My friends, the times are a-changing here at Fanatical Apathy. Great changes are afoot.

No, I’m not leaving. I just need Help.

With thousands of unique visitors per week, hundreds of comments, and a great li’l community, you’d think everything was fine. Boom times. Golden Age. Irrational Exuberance.

But it’s getting tough: I’m not extremely savvy with the “internets.” Even with a spam-fighting program, it’s taking me several hours per week to separate the ‘insightful observations’ from the ads for ‘hot russian sluts.’ This becomes even more difficult when a hot russian slut has an insightful observation to offer.

Several thousand comments get automatically blocked every day. At least a thousand more per week have to be deleted and added to the “black-list.” And you guys keep emailing me to tell me about curiously malfunctioning Comment behavior.

Here’s what I need to do: I need to upgrade to a newer version of the ancient software that runs this place, which will make spam-fighting easier. I might need to purchase more server space - in the past few months alone, the legitimate comments have taken up 11 MB or so. You’re a loquacious bunch. I’d also like to change the look a bit, spruce up the place, maybe put in a few houseplants and a throw pillow or two.

So I’ve got two choices.

1) One or two of you volunteers to do my dirty work. Installs the stuff, sets it free. Maybe someone else helps me refurbish the Look and Feel.

2) I set up a PayPal button and start shilling for donations, which will allow me to pay for the work I need done here and the eventual maintenance. As much as I love this site, it’s already costing me enough to maintain, and I simply can’t be sinking more into a project that is essentially an extremely fun hobby.

Even though I’ve got a deeply-ingrained personal taboo against Asking For Stuff, these are desperate times. So consider this an APB for Technical Assistance. Or perhaps a warning about an incipient Pledge Drive. Either way, I’m looking for a spirit of volunteerism, a thousand points of light, the glorious tapestry, enlightened self-interest, etc.

Pony up.

____________

UPDATE: I’ve added a PayPal “donate” button over on the right. Consider it a maintenance fund/tip jar kind of thing. I don’t expect it to cover all of the site’s expenses or magically fix the technical problems, but it’s a start… Donate away. I won’t try to stop you.