How to Help

Late night on the 27th and there's just a few words I want to say going into this weekend, the last weekend of April.

First, I want to thank everyone who has pledged to me this month on Patreon, and those who have sent me direct donations through paypal.  You guys are terrific ... every month you give me a terrific motivation to plow forward, whatever the obstacles.  But that is nothing compared to how happy you make my partner, who is the bright shining light of my life.

Thank you, thank you.  I hope you will go on supporting me, so that I will go on building the wiki, making podcasts, writing posts like this latest investigation into cities and everything else I can do to expand your games and your imaginations.

Some readers, I know, cannot do the same; and I understand.  Some of you simply don't have the money ~ and believe me brothers and sisters, I know right where you are coming from.  Some others feel very strongly that the internet should not be monetized in this way and therefore steadfastly refuse to contribute.  Well done.  I respect your principles and I won't ask you to break them.

I want you to understand something, however, about the internet, from the perspective of a creator.  There is no way that I have to self-promote, except on pages that I own.  I can create videos; I can write posts; I can make comments and hope someone follows my name back to the source.  But I can't go on Reddit and say, "Hey, I wrote this great post about cities."  I'll be deleted.  I can't write on a D&D board saying, "Have you seen my podcast where I interview DMs?"  I can't talk about my wiki.  I can't talk about the comics I've made.  I can't talk about anything, except right here.

BUT YOU CAN.

If YOU post one of my blog posts, or my podcast, or my wiki, or anything about me, on Reddit, no one will take it down ... unless they think you're a sockpuppet.  If YOU talk about something I've written in a forum, that's fine.  I can't do it, but people want YOU to do it.  When YOU do it, that's the internet working the way it is supposed to work.  It is people finding cool things and telling others about them.

So I want to make you a deal.  If you can't, or won't, give me a minimal $3 donation once a month, then take this pledge.  Pledge to write about me, share something about me, post something on Reddit or some other place, ONCE per month.  That's it.  Just twelve times a year.  It won't cost you a dime.  But it is absolutely worth a $3 donation for me, as I live and die by what readers I can reach and who can see what I have to say.  I depend on Reach, on fair, legitimate, friendly Marketing, by people who come here to see what I've written and who like it.

That's all I'm asking.  Help.  Some help.  You don't have to help pay for my water and power, you don't have to make it possible for me to buy medication, you don't have to contribute to my monthly food bills.  I love and appreciate those who do, but YOU don't have to.  You just have to take five minutes and help me.  Once a month.

Honestly, though.  I just spent almost ten weeks and hundreds of hours transferring the wiki so that it would still be available, free, for the public.  I just spent more than 14 hours cutting a podcast three times, because of technical problems and having to teach myself Audacity in a week.  I've spent uncounted hours writing blog post after blog post.  All free.  All on subjects that you won't find anywhere else on the internet.  I'm all alone here in my agenda and NO ONE else is creating the content I'm creating.

If you have the money and you won't give $3 a month for that, or more that you're able to give ... If you're too damn busy to share a post or something you like of mine on the damn internet, on your Facebook page or whatever ... and If you're willing to keep coming back here and reading my stuff just because it happens to be free ...

Then I don't think you're a person I ever want to know.  You should stop reading me.  Because you haven't earned anything that I've given you.