This surprised me. Since I know--partly from the advertisers, and partly from occasionally being sent payment invoices that were supposed to go to the "safe space" blog--how much Weinberg's advertising costs, I can say with some confidence that he is taking in at least $30,000 (and probably more) in advertising revenue each year: so he has effectively increased his total income by nearly 50% thanks to my showing how to monetize philosophy blogging (you're welcome, Justin!). But now he's also asking for regular donations, lest the blog that is earning 30K per year end: "If there’s enough revenue through the Patreon page, I will hire a part-time assistant to help with the site. That would be an enormous help to me and crucial for DN’s long-term sustainability. (I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this unassisted.)" Of course, he could hire an assistant now, given the advertising revenue; I hire someone already for IT support, out of my advertising revenue (which is not nearly as much, due to the reduced summer rates and summer blogging).
I confess I had always assumed that Weinberg's supine posture on so many professional issues was attributable to his need not to offend anyone because of how important the money is to him (I am not so motivated, which will surprise no one). This latest move to generate even more money only strengthens that supposition. Readers who enjoy the "safe space" blog and are thinking of contributing might want to know how much of this new revenue source is actually going to hiring an assistant. (After several weeks there are only about two dozen contributors, so I'm guessing many readers had the same doubts about this pan-handling.)
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