(Thanks, j. :)

Reader jd writes (and I'll comment following):

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Re: Reader: 'Just chill out and enjoy the bene....

Dear Hobie,.

I really wouldn't miss RUMORMILLNEWS too much if it closes down or it became "subscription only" basis.

There are a lot more alt news websites out there that are equal or better.

I am not criticizing this website, because many of your agents are fairly decent, but I had a chuckle when a reader talked about "gatekeepers."

How many times several agents carry on a merry conversation, all by themselves and we cannot participate because they do not provide any email addresses by which we could participate..?
Is this a clique or somethin'..?

How many times a gatekeeper asked the readers a question ...and not providing an email address by which we could answer.? THAT is rude.

How many times my letter was trimmed to suit the agent's point of view..? Not nice.

How many gatekeepers post their email address that are nothing but duds.?

I come here to check what is interesting, and I do find some, but like all news reports,....I can easily find these things in other websites.

As far as being "LIGHT" source,..I disagree. THERE IS NO LIGHT HERE. Just a different point of views from MSM opinion.

It is a garbage source, (no offense meant) and that I sometimes come here because I like to track as to where the consensus of the world,...esp where the americans are heading.

And , as far as the founder's continuous begging for money to take care of her needs,....Sorry, I mentioned it. I have nothing but blessings to her, but....perhaps (just thinking) she should get a job..?

Ok, thanks Hobie,...from an old reader.

jd

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(hobie here.) I do understand your point of view on all the issues you've mentioned, and I'm sure you've spoken for many on most of those. But I think, as a long-time Reader, you've lost track of the "bigger picture" that's occurred here over the past 16 years or so.

RMN Agents are not required to provide a way to be contacted, BECAUSE in the past we've been targets of some pretty vile emails and of email attempts to "cut an Agent out from the rest of the herd", etc.

RMN Agents who do provide a way to be contacted are not required to post, respond to, or even read emails they may receive from Readers. The first version of RMN allowed Readers to post directly and was pretty well destroyed by what resulted, thanks to trolls (though that term wasn't in use yet), operatives, 'graffiti taggers', and spammers. As a result, the current version of RMN was formed, allowing posts only by those who have been commissioned as Agents by site publisher Raye "Rayelan" Smith.

I'm aware some Readers believe they "have a right to be heard", but consider the implications: If we were to handle things that way, the commissioning of Agents would become pointless, and it would turn the Agents into "personal posters" for the Readers, which was never the intent.

HOWEVER, anyone (including yourself, jd) can join in our CGI Room and post for him- or herself, including in response to articles found in the Reading Room, where CGI_Admin routinely brings suitable posts from CGI for reposting in the Reading Room.

Yes, many other sites may now be equal to or better than RMN by certain measures, BECAUSE RMN was here early-on and was among the first to bring particular topics into consideration that are now more or less common fare on multiple websites.

(I knew we'd succeeded in the initial phase of the mission when one day I received an email from a Reader, excitedly pointing to something he'd just stumbled across on another website. Clicking the supplied link to see what he'd found, it turned out to be a repost of an RMN article from sometime earlier. :)

Initially RMN's publisher Rayelan did cover all the costs of running RMN out of her own pocket. Various changes in her own living - the passing of her husband, who left her with a double mortgage she'd been unaware of; the declining health of her mother, Rayelan's taking on the role of care provider for her, and finally her mother's passing; various incredibly high utility and other bills run up by her unwanted house guest; and Google's dumping RMN as an AdSense publisher (citing the 'no gore' policy for an old archived post that included images of the damage caused by a recluse spider bite) - made it impossible for her to do that. So we began asking for Reader support.

If RMN were a by-subscription site, you'd never give a moment's thought about where your subscription payment was going. Indeed, you'd have no idea how much total money was coming in from those payments. The site owner might be living "high on the hog", and you'd never know - nor should you; it's not your concern. The difference here is that support is voluntary, and Raye often makes known what it is the money is needed for.

And, the difference here is, it was Raye's intention from the very beginning that the information should be free for all to read, and not be kept from anyone for lack of a few dollars. That's still the intent. If you don't find that worthy of support, so be it.

You've said we're a "garbage site", no offense. :) I'm sorry you see it that way, because I think you're no longer seeing with accuracy what the site is and what it consists of.

Several thousands show up each and every week to read the Poofness posts...while fewer than 100 contribute financially in support of the site they keep coming back to.

The issue is not whether the site's publisher should "get a job", but whether the site's users might return something for what they're choosing to receive.

The site is intentionally free to read, but there are costs involved in providing that. We're HAPPY to continue providing it and to keep it free for those who genuinely are unable to contribute toward its support. If out of those thousands some 250 were to contribute $10 apiece each month, the goal would be easily reached in no time. :)

Blessings, all.

--hobie

P.S About those "dud" 'Send Email' addresses. No Agent intentionally places a false contact address. But two things may apply:

- Anyone can make a 'finger error' when typing his or her address. And:

- There's a Yahoo! policy in place that makes delivery of mail from the RMN server difficult for some. Yahoo's policy is that if there's a Yahoo return address on an email, it has to come from the Yahoo server. The result is that if an Agent's contact email address is a Yahoo one, and if the Reader using the 'Send Email' link also enters a Yahoo address for him- or herself, the message is very likely to bounce back. Why Yahoo didn't somehow allow for form-generated emails from other sites when constructing their policy is a mystery, but that's the way it is. I'll see if I can 'hack' our software to do something about that.

P.P.S. We have often looked at ways we might keep RMN free for all to read while adding either some special feature for subscribers and/or some way to allow Readers to comment directly. We still may do that at some point if we can see a reasonable way to do it. Some of the difficulties involve the need to keep track of who has paid the subscription for a given month and who has stopped their subscription; and the greatly increased need for moderation if the door is opened for direct posting by any-and-everyone.

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