MILESTONE: The PP Blog’s 2,500th Post: Pennies For Our Thoughts

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally was published at 12:40 a.m. ET on Nov. 3. It will continue to appear at the top of the PP Blog for a while, but new stories will appear below it . . .

Dear Readers,

What a long, strange, occasionally exhilarating and sometimes frightening ride it has been. This letter celebrates the PP Blog’s 2,500^th post with WordPress. Our first was 2,152 days ago, excluding today’s date. Some of you have been with us every step of the way since December 2008.

Many of you have shared your knowledge in our Comments sections and helped shape our thinking. This has helped us create a better publication, one that frames issues in context and provides analysis. Readers get breaking news, situational news and opinion.

One thing became evident early on: the serial scammers and willfully blind hucksters hate the coverage and hold the analysis in particular contempt. As our story total increased from dozens to hundreds and, now, to 2,500, we’ve been able to point readers to more and more content that helps them see patterns and understand things in a fuller context, a context that is more meaningful to them.

We often use both the current story and the Comments thread below the story to point readers to internal and external sources of information that create “lightbulb” moments. For example, lots of readers probably didn’t understand how similar Zeek Rewards was to AdSurfDaily until we helped them understand.

There have been days in which so much news was breaking that we couldn’t get to it all or had to present capsules. On days we do not publish, we’re typically researching and reporting on a story that will be published later. Our deep editorial well remains available 24/7/365, even on days we do not add new content.

The PP Blog started by covering the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. It seemed for a while that it could never get stranger than ASD, but of course it has. The strangeness alone is worrisome. It is one of the reasons we’ve kept our nose to the grindstone. This amount of disconnect and the serial nature of the schemes speak to a growing menace.

These schemes rob people of freedom, shatter dreams, create friction between nations and lead to situations in which the dark forces of criminality gain economic power.

Because “sovereign citizens” made their presence known in in ASD and other unqualified debacles, we worked coverage of national-security issues into our coverage of securities fraud.

Affinity fraud often accompanies Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes. People of faith are constant targets. So are people whose first language may be one other than English. People frequently are targeted by race or ethnicity, often by magnetic personalities within the specific groups. It has become clear to us that people also are being targeted based on their political views.

If you’re inclined to believe that being a traditional Republican or Democrat very well might be a sign of mental illness or that the antichrist or closeted Nazis and Communists are running things in the corridors of power, rest assured that a Ponzi schemer or securities fraudster has fashioned an offer designed to appeal to your prejudices.

The PP Blog always has been free. It helps educate, inform and enlighten readers, including victims of Ponzi and pyramid schemes who’ve been reduced to ruin and spend their lives consumed by worry.

It should not be that way in America – or any nation.

We received a note the other day from a person who lives in an African nation that knows poverty. Some individuals in this country thankfully see themselves as up-and-coming entrepreneurs who not only will improve their own lives, but the lives of their family members and fellow citizens.

This individual thanked us for our coverage of TelexFree, but reminded us that the fallout went way beyond the Latino and Portuguese communities. We’ve known for some time that we’re building a small audience in Africa. Our audiences in South America also are building. The first time we noticed this was when we became the first publication in the world to confirm through a government official that TelexFree, which had a presence in Brazil, was under investigation in its home state of Massachusetts.

These hideous schemes are affecting people globally. The security situation they create is untenable. The local danger is that they turn family and friends against each other while at once harming local economies. Because murky forces are at work and marriages between organized crime and political extremists can occur, the schemes pose a threat to international security.

Today, to mark our 2,500^th post, we’re asking readers who believe in what this Blog is doing to take out a one-year subscription for either $25, $50, $75 or $100.

At the same time, we’re trying to have a little fun with this. You see, the $25 fee constitutes a penny a post for our current editorial well of 2,500 articles. There’s a pull-down menu in case you decide you’d like personally to value the editorial well at 2 cents a post ($50), 3 cents a post ($75) or 4 cents a post ($100).

The subscription will renew in a year.

Friends, it hasn’t been easy. You’ll be helping me personally. And you’ll be helping a Blog that publishes an average of 416 stories a year and keeps matters important to readers a bookmark away remain free for other readers.

My best to my longtime readers of goodwill, whether you become a yearly subscriber in any category or not. No one who is experiencing financial pain should sign up for a year’s subscription, even if you have the money right now.

Some readers have inquired about subscriptions. I have thought about it for a long time, but always have been concerned that subscriptions could lead to lower readership. Lower readership is not a good thing, especially when scams are spreading virally on the Internet.

This “penny-a-post” idea to commemorate our 2,500^th post has helped me scotch the very real concern about affecting readership. There will be no paywall. The readers who subscribe will be helping keep the Blog free for those who cannot afford to subscribe and for those who simply choose not to.

My sincere thank you for your continued interest in the PP Blog.

Patrick

PP Blog 2,500thPost Subscriptions

1 Cent Per Post : $25.00 USD – yearly2 Cents Per Post : $50.00 USD – yearly3 Cents Per Post : $75.00 USD – yearly4 Cents Per Post : $100.00 USD – yearly