Investment Ideas For Objectivismonline

[DavidV]

I would like to begin a discussion of possible expansion and investment ideas for this website. Thanks to our Patron members and the generous donations of our donors, ObjectivismOnline now has a non-trivial budget that I would like to invest toward the objective of this website – promoting Objectivism. How should this budget be spent?

To provide a baseline, let's assume a discretionary budget of $500 per year and a wish-list budget of $5000 per year.

Once a number of worthwhile ideas have been aired and critiqued, I will draft a budget proposal and put it up to a vote to all current Patron members. They will have the option of approving it or passing an alternative budget. While only paying members will be able to vote on the budget, I would like to open this discussion up to everyone.

[DavidV]

I will provide the first idea: currently, 100% of the spending above hosting and software licensing costs is spent on Google ads.

[HaloNoble6]

Well, as has been mentioned before, I would like to see ObjectivismOnline tee-shirts and coffee mugs, and any other kind of stuff that could go into an ObjectivismOnline <i>online</i> shop!

One other idea I had, which I haven't given much thought, is the possibility of printing the highest quality threads into a soft-cover book and selling it cheap to clubs or other people that would be interested. I'm not sure how well a thread with links and other online attributes would lend itself to printing, nor whether any current thread is of such high quality to merit it being printed, nor whether you could do this without having to ask permission of every poster in a particular thread of interest, but it's a thought. I can envision young club leaders using it as a guide on how to lead discussions in their groups and to hone their own argumentation skills. You could also get a ton of exposure if this book could be sold on Amazon or something. Does this require that a publishing house publish you? Like I said, I haven't thought this through very thoroughly.

[softwareNerd]

... the possibility of printing the highest quality threads into a soft-cover book and selling it cheap to clubs or other people ...

Yes, it would be nice to be able to "mine" the archives for gold.

To address this idea specifically, I'd say not just the high quality threads, but also the "FAQ" issues. Take the issue of abortion. It is an issue that is always hotly debated on Objectivist forums. As discussion threads evolve, both sides to the argument start to specify more detailed contexts within which their views are relevant. Many special case are explored -- like abortion in minors. It would be nice if such issues could be documented in a way that lays down the cases for both sides, the main variants and special cases, and the conclusions. It could be quite an effort to make a good summary.

Not sure if it can be sold elsewhere, but it can enrich the site by making the archives more useful to newcomers.

[softwareNerd]

A recently revived thread about Burgess's book, "The Aristotle Adventure" gave me this idea: threads where an Objectivist author takes the readers through his book. An author-driven book discussion-group. Maybe everyone starts by buying the book! That gives you access to the discussion-group. And... 6 months later the discussions are made public.

A very rough idea... more in the nature of brain-storming.

[gnargtharst]

Perhaps sponsor a free-Fountainhead-for-schools locale. Add an "ObjectivismOnline.net" nameplate to the inside cover. See if/how many students pursue an interest in Objectivism via the books, and end up posting/reading here.

[EC]

I like the above idea, but maybe with a much shorter book like Anthem which kids would be more likely to read. I think when most young kids see a really long book they're like, "Damn, I'm not reading all that," whatever the subject matter happens to be.

[JMeganSnow]

I like the above idea, but maybe with a much shorter book like Anthem which kids would be more likely to read. I think when most young kids see a really long book they're like, "Damn, I'm not reading all that," whatever the subject matter happens to be.

How many kids have read the entire Harry Potter series? I think this is an unreasonable generalization. The only thing that puts me off a long book is that it's frequently an indication that the author doesn't handle brevity very well.

[dondigitalia]

Why not add it to both books? I see no reason to put an OO.net nameplate on only one of Rand's books. Of course, this would require the approval of the ARI & Mr. Peikoff. It may be a bit premature to discuss actions OO.net has no right to perform.

[non-contradictor]

I think they were referring to something like: "This book was donated by ObjectivismOnline.net" tags. I have seen these veery often before, particularly in school libraries. Are these tags improper? Doesn't OO.net have the right to put whatever tags it wants on books it purchased and then do whatever it wants with those books? I'd be interested to hear thoughts on this, because I am not sure.

As for The Fountainhead being too long, that depends entirely on what grade the kids are in. I read WTL in middle school. I read AS between 9th and 10th grade. Personally, I always looked for the longer books. That was because I was always annoyed when I paid $10 for a book and then read it in an hour. The long ones (assuming that both are good) are a better value.

[Atlas51184]

Along the lines of donating books: There is already an ARI program that does this. You send a donation to ARI marked for their free books for schools project, and then they buy sets of AR books for all the schools in a specific geographic region. They put a thing inside that says something like ‘Made possible by the generosity of ObjectivismOnline.net.’ I'm sure they have info on the website about this.

[dondigitalia]

That's exactly what I was referring to, Atlas. I can't think of any reason ARI would object to taking a donation in return for a notation inside the books, but it's still entirely up to them.

[non-contradictor]

Oh, I see what you mean then. That makes sense. But would it still be wrong for OO.net to bypass that step and buy the books themselves?

[plaintext]

Many members are young if I believe the poll on the site. Can this site be advertised to colleges? Do all the Objectivist campus clubs know about this site? Can they help promote it.

[dondigitalia]

Tea -

No, it wouldn't be wrong, just pointless. If ARI already has a program in place for donating books to schools, what would be the point in OO.net having a separate program that does exactly the same thing?

I think trying to advertise OO.net on those books is a fantastic, but the best way to have that happen would be to follow Atlas51184's suggestion above. ARI is very interested in making young people aware of Objectivism, and if they determine OO.net will aid them in that respect, I'm sure they will welcome the opportunity to spread the word about this site as a part of their program, particularly if a donation is offered as well.

[TomL]

Perhaps sponsor a free-Fountainhead-for-schools locale. Add an "ObjectivismOnline.net" nameplate to the inside cover. See if/how many students pursue an interest in Objectivism via the books, and end up posting/reading here.

In fact, ARI has a program for this already. OO.net could simply use the existent ARI program and still get the nameplate.

[Richard Roark]

Being a writer, I think another good way to possibly spread OO.net and Objectivism as such would be to put together a book of these possiblities.

First, Personal stories, what got you interested in Objectivism in the frist place and why, and how has it changed your life. Second, a compilitation of aspiring Objectivist writers works, poems and short stories as such. This could help spread the word of Objectivism in two ways. First it would help these young writers get their works published and names spread, which could possibly lead to further oppurtunities for the writers to get more works published. Last, a combination of the two could also effectively work.

Edited March 22, 2005 by Richard Roark

[DavidV]

I would like to see ObjectivismOnline tee-shirts and coffee mugs, and any other kind of stuff that could go into an ObjectivismOnline <i>online</i> shop!

By the way, I've had a shop up for the site on CafePress since 2003:

http://www.cafepress.com/rational

[plaintext]

Does this forum software allow sub-groups that only certain members may READ?

Does it allow posts to a sub-forum to be emailed to members of that sub-forum?

I ask for this idea...

"Rational parenting" (RPList) is a mailing list that members pay to join. Maybe about $50 a year. Members post discussions and ideas via email to the admin. If approved the email is broadcast out to all members. Suppose we offer the "Rational parenting" group a sub-forum. Only the members can see the posts.

Good for them because posts are organized nicely into threads.

Searching is possible.

Archive is available to members without searching old email.

Advantage to OO.net is to get some of those people interested in the more general discussions on objectivism.

It might be worth it to pay RPList some money ($200 a year == 4 subscriptions) as incentive.

If they dont like the plan, maybe they can run an advertisement for this forum.

[gnargtharst]

Somewhat incidental comment here, but...

If it gets around to it that OO.net should donate "free" books through ARI, with a nameplate, and it comes time to decide where the donation should go, i.e., what actual location (ARI contributors to the program designate a city or county...or state!)... I hereby humbly suggest SW FLorida (Lee, Charlotte, Hendry, Glades, Collier, etc. counties).

Why? (besides the fact that it is where I live)

Because there are already several counties involved in the free Fountainhead program here (Lee, Collier, & Pinellas); as a few more counties are funded, there will be a very large contiguous area of local schools teaching the Fountainhead (and Anthem). This concentration of students being exposed to Rand will create opportunities which might not be possible if donations were all spread out. For example: clubs, enough population to merit speakers and events, pressure on local colleges to offer related courses, and eventually pressure to the local school systems to offer Fountainhead in their standard curriculum -- this last is one of ARI's goals: once a local school system has taken on funding the Fontainhead, ARI resources can be moved on the next locale.

Read more about the program at www.aynrand.org. I'm very excited about my county, where ARI is distributing more than 500 books this year. Remember, these are books that were specifically requested by teachers, to teach in their classrooms!

[gnargtharst]

P.S. to my own comments above: I'd be happy to donate to such an effort, through OO.net (assuming there's a reasonably responsible organization to taking such donations, etc.).

It's kind of a nifty idea, the more I'm thinking about it; it enable those who wouldn't otherwise have enough to fund an entire county or state, to join with others to thusly donate.

[Hugh Akston]

Being a writer, I think another good way to possibly spread OO.net and Objectivism as such would be to put together a book of these possiblities.

First, Personal stories, what got you interested in Objectivism in the frist place and why, and how has it changed your life. Second, a compilitation of aspiring Objectivist writers works, poems and short stories as such. This could help spread the word of Objectivism in two ways. First it would help these young writers get their works published and names spread, which could possibly lead to further oppurtunities for the writers to get more works published. Last, a combination of the two could also effectively work.

I completely agree. I think that contributing our thoughts truly expands objectivism beyond the work that Ayn Rand has already acomplished. Published works would be great, but I have also heard of online books where writers add content to it, provided they use peer-reviews. Something like http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/C573 shows what it could be like. Due to changes in management the site is not quite what it used to be, but the principles that it was originally built under are still solid.

[DavidV]

Many members are young if I believe the poll on the site. Can this site be advertised to colleges? Do all the Objectivist campus clubs know about this site? Can they help promote it.

Do you have any ideas for how this can be done?

[DavidV]

I don’t think that advertising via book donations is the way to go. Not that it’s a bad idea, but I have a limited budget and an expertise in online activities. I think that maximizing the budged is best done by sticking to core competencies – such as via Google ads, for example. But what else can be done in this area?

[HaloNoble6]

Re: How to advertise to college students via online activities.

College students are perpetually broke and always in need of money in general. I propose holding competitions in many areas of interest. Some that come to mind:

1.) Like ARI, we could have essay contests.

2.) Writing contests of any kind, including poetry, playwriting etc.

3.) Contests for best musical composition, musical performance, etc. With respect to this, I would really like seeing contemporary-like popular music (like rock or alternative genres) that consists of heroic themes or verses that speak positively about values Objectivists hold dear.

4.) Contests for art work.

In general, there could be contests setup for nearly any product of the mind, with rewards established according to the difficulty of the task, as well as according to our budget. Also, we are not obliged to reward a single contestant if the entire field of contestants submit mediocre entries.

As for advertising this, it could be done online through Google. But I would also say that we could contact the school newspapers of major schools and advertise there as well. This would just take finding pertinent emails on webpages and inquiring about advertising costs.

Of course, we would have to weigh the cost of advertising with the cost of the actual reward, and we would have to come up with solid standards for judging the contestants. Everyone on the forum could participate in voting for their favorites, but final judgments would be made by patrons.

I think the money-motive is very enticing to college students, and that this would not only do well for advertising the site, but possibly for turning out excellent work we could all find valuable.