Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable New Server, New Round Table for Spring 2022

Remember when lots of people used to complain about all the public infighting and then complain even more about the cigars, brandy and back room deals that went on AFTER the public infighting?

At the risk of looking like I'm begging, I welcome the suggestion.

This move was possible because of the needed help of you, moderators and others. RR would be no more without your help.

Thank you so much. For those who might want to help too, there's a "donate" button at the top of the left-hand column a the top of the RR home page. Yes, but I should be more subtle. My bad.

Doug

This is not the time to be subtle. We are fighting for our virtual lives here and Doug is working his ass off to make this happen for us.

So if you enjoy reading without commenting or if you are a regular bloviator, please, toss a few bucks in the tip jar!

Appreciate your comments and support. I have received some messages asking how much we need. I've paid rental on the new hosting server for a year, bought some new protection software and had some unexpected costs we didn't expect on relocating RR to its new locations with a new domain name, Donations helped cover most of the costs, including extended the old server rental for the month of March, but I'm almost caught up. A couple of members have set up monthly payments that help. Right now, I'm about $300 in the hole. That's not a monthly deficit but a one-time overage created by the extra cost of the move. That used to not seem like a lot but as a retiree who now lives on fixed income with a few bucks coming in from time to time on contract reporting and photojournalism jobs, $300 can make the difference between making it for the next few weeks or living, as Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, once sang: "on seeds and stems again."

Either way, RR is safe now for the next year as far as domain rentals and life on the web is concerned. Thanks to the help and desire of each of you, it's not going anywhere.

Thanks again

Saturday morning here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Woke up with frost on the ground for the second straight day in April and a high wind warnings of chilly air cooling things down even more. This is Spring?

News brings news of more deaths in Ukraine from what many are now calling the unending war crimes of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. We have friends over there who have died -- a video journalist and a network news cameraman. Others remain in peril.

America now has its first Black woman Supreme Court justice -- a result of a mostly-partisan vote where only three Senate Republicans voted "yea" on her confirmation. Were the other negative votes driven by partisanship or racism? Sadly, probably both in too many cases. Watching the party of the drunken elephant self-destruct increases my sad realization that I worked for that party as an operative from 1981-87 in what becomes, daily, an increasingly stupid period in my life.

At age 74, one ponders what parts of our seven decades on this third rock from the sun were good or bad. In the overall accounting, which will dominate? Hell, I don't know?
In less than two months, I will recognize 28 years of sobriety, a state reached the same year I walked away for any and all in work in politics and returned to my evaporating profession as a newspaperman. Four months after walking into my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, I started a one-page newsletter covering the happenings in Washington. It grew into Capitol Hill Blue and this discussion forum.

When I look at popular topics in the listing in the left-hand column, we find millions of views, with more than three million taking about the presidential election in 2020 and more than four million from the 2016. A lot of talk. More than three million views on "Trump's Trumpet." Another two million on "Big brother is watching."

The current membership of 6,300 has had a lot to talk about for more than a quarter of a century, but when I look at the top five posters, two are current members and three are no longer with us. As the owner of RR, I have been an absent landlord for too long. I need to be more active, not as one who seeks control, but as one who wants to be part of the family we have here. There's a lot gong on around us. We need to be part of what is happening. It's your forum. I'm just along for the ride.

--Doug

I think one order of business is to attract new Ranters. Adding Disqus might be a consideration. However, Disqus would be akin a Pandora's box and a fire hose combination. Pandora's box because more moderation would be needed. A fire hose because literally tens of thousands would come.

Then we have to ask, does RR want to be subscription or ads-revenue based for sustainability? As new Ranters means more posts which means more bandwidth, which means more costs.

Or, If we're good with how things are currently, then nothing needs to change.

One thought would be to show CHBs comments here and to build up a Ranter base that way. It would mean slower but more steady growth.

I'd like to have maybe a dozen more regular posters. Who all understood the guidelines and didn't need much in the way of moderation. Maybe another two dozen occasional posters.

My theory is that if you post quality content you will attract quality readers.

New memberships were shut down for a long time because there was so much spam no one wanted to handle it.

Compatibility with the old guard is also essential. I don't come here to fight with idiots.

If you want to fight with idiots there are lots of other places on the internet to do that.

Only a dozen? That's not sustainable.

We've never had more than a few dozen active posters at any given time.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean about sustainability. We aren't suddenly in the business of making money and most folks that wander by aren't going to donate.
All we need to do is make the rent to continue as before.

If new members happen to be attracted or if you have friends you think would enjoy posting here, by all means, invite them and point them to the tip jar.

I'm more concerned with maintaining the integrity of ReaderRant than anything else.