My headline isn’t quite fair because no one was demanding that the “pay wall” at The Post & Email web site come down, but for whatever reason it has, reports Mike Volin on his Where’s Obama’s Birth Certificate? Blog Talk Radio program. An article appeared yesterday at the P&E with the official announcement that their content is now free. Editor Rondeau says that they have lowered their hosting costs, and will cover expenses with advertising revenue.
As I told Mike on the show, I think Sharon Rondeau gets some good scoops, and she can write literately. Obviously, I don’t agree with her birther conclusions.
You can like them on Facebook too.
Commentary:
I’m somewhat baffled by Rondeau saying they went to a subscription model originally because of expensive hosting. Their Alexa.com rank in the US is 423,782. Obama Conspiracy Theories ranks 248,361, way better, and I host for $20 a month, and could get along with a cheaper package, particularly nowadays where the site traffic is only half what it was in the heyday of the birther movement.
It would seem to this writer that the problem for The Post & Email is that, based on their ranking, hardly anyone reads them, and their impact approaches zero. No one wants to put all that time and effort into a web site that nobody reads. The P&E, which under the covers is a WordPress blog, appears to be trying to appeal to a wider audience. Are we seeing the next Huffington Post? I think not.
I’m somewhat baffled by Rondeau’s remarks about huge hosting costs. Their Alexa.com rank in the US is 423,782. Obama Conspiracy Theories ranks 248,361, way better, and I host for $20 a month, and could get along with a cheaper package, particularly nowadays where the site traffic is only half what it was in the heyday of the birther movement.
Well, her data is apparently being hosted by PAIR Networks
IP address 216.92.171.252
If she opted for the shared hosting packages it goes from 6 to 30 bucks a month
If she was suckered and was convinced her “newspaper” needed Dedicated Hosting then that is 300 – 400 bucks per month.
Is she stupid enough to think she needs dedicated hosting…..well, she is a birther and by their very nature dumber than mud
Whatever she’s paying, it also sounds better if you say you have massive hosting costs.
“Massive hosting costs” = “I have a really important site.”
The truth is in the Alexa ranking.
I wouldn’t put it past a birther to pay more for hosting just because it helps them feel more important.
Uhh, and I might fit that description too, within limits. My limit stopped somewhere south of Rackspace.com.
That’s where the site is now, the lower cost solution. I don’t know where it was hosted before.
Baffled me when P&E went paywall — how do you expect to to advance your cause when only people who agree with you are reading? I always suspected it had more to do with not being laughed at.
Well, I’m happy she’s dropping the paywall. P&E is a rich source of original idiocy. Taitz has become mostly cut and paste of other sites, and BR always was.
Oh, it was completely and totally because of people laughing at her. She figured she could preach to the choir, not have to deal with comments challenging her, and rake in those sweet, sweet birther bucks.
She failed. And the paywall didn’t stop people from laughing at her, all it did was drive away even people she wanted to convince. Now the paywall is down, and no comments either.
I figured it was to make money, although putting up a paywall doesn’t seem to me to be a particularly effective method of expanding your readership.
In any event, the Poster for eFail site is once again free for all to read. Oh joy.