These days, it’s hard to believe there was a time when the Web wasn’t driven by community. But hasn’t always been like this. And in the early days of the Web, one site in particular—which happens to have Portland ties—stood out as a engaging, nontoxic, supportive community. A role it still plays even today. That site is MetaFilter. And they could use our help.
Talking details about money is not something MetaFilter’s historically been good at. It feels weird, and scarily vulnerable, and in business terms basically taboo. But I really want to be transparent about where we are, what our needs are, and what we’re trying to accomplish.
— Corvidae of Reckoning (@joshmillard) June 13, 2018
Right now, because of recent steep drops in ad revenue, we’re running at an $8,000/month deficit. I’m bringing this to you all now because we need to fix that shortfall soon to avoid significant cuts to our current payroll levels. We’re still operating as normal right now thanks to the cushion members built up last fall, and that and conservative budgeting have worked as intended: it’s given us a few more months of leeway to work on the problem, so we can consider our options and make smart, non-panicky decisions. But we need to get to work on it ASAP.
For more information or to contribute, visit MetaFilter.
(Hat tip Mara Zepeda)
