::::::::
up against the only wall with a power outlet, with Barnes and Noble in the background
I wrote a few articles, did a poll, sent out a major mailing to our almost 1500 article writers who'd written for OEN in the past year. I spoke to a few new volunteers, sent out an announcement to all editors, sent many emails to our webmaster regarding tweaks and fixes, published about 20 items from the queue... walked one of our writers through some trouble he was having posting an article, then found an image for it.
Oh, the site was not loading for a bit so I had to correspond with our server support team.
I shared some links about Clarence Thomas with our writer who is working on getting him impeached, answered tech questions from a handful of people, set up an interview for next week with Glenn Greenwald, engaged in some email and phone conversations with several members of the senior editorial team-- we're in touch just about every day and they are AMAZING and wonderful.
I'm really excited about the new volunteers. This past few months we've been inventing a new control panel that helps the senior editors and I to interact with new volunteers. Used to be I'd lose contact and bio information. Now it's neatly stored, accessible, with info on interests, and that's tied to a new mentoring system we're developing-- all of that with cool links and control buttons to make it easier to promote members to admins. So, if you want to volunteer, please do use this link to do it. We're looking for some basic help but particularly interested in helping writers become leaders covering niches or "beats" on topics or issues they care about. We help empower you to build a community, like we've done for election integrity, whistleblowing, marine ecology, the BP disaster, activism-- to name a few. (If you've already volunteered, hang in there. We're reaching out to the people who have been at Opednews longer or who have used the system the most, posting comments, quick links, articles and diaries.)
We're Really, Really behind this month. Maybe it's because I've been away a lot, working my ass off. Maybe it's because I haven't sent out as many newsletters because I've been on the road or focusing on other important stuff. But we can't do this without YOU helping with donations. Some months, someone comes along with a $200 or $500 or $1000 donation. We did have one $200 donation and a few $100 ones. We need to raise about $4800 a month to pay our most basic expenses. so please, if you can, give whatever you can.
It amazes me how some of our most famous writers make donations. I'll respect their privacy, but could use your help, wherever you are-- in the US, Canada, China, Australia... 30% of our readers are outside the US, so...
thanks,
rob kall
