Culture

Last-Day Webathon Desperation: And Now a Word From Our Commenters

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I know that you are all very sad that, as Nick Gillespie mentioned this morning, today is the final day of Reason's annual Webathon, in which we have whispered sweet somethings into your ear about the value we have added to your lives & how you could help us make more of the stuff you like by providing a tax-deductible donation to our 501(c)(3) in exchange for some fun swag. We're still short of our goal of 500 donors (give anything, $10, whatever!), so if you're sitting on the fence, come on over to the bright side of life!

This one goes out to all of our gamboling, heavily monocled commenters, so reviled (particularly by one another), and yet so…valued here at Reason HQ. We were basically the first magazine of political opinion to tempt fates with an open commenting system, and though this decision has been occasionally, ah, controversial, I can testify from experience that I learn from you indecipherable, inexplicable lot almost every day, wart(y)s and all. As a tribute, I've gone through all 14 posts of our Webathon thus far, and selected one comment from each thread that made me laugh, wince, or just say "hmmm." It isn't a best-of, precisely, but these (mostly) reference the Webathon, offer still more reasons to give, plus they're fun to read. In chronological order:

SIV: Abolish threading and I'll pay for those old "bill me later" blow-in card " trial subscriptions" I took under fake names in the late 1980s back when I was a snot-nosed anarchist punk.

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Ken Shulz: I just made a donation.

Reason represents me and my ideas better than anyone in Congress or the White House, that's for sure. Love seein' Gillespie and Welch, et. al. invading the airwaves--takin' the message straight to the average Joe.

Nobody else really does that--and certainly nobody else does it better.

If the commenters around her got smart about treating visitor traffic to the site better--that Gillespie, Welch, et. al generate when they hit the airwaves?

We might actually help their cause rather than shooting them in the foot.

P.S. All the trolls who imagine themselves libertarians should give twice.

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Apatheist: Now that I am an income earning lawyer I supposed I should make a contribution for all the free content I have been receiving over the last 7 years. I have no idea how tax deductions for this thing kind of works though. My understanding is that you only only get deductions if you are itemizing correct? I will be itemizing deductions for tuition and loan interest so I suppose I'd rather Reason get the money than the government.

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T: so we're asking you to volunteer a premium, in exchange for the value you get out of … taunting us viciously in the comments

Okay, I have to admit, this is the sales pitch that works on me. I derive a great deal of amusement out of the comments section here.

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That Guy: Couldn't you guys throw some of us poorer people a bone? A Reason sticker or something for 25 bucks?

I'm getting my yacht polished this week and can't afford to tip Jose AND donate 100 dollars to Reason.

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PS: Look, anyone in their right mind knows they are too big to fail. Reason is the only thing keeping the economy from collapsing at this point. That and lemonade stands, and we all know what happened to them…

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Joe M: Wait a second, Nick isn't The Jacket. He is merely its host body.

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Dusty James: I love Reason and I will definitely give a little something during your webathon, the next time I'm in front of my computer. The purpose of this comment is to make a suggestion. I get 90% of my news and opinion via podcast. I'm subscribed to both the Reason.tv podcast and the Out Loud Opinion podcast. I love them both, but they leave me craving more. What I would love to have and would be willing to pay, say, $5 per month for (maybe more) is a complete audio edition of most or all of the articles you publish. I'd even put up with hearing a blurb about a sponsor in addition to the subscription fee. Whaddaya say?

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rather: 150 donors, and I noticed most of the assholes who cost a load in legal fees failed to donate*

*warty, your ten dollars will put them over the edge

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Arduin Grimoire: Forget that, where are we on the $$ collection for a Steigerwald-written profile of STEVE SMITH for the webathon?

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db: I was disappointed that one of the pre-set donation levels wasn't denominated in grams of gold. Or orphan blood.

And how freakin' much do you have to give to get a reason-inscribed monocle?

That's a trick question: you don't get a monocle by giving.

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Beloved Rev. Blue Moon: Feh - DCists get free beer and we get a "hey, come to the community center only a hundred miles away or so from your house"?

NOT GOOD ENOUGH! OCCUPY REASON!

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Paul: I'd donate $2000 to Reason if Gillespie was taped giving Maher a wedgie backstage.

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Almanian: All seriousness aside, Tim's right, of course. I managed to scrape together enough money to increase my donation…but how about you do this in the spring or summer? Then I FER SURE have money to give.

Anyway, for a magazine called Reason….good luck with the begathon!

And a bonus from that last thread care of our old friend Slap the Enlightened!…

So let the second-guessing begin, then go to reason.com/donate, and please do as the URL suggests. Thanks, everyone!