Here is a peek into the mail I have received from readers and “business partners” this month.
Hi Thomas,
We’re writing to remind you that your business, Donation (account ID: XXXXXXX), won’t be able to accept payments after June 20, 2023 as we’ve determined that your it’s in violation of the Stripe Services Agreement. Specifically, we are unable to accept payments for crowdfunding, as mentioned on our Restricted Businesses list.
After June 20, 2023, your account will be closed and you will no longer be able to accept payments on your account.
If you believe that we’ve misunderstood or miscategorized your business and would like us to conduct another review of your account, please complete the form below on your Stripe Dashboard to provide more information about your business.
Once we hear back from you, we will review your information and get in touch again within two business days.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
— The Stripe team
The good news is that you’ll still be able to donate to the (lost?) cause of keeping this blog going via PayPal. The bad news is that you all have donated a total of $228.80 so far this year, which is not enough to cover my overhead expenses (on internet, hosting, and subscriptions), much less to inspire me to spend who knows many hours every month reading the Russian press and Russian social media and sharing in translation important stories you would otherwise never read and unique viewpoints you would otherwise never hear. And when, often as not, the only “live” feedback to my labors is the kind you see, above, it makes me wonder whether it’s not time for me to bag this blog. ||| TRR
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I would not listen to these lazy, drive-by haters. You are providing a service to the Anglophone world of what is going on inside the Russian Federation, and this beats the constant nonsense stream of the usual suspects (Twitter*, Reddit, YouTube videos, etc. ) Hearing from actual Russians and the non-state organizations they have been running either since the perestroika years of the USSR or the Yeltsin years of the Russian Federation adds to our understanding of the country and allows outsiders to help of need be. You are doing far more than your detractors.
* NAFO is so out there you would think it was a Russian “black flag” propaganda operation. That it’s made up of supporters of the Georgian Legion and has such figures as Paul Massaro, Michael Weiss, Rep. Adam Kinzinger attached to it makes it more than a troll farm and less than some sort of front organization.
Thanks, Gary! It’s not that I listen to the drive-by haters, as you so aptly call them. But somehow I hear from them more often than from good folks like you. So your response was a welcome antidote to their poison.
You’re the only one who can say whether or not you should bag this blog. Blogging is hard (which is why I don’t have on), constant work.
Because of the sources you examine, and your personal contacts, you provide a set of things that otherwise might not be seen even by people who read Russian. That’s important and useful. If you can keep it up, thank you. If not, thank you for what you have done.
Thanks, Don, for your kind, supportive and timely response to my question. Thanks to responses like yours I’ve decided to keep it up for a while longer, at least.
“If you can keep it up, thank you. If not, thank you for what you have done.”
Could not agree more :)
Thanks, Max, for your support!