe I’ve been reading too much Philip Dick lately and the world is simply full of stingy, freeloading bar stewards. That’s right, I just strongly implied that you tend a bar, cheapskates, what now?

Bluejay
Bluejay
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 11:22pm

I would love to donate, but paypal won’t let me do it without a credit card and I have none. :-(

How many folks are in this situation? Would you accept checks, MaryAnn?

Jan Willem
Jan Willem
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 4:21am

I’ve stopped using a credit card in order to reduce my number of online purchases (don’t ask), but can pay my dollar a month via PayPal from my bank account. But perhaps that’s an exclusively European option?

markyd
markyd
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 10:27am

Don’t you people have debit cards? How does one survive in this modern age without credit/debit cards? I rarely use the credit card, but the debit card is used for everything.
Please don’t tell me that any of you are the idiot writing the check in front of me at the store?

bronxbee
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 12:18pm

i use Paypal from my bank account, not my credit card, and i’m here in the US.

Accounting Ninja
Accounting Ninja
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 12:38pm

You can link it to your bank account.

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 12:58pm

How many folks are in this situation? Would you accept checks, MaryAnn?

That’s really not a feasible option when it comes to a-buck-a-month subscription. The whole idea is to make it an automated thing — which PayPal and Amazon Payments do — that you sign up for once and then don’t have to think about again. And the administrative work involved in dealing with a flurry of $1 checks every month is something I simply cannot cope with.

However, if someone wants to send a one-time donation of at least $12/£10, they can do so by making a check or money order payable to “MaryAnn Johanson” and mailing it to:

MaryAnn Johanson
PO Box 221
Bronx, NY 10470

I can accept checks payable in U.S. dollars drawn on U.S. accounts, or payable in pounds sterling and drawn on a U.K. bank. (I have a U.K. bank account.) PLEASE also include an email address.

I really would prefer donations via PayPal or Amazon, though. It automates the process on both ends, and saves me a lot of administrative work. I understand that not everyone has a credit card, but both services can drawn from your bank account (like a sort of virtual check).

Kevin
Kevin
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 6:55pm

I couldn’t subscribe without a credit card, but I could donate $12, so I did that. Have you heard about flattr.com, MaryAnn? That seems to be a useful service.

https://flattr.com/

MaryAnn
MaryAnn
Sat, Aug 21, 2010 7:13pm

Weird. You could donate, but not subscribe, without a credit card?

I guess there are good reasons for that, but I can’t think what. :->

Thanks for the donation, and for the Flattr link. I had not heard of it, but it looks interesting, and I’ll see if it’s something that might work for me.

Dokeo
Dokeo
Sun, Aug 22, 2010 9:17am

Question, MaryAnn: when you list the number of subscribers in your updates, are you counting a $5/month (for instance) subscription as 1 or as 5 in your count up to 5,000?