Please note that I’ve begun the process of moving this blog to isaacbrocksociety.ca. Therefore, I have shut off comments on every post before 1 June 2012. My goal is that by Tuesday evening, the blog will be completely moved to it’s new site.
Background
The Isaac Brock Society started as an informal group of Canadians who began meeting in person and through email to discuss their US tax and citizenship problems. Some of these people were taking part in a discussion at the Expat Forum in the Fall of 2011. I was in contact with one of them because she had commented on my blog, and when I saw what she was involved in a lively discussion at Expat Forum, I joined in there.
Then, we started to see censorship at the Expat Forum, followed by censorship of attempts to discuss openly the censorship. A whole new genre was born: the Expat Forum moderator joke, but I digress. I was horrified by the Expat Forum’s censorship of our important discussion. So I reached out to some of the people affected by it, and suggested that we begin a new site where we were in control. Then, I was brought into an e-mail conversation of five other Brockers. We decided to start this site at WordPress.com because I offered to administrate it and (1) WordPress.com was what I knew how to do; (2) WordPress blogs are great a product; (3) I didn’t know how to do a forum or run forum software; (4) it was cheap (our current hosting costs have been $25 total).
The Issues
For awhile now, some people have urged me to leave WordPress.com. Here are some of the issues, which have recently converged into a major headache for me and I’ve had to take some steps to address them this week:
- Renounce contacted me early in the week to inform me that WordPress had taken down his very excellent blog. We did not know the reason, but he began to urge me to move the Isaac Brock Society to private servers outside the United States. We speculated about the reasons, including a conspiracy theory that the US government or Obama operatives had put pressure on WordPress to remove his embarrassing site. If that were so, then it was only a matter of time before Isaac Brock would also go down. It turns out that it was an automated spam remover that took his blog down, and WordPress restored the blog the next day. Nevertheless, it was a wake up call to the potential power that the US government and WordPress have over our site.
- The United States claims jurisdiction over servers which are in the Untied States and over dot.com websites. We learned this when bodog.com was shut down. Please note that bodog.ca is still operational. Hence, the advantage of dot.ca domain. Furthermore, the United States claims jurisdiction over e-mail addresses with a dot.com address (gmail.com, hotmail.com, etc.). This means that we should change not only the location of Isaac Brock: We must move this discussion to Canadian servers and we should issue a dot.ca email address to anyone who contributes posts to the site who is currently using a dot.com e-mail address as their point of reference for this blog. Our concern isn’t to remove every claim of jurisdiction of the United States over us, but to reduce the possible pitfalls along the way. Certainly it is clear from bodog.com that the United States government can shut our current operations down at any time.
- We seem to have reached the limit of our ability to back up this blog using the export feature. This is a converging set of circumstances. Indeed, the last time I was able to do the full export file was the day Renounce told me that his blog was down. There may be a work around; however, this becomes seriously more work for us as the sheer volume of the blog grows. As I write we are at 783 posts and 18,019 comments.
- It would be excellent to integrate our forum with our blog on a single domain. Indeed, the person currently hosting the forum insists that we do this before the year is up.
The Plan
My plan is to repatriate the Isaac Brock Society and to move this blog to Canada. I have registered the isaacbrocksociety.ca and purchased hosting from webnames.ca, whose servers are physically located in Vancouver, Canada. I have begun to work with wordpress.org — WordPress’s stand alone software that can be used on any server. It is a steep learning curve for me, and it is draining my time. Not only so, but I’ve found that I am not able to import our blog without technical help–the size limit for importing the blog is 2mb and we are currently at 38mb. In addition, it requires changing the php.ini in order to change the size of files that can be uploaded. I don’t have the technical knowledge to do this. I will have to pay someone for the transfer.
For a cost of $1.50 per month, we will get 100 isaacbrocksociety.ca email addresses and every author will receive one. Authors can set it up to receive these emails via pop3 or have them forwarded to any address that they want. But this will reduce the direct jurisdictional claim of the United States over the content that our authors provide.
One advantage, however, over wordpress.com is that we can generate revenue with our dot.ca. WordPress.com expects a 50% cut on revenues, and so it is hardly worth trying to find sponsors. So my suggestion for dealing with the finances of the blog are as follows:
- My company, Petros Research Inc. will maintain the site and receive sponsorships.
- Those of you who have wished to contribute may send a sponsorship cheque to Petros Research Inc. or find some other means of payment. A receipt will be issued.
- I will create a box at near the top of the blog for sponsors: Sponsor of the month: calgary411 (she will be our first sponsor, as she has already sent me money).
- Suggested price will be $150 per month for professional (e.g., lawyer or accountant) or corporate sponsor; or up to six individual sponsors can send $25+ each. As for pricing, some of you out there may think that this is too little to pay for a spot on a 5000 view per day site. Let me know if you think the pricing is fair or not. Also, the sponsorship is a “donation” towards the maintenance of this site, and it would not imply an endorsement of the services provided.
Since we have to pay someone to make the data transfer, I suggest that we shut down this site for a moment during the transfer. During the shut down, no author will provide new content and I will shut down the comments. I will aim to have this done within 24 hours, and since we have to pay someone to do it, it will probably happen on a week day. The whole site will be moved to Canada, and when start up again, we will operate only over at the new site; I will eventually have hits redirected from this site (dot.com) to our dot.ca. Things may be a little messy for a few days as people get used to the somewhat different software. However, we must deal with this problem now.
I open this topic up to discussion.
(Originally published Jun 1, 2012 @ 8:04)
My husband and I will too…as long as it’s not a pound of flesh, someone else already has that.
I’m really happy to see things get this far. It appears as though there’re growing pains, but it’s welcomed, to say the least.
I showed up here in the 2nd week of operation and it’s amazing to see the progress made my many of the posters and contributors. Hats off to everyone!
thanks @geez for your work and comments.
This is just a wonderful site and I was very thankful that I found it the very day that I renounced. Just reading what others say, is very supportive to me. Count me in for making a donation.
@all On a similar note, I would also like to repatriate my blog, or at least have an additonal blog outside of the .com realm. Does anybody here have any good, free, anonymous blogging platforms with .fr, .de, .ch, .co, .uk addresses to recommend me?
@Pacifica and geeez,
some great paintings from the time of our inspiration
http://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-the-war-of-1812-2012-5#america-declared-war-on-britain-on-june-1-1812-in-this-picture-artist-william-charles-depicts-king-george-iii-bloodied-by-president-james-madison-the-war-often-called-mr-madisons-war-would-be-a-long-bloody-struggle-1
Payments/contributions: Ok, I am currently set up to receive contributions in US dollars or CDN funds at paypal. The email address is at the isaacbrocksociety.ca and the name for it is petros (so remember to put the “at” sign in the email address, i.e., petros@). I don’t want to make it to easy for a spam crawler to figure out my email address.
Now, anyone want to donate can do so with paypal. Or they can send me an email at the above e-mail address and I can send them my address. Cheques should be made out to Petros Research Inc.
As for transparency, I propose the following:
I can list on the website publicly the donations by number, and/or the aliases (anonymous if the person prefers) of the people who contributed. You will receive a numbered donation receipt. Then every donor can verify that their donation was on the list and call me to account if I fail to mention theirs. This will allow for transparency. Few people like the advertising or sponsorship idea. How does this suggestion sit with folks?
Thanks for making the effort Petros. Some of us don’t do PayPal, which doesn’t mean we can’t, just haven’t or prefer not too, so a mailing address for checks would be good.
I would suggest, that there be a separate bank account for Isaac Brock instead of Petros Research. That would make for better transparency, better accounting, and no co-mingling of funds, don’t you think?
Lists of donations by a reference number works for me, so you can see your donation was cataloged. I personally do not need receipts, but understand others might.
A quarterly balance sheet would be nice for all to see what the totals are that are coming in, and what the expenses are. That works you towards basic budgeting process, and maybe a quarterly or semiannual pledge drive. You would want to have a regular process for this, or else the best of intentions go un-acted on. I know, as I used to always put off my NPR pledge!
Another thought would be for some of us to be able to make electronic transfers or just monthly recurring donations of small amounts that allow for regular cash flow. I do that now for NPR as part of my monthly budget, so now I don’t have to remember to do that!
Mull those over. I know this process is evolving, so nothing set in stone and no idea is dismissed out of hand. I would be interested to hear what others think too.
@Just Me, Isaac Brock has no organization structure. So essentially a contribution is being made to Petros Research to handle the administration, data transfer and other issues of the website. I am not opposed to the incorporation Isaac Brock and then Isaac Brock paying Petros Research or some other company to do what I am offering to do. But I will not organize the incorporation of the Isaac Brock Society–that requires a different skill set than what I have. At this point, incorporating Isaac Brock is nigh on impossible since most people are still lying in the shadows. USX asked for transparency and accountability and that’s why I suggested making the level of contributions public.
Obviously, the higher the level of contributions, the more time that I can devote to this project, writing, research and developing the website.
As for monthly donations, I don’t think that is necessary. If people want to send $25 +, it can be once for the entire year. This will hopefully provide adequate support level.
@Petros
maybe IBS can be set up as a regestered company or a sole-proprietorship. I had one when I worked under contract in Ontario and recently in Québec. I needed to go to the Québec revenue office which issued enterpise number and both tax licenses on the spot. This structure will permit separate acconting and transparency without the overhead of corporate reporting.
would fellow Brockers in the Toronto area be willing to help you the bookkeeping?
@Rivka Thanks. I have a corporation already which is set up to do business–to run it through that is no extra expense at all, because I am already paying for the expenses. Sure, it doesn’t bear the Isaac Brock Society name, but I think it is actually more honest, in a way, than setting up the Isaac Brock Society as a sole proprietorship. The National Inflation Association is an example of non-transparency because, to my knowledge, it is a business, but they have chosen a name and manner of operating that makes it look like non-profit. Petros Research is a for profit company which will provide a service for those who are part of the Isaac Brock Society–an informal group–who wish to make contributions to make it happen. At present, my company is losing money because my trading schemes are not very successful at the moment and because I have a full time assistant.
In addition, setting up Isaac Brock at this point requires opening up bank accounts and at this point, having recently moved accounts from Questrade to TD, I am not keen on creating any new structures.
People making the check out to Petros Research will be aware that they are contributing to the costs of the site. No matter how it is set up, there has to be trust and transparency. Some people are already so happy with what we are doing that they are willing to trust me to continue this work, and I am suggesting a means by which they can see how their contributions are making a difference.
I would strongly agree with moving the site off of WordPress.com The WordPress hosting solution is simply incapable of hosting a site this large. I don’t see any reason as to why not use a Canadian hosting provider. Your typical WordPress site is 1/100th of Isaac Brock Society. The one issue I can think is making sure those who go to IsaacBrockSociety.com domain are redirected to the new site.
Petros..
I see some threads have comments closed, so assume that means you are moving stuff, one chunk at a time?
mvh
I put this message at the top of the thread which is at the top of the frontpage of this site:
Please note that I’ve begun the process of moving this blog to isaacbrocksociety.ca. Therefore, I have shut off comments on every post before 1 June 2012. My goal is that by Tuesday evening, the blog will be completely moved to it’s new site.
Comments are open at the new site. But I have to check for duplicates, because the transfer wasn’t flawless.
The other reason I think it’s good to move is due to CONFIDENTIALITY. I don’t really trust WordPress.com and I suspect they have been selling email addresses due to some rather specific SPAM I have been receiving lately.
Webnames.ca on the other hand, has databases that are “practically” impregnable. This works both ways though.. it’s good for security, but bad for customisation.
@ Geeez, yet the customisation of the blog is much easier in many other respects, because of the availability of third party plugins. For example, I’ve added a plugin which will give every commenter the ability to format their comments or add a video. Also, if you want to embed a youtube video, you just add the URL, you don’t have to enter into the “insert media” feature anymore. Also, I’ve added a Google search plugin/widget, so that people use the google to search the blog rather than the WordPress feature that only searches posts.
UPDATE: Today, I will be arranging the new blog (http://isaacbrocksociety.ca) with custom menus; the ones from here did not transfer as WordPress.com said they would. I also have to deal with user accounts, and I am not sure how that is going to go down. Hopefully it is straightforward, unlike the transfer, which took me a couple day’s work to figure out and finally someone at the hosting service’s helpline was knowledgeable and able to fix my upload limit, so that I could upload the May 29 export file of 38mb. If you made an important comment on a older post after May 29, it may not have been uploaded. That will have to be checked. You are my eyes and ears. Geeez is working on transferring the forum, but that is not pressing priority, as it is not hosted by WordPress.com.
Hey everyone: the new blog is almost there. I expect that by the end of the day we will have sent to everyone their new login information. You will receive a new password for the new blog, but you should be able to change it again once you’ve logged in.
Those who provide only comments will be able to continue as normal.
Just before the transition we will shut off comments and posting at the isaacbrocksociety.com; there will be a transition time of hopefully less than one hour where it will not be possible to comment or post here. Bear in mind, for those who depend this site for their sanity, that commenting is already open on the pre-June 1 posts at the new site: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca
Petros, thanks for all of your good work on this — from identifying the risk to all you’ve done to remedy the risk. Early intervention is wise considering why the Isaac Brock site was started in the first place.
@Petros
I truly am not computer literate. Am I interpreting correctly that for someone like myself (who thus far has only provided comments), I would be able to continue using the original email (it is @ gmail.com)? Or will I be receiving new login information, also?
@ Tiger
Soon you will receive new login information for the new blgo. After the new blog is up and running, I will provide an isaacbrocksociety.ca email address for anyone with a dot.com email address. In it will be instructions on how to access and redirect it to the email of your choice (forwarding).
@Petros
Thanks. Sounds like even someone with my lack of literacy will be able to do it.
@tiger, sorry I didn’t even read your comment correctly. As a commenter only you can proceed as usual. We are not going to worry about the e-mail addresses of non-authors (those who can start new posts). The information (new username and password) I provided will be sent to authors.
Just a comment to note that since the change over you have continued to improve it. Thanks for the hard work. I do note the better archiving structure making it easier to search past posts. The subscription widget and the “notify me of followup comments via email” at the bottom here.
Now I see you have added the ability for those that comment to have 15 minutes to edit their comments or request deletion. That is a GREAT feature. I just tested it! Thanks Petros for making this entire blog more user friendly.
I see we have a new counter. Have to start over building a following, but such is progress. I see the .com is up to 665,299 hits, so I just mentally add that to what I see at the bottom.
cheers
I just tested the edit feature too. Thanks Petros, that is a much appreciated added feature. I know you or some other good samaritan fixed a couple of things for me in the past so it’s nice to know I can do it for myself now, if I catch it quick.