Me again :)
Hi all:
I feel terrible and deeply moved at the same time.
Following my announcement, yesterday, that I’ve had to close down, a lot of people on- and offline have thanked me for p2pnet.
You’re all welcome. But this was as much for me as it was for you. For far too long I was an addict, a drain on society. So it’s been wonderful for me to be able to put something back.
Someone just wished me good luck “in your next act”. But this was no act. I put everything I had into p2pnet. Someone else said I was ahead of my time, but I don’t agree. The time for blogs which speak out is right now.
I wasn’t planning on doing any more posts — at least, not for a while — but a great many people have asked why I can’t continue with p2pnet — maybe just part time.
Well, for me, p2pnet is far more than just a blog and it isn’t something I can dip in and out of.
It’s been my life. I’ve been running it in the conviction that people can, and do, make a difference. I’ve always seen myself as a very ordinary guy who, completely by accident, ended up with a platform I and others could use to say what we thought.
I’m based in Canada but anyone who believes communications in the 21st digital century are confined to countries and borders is living in a dream.
People aren’t ‘consumers’ existing in, and to be ‘exploited’ by and through ‘product bases’, any more. We have free will and free speech we’re all now part of a global society whose members talk with each other individually and collectively all the time.
And that’s frightening the living shit out of the Powers That Used To Be.
How can I keep p2pnet going?
If I can find four people with $10,000 each to spare, they can become equal partners, with me, in p2pnet. Or eight people with $5,000. Or 16 people with $2,500. Or 32 people with $1,250. Or 64 people …
I know, I know. That’s not going to happen. But if enough people came together with small amounts, I could probably keep going. I’d certainly like to.
As I’ve just said in emails, I believe p2pnet going down is significant at a time when government and corporate corruption is bad and getting worse, and when voices speaking out in the name of freedom are few and getting fewer.
Yesterday I said I’ve broken important stories, but I’ve also stood up to bullies who’ve tried to shut my mouth. That isn’t fun.
However, it’s simple. Like everyone else, I have bills to pay. So as much as I’d love to keep on keeping on, I just can’t do it.
Here’s where it’s at.
Bandwidth and hosting costs are covered, thanks to Cliff Haerden in Belgium. He runs multibox.be and he’s the reason that although p2pnet won’t be published any more, it won’t actually disappear.
I need a bare minimum of $3,500 Canadian a month to survive. A very large lump of that is for a mortgage and another large lump is for debt I incurred to keep p2pnet going when there was no income. The rest is for food, gas, electricity, water, and so on.
We’re not extravagant people. Neither Liz nor I drink or smoke. We don’t go out. We don’t buy expensive clothes and stuff. In fact, we get everything we wear in thrift stores. Liz is an avid recycler and she does all of the maintenance work in our house. She also cooks everything we eat, including baking our bread.
If this looks like I’m complaining, I’m not. I have a great life and a loving wife and daughter. I have music all around me all the time. I’m a musician myself.
If I could get three $10.5K up front to keep going for another three months, I would. But I’ve tried that and it didn’t work, which is why I’ve had to close things down.
So, folks, for the next little while I’ll be focusing on trying to get some money coming in. If and when that happens, I’ll try and do a post here and there. And if I ever get back to a point where my expenses are fully covered, I’ll get p2pnet running again.
For now, thanks for all your good wishes.
And thanks for being my friend. It means a lot.
Cheers!
Jon Newton
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
February, 2010
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February 2nd, 2010 at 12:46 pm
1,000 keen p2pnet subscribers at 1p per article, at 8 articles a day, for 25 days a month, is £2,000 or $3,500 CAD per month.
Unfortunately, I too have only one pair of hands and zilch funds, so with 1p2U.com still being in ‘alpha’ it isn’t quite ready to withstand a thousand users and come to p2pnet’s rescue (I wish it could). It needs a larger development team if it is to be ready sooner rather than later. So, if anyone has any ideas don’t be shy…
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Cros (if I may give you that nickname),
What technologies are behind 1p2u? Which programming languages? Which databases? If possible, I’d be glad to help, I just need to know what I need to learn.
At the present, my primary experience is C/Assembly/C++/AWK type stuff, with some Python (easy to pick back up), Java (somewhat easy to pick back up), etc…
You can get my email from Jon if you are interested.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Rob, 1p2U is simply a (PHP+MySQL) MediaWiki website, with two (PHP+MySQL) extensions: one that implements 1p2U, and another it uses that provides the API to the Contingency Market. Both extensions are/can be GPLed.
The Contingency Market is a C#.NET/MSSQL based SOAP web service – a general purpose back-end intended for sites such as 1p2U. It’s an online exchange that enables deals to be made between pairs of agents who agree amounts of funds to be transferred between them depending upon the outcome of future public events (encouraged by the deals contingent upon them). Thus a thousand users of a software package can make a thousand deals with the developer that they’ll each pay them a dollar in the event a particular feature is implemented and published. Alternatively, they could pay a p2pnet a penny each time an article is published. And that’s just the simple applications.
1p2U is complicated because of its need to be continuously updated in the background, i.e. it’s not appropriate to engage in significant communication with the contingency market during the supply of a web page to a browser. It’s 1p2U that needs most work. The Contingency Market is where I feel my efforts would be best focussed, but it’s no good without something like 1p2U to demonstrate it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
That’s.. pretty much above my head
, though I am not afraid to try to learn it if it can help bring 1p2U online sooner and help save p2pnet.net.
I hope others whom are more familiar with the web programming can help, I’d need to learn this stuff first to avoid slowing you down. I don’t ask questions unless I can’t find it on my own.
Are there samples or tutorials you used that I can learn from?
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I did start off trying to keep 1p2U as simple as possible, precisely so it would be easy for anyone to pick up. And then when it also had to be fast, so that sites such as p2pnet could start testing it, it needed quite a bit of re-engineering – and still needs a bit more. :-{
As for tutorials, well, that’s a big question. On the MediaWiki side one could start here: mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Extensions. On the Contingency Market side one could start here: contingencymarket.com/index.php?title=Web_Service.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Ah Jon, I’m really gonna miss p2p. Every morning, it’s been my home page to come see what is new, what’s going on in slimy corporatehood, and what the newest twist in the saga of the labels ongoing miscommunications to the public were.
If I had it to give, it would be yours. Alas, like you, personal finances are not what it was 10 years ago.
Maybe 10 years hence will be different, maybe not; how are we to know today?
All the best to you in your upcoming endeavors. I hope they prove fruitful.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Assuming that you are, indeed, serious this time, I wish you success in whatever endeavors you wish to participate.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Is Pledge Drive akak public TV finally over?
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Well, I am sitting here trying not to bawl (and this is all YOUR fault, Jon
).
Do what you have to do to get by. My work situation for the last half year has been hell, but unfortunately bills need to be paid.
Hugs to you, Emma and Liz.
PS: I love thrift stores, they are lots of fun. One of them in my city also has 2 cats onsite, and I spent time playing with one of the cats last time I was there.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:36 pm
@ Eric:
I’ve never been other than serious. Last time around I was going after a second mortgage and I thought I’d succeeded. I was wrong. So here I am again …
Cheers!
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:40 pm
@ Dorothy:
I may not be doing much, but the site will still be online. So the content thats’ already there will stay there.
Meanwhile, I had to call a halt sometime. Crosbie got it right when he said “Walt, I think Jon’s point is he’s been ‘running on empty’ doing the impossible for some time. He’s now run out of ‘impossible’, let alone ‘if at all possible’ or ‘whether or not I want to’.”
But I’m still shaking trees. So stay tuned
Cheers, Dorothy ..
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Just to clarify (and really beat this one into the ground!): the bawling thing refers to my feeling touched by what you say re your family. I know that your work will still be available to read.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:58 am
Jon, for similar reasons I (and I suspect, many others) finally ceased being active at Boycott-RIAA. I am very glad you stuck with it for as long as you did. Thanks for your dedication. Good luck with everything!