Thanks to those who have already subscribed or renewed in response to the post earlier this week. For the rest of you, here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Is my subscription due for renewal?
A. If it is, you will get an email reminder this week. If you didn't get the email, your subscription still has some time on it. Of course, if you like what's happening here, one way to say so and to support the site's growth would be to renew early or to purchase a second or third subscription.
Q. I want to join at more than the $49 a year entry-level subscription, but I don't want to spring for a $1,000 sustaining subscriber membership. What can I do?
A. We are considering adding something in between those. In the meantime, you can go ahead and renew your $49 subscription every quarter, or buy two or three at a time.
Q. Why do you ask for my email address or mailing address or phone number?
A. The email address is just to send you a receipt and to mail you the report to subscribers (and a renewal email in a year). The mailing address and phone number, if you are asked for one, are just steps to verify that it is really your credit card that you are using. Both are pretty common requirements when you pay for something online. In many cases the transaction will complete even if you leave your phone number blank; if it doesn't, and if you are averse to giving out your phone number for routine transactions such as this, you may borrow my phone number. We don't now sell email addresses of subscribers to anyone else or use them for any purpose other than the above-listed ones, we don't have any plan to do so, and we haven't done so in the five years we have been operating. I suppose conceivably the business, along with the database of your email address and the other subscribers, could be sold sometime in the future to someone else who might have a different approach. But the spam filters are so sophisticated these days that anyone who sends a lot of unsolicited email to people who don't want it sees the value of their list decline rapidly.
Q. Why don't you require all readers to pay rather than asking for voluntary memberships or subscriptions?
A. Doing that could shrink the audience, and part of the mission here is to spread ideas by reaching new people. In addition, if you want the reports to readers, you do have to pay, so you are getting something that the non-payers are not getting.
Q. I already get the email every day. Does that mean I already am a subscriber?
A. No. Signing up for the daily email is free. Becoming a subscriber or member is an additional step that helps fund the site's operations and that also entitles you to receive the reports to readers and, at higher levels, other special benefits.
Q. Why are you combining the third quarter and fourth quarter subscription drives?
A. The fourth-quarter drive tends to get buried amid winter vacation, holiday parties, and the deluge of year-end charity solicitations. We are trying to get clear of that crush. By combining the third and fourth-quarter drives, we can spend less time hawking memberships and more time bringing you the content that you appreciate.
Thank you to all the new subscribers and members and thank you to the subscribers who have renewed their subscriptions. If you have been meaning to do this, please take a moment to do so now. The link is here.