New Docs to be released soon!
We received notice from the SAO office yesterday that they are preparing the next release of docs. :happydance:
In honor of David Bowie I'm tempted to serenade you all with bad karaoke version of
Chh, chh, CHANGES :rocker: but alas, I will spare you all and just explain in type. You're welcome. lol
For quite a while I have been working behind the scenes to find a way to help offset these substantial costs. As you all know, we still have a long way to go and a lot of docs are yet to be released. We have entered into an agreement with 3 other parties to share the files and expenses. One agency will request the docs and we will split the production/redaction costs (hourly labor fees)
which is the bulk of the expense. Each participant is responsible for their own their own cost per page (if documents) or the disks (if digital). We will still receive ALL the files we would have received if we had purchased them ourselves. Nothing about that will change. The only thing changes are positive ones: we will just be paying about 1/3 of what we would have if we purchased them without this agreement, it will save NIN a TON of time and work and we should be able to provide faster access to you guys.
That said, the original estimate for this batch was $1,800. :scared: That will probably increase a little since we know there will be one less party (WS) requesting them. (SAO splits the labor costs depending on how many agencies are requesting and it is my understanding there are fewer requests than in the beginning.) So the total amount is still not firm but, hopefully, a pretty close estimate.
I explained all this to Tricia and asked her how much our goal should be. We have $266 surplus left over from the last batch. Since this is new for all of us, she suggested we try to raise an additional $500 to make sure we can cover our portion. That may be more than we will need but any surplus will be applied to future doc purchases.
Anyway, I think everyone will agree that $500 is a whole lot better than $1,800. And we anticipate having some of that left over to apply to future purchases.
If you would like to contribute, here is the drill again -
Go to www.paypal.com and put in the email address websleuthsprojects@gmail.com
Note: you must have a PayPal account and, when posting your donation,
the entire email address above must be entered. (just typing in "Websleuths" will not work)
Tricia has directed me to ask anyone uncomfortable using the PayPal method, to PM her directly. She may have another couple of options available for you guys.
This is not a non-profit donation. There are no tax benefits for donating.
Thanks again to everyone. For your understanding, as well as your contributions. :heartbeat: