Black This Out Moneybomb Beta Launch!

[dusman]

http://www.blackthisout.com is back live and taking pledges!

We'll be pulling in all the prior pledges already made into the database tomorrow, but I thought I'd throw this out here so you all can critique it and check for any bugs for us.

We're working on several other features that will be deployed soon! Lot's of great things coming, for those who haven't kept up on our thread! As we solidify plans, I'll update this thread with a feature list.

Let me know what you all think!

A special thanks to Chainspell for letting us use his awesome video for the time being, until we can put a themed video in place!

[Dark Aerow]

wont let me pledge. When I click the link it just reloads the page. the pledge button is just a link to http://www.blackthisout.com/index.php

[dusman]

wont let me pledge. When I click the link it just reloads the page.

Oops, I probably need a thank you page!

Are you ZIP 48867? If so, it put you in and updated counter. You may need to refresh.

[dusman]

Ok, I threw up a quick thank you page.

[parocks]

http://www.blackthisout.com is back live and taking pledges!

We'll be pulling in all the prior pledges already made into the database tomorrow, but I thought I'd throw this out here so you all can critique it and check for any bugs for us.

We're working on several other features that will be deployed soon! Lot's of great things coming, for those who haven't kept up on our thread! As we solidify plans, I'll update this thread with a feature list.

Let me know what you all think!

A special thanks to Chainspell for letting us use his awesome video for the time being, until we can put a themed video in place!

Looks so classy, great great design.

I tested it, it worked partially. The amount of the pledge part didn't work. But it did seem to properly submit. I also tried the emailing component of share this and that worked.

It looks great.

[dusman]

Looks so classy, great great design.

I tested it, it worked partially. The amount of the pledge part didn't work. But it did seem to properly submit. I also tried the emailing component of share this and that worked.

It looks great.

Hmm, was the slider function broken or did you pass by it without realizing the slider controls the pledge amount? That's one thing I'm a bit concerned with.

[Dark Aerow]

Could it be possible to make the pledge button clickable after they've filled out the information or just make the pledge button lead to a new page where you fill out the information.

Thats where I got confused. I didn't even notice the slider.

Other than that, the new design looks fantastic. Great work.

[AdamT]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to dusman again.

Looks freaking amazing! Great job.

[AdamT]

Won't accept data in the amount field.

[dusman]

Ok, I added a little cue for the slider. I had a feeling that might cause some issues. It was definitely a bit odd, with no instruction.

[AdamT]

Ok, I added a little cue for the slider. I had a feeling that might get missed.

Oh, duh. Got it figured out now haha.

I would recommend making the site copy font size larger. It's a bit hard to read.

Edit - maybe you could make that little red slider look more like a handle?

[svobody]

Looks awesome. Very edgy.

[dusman]

Oh, duh. Got it figured out now haha.

I would recommend making the site copy font size larger. It's a bit hard to read.

Edit - maybe you could make that little red slider look more like a handle?

Yeah.. for some reason it won't let me use an image for the handle! It's been a thorn in my side for like 30 minutes. Argh.

[TIMB0B]

So, do I need to pledge again?

[dusman]

So, do I need to pledge again?

You can if you'd like. I'm keeping a small window open if people didn't get a chance to pledge an amount. I'll delete any duplicate e-mails with empty amounts.

[lucky_bg]

I love it! Great work!

[BucksforPaul]

http://www.blackthisout.com is back live and taking pledges!

We'll be pulling in all the prior pledges already made into the database tomorrow, but I thought I'd throw this out here so you all can critique it and check for any bugs for us.

We're working on several other features that will be deployed soon! Lot's of great things coming, for those who haven't kept up on our thread! As we solidify plans, I'll update this thread with a feature list.

Let me know what you all think!

A special thanks to Chainspell for letting us use his awesome video for the time being, until we can put a themed video in place!

First of all +rep for a great job.

I have a few suggestions and hopefully you don't mind. The date of the money bomb needs to be prominent and if possible needs to be included in the banner or right below it. Also, a prominent link to Ron Paul's official site needs to be present including a message/disclaimer that all contributions are to be made to the official site. The older version of blackthisout website did have this so maybe something similar. Thank you for all of your activism!

[dusman]

First of all +rep for a great job.

I have a few suggestions and hopefully you don't mind. The date of the money bomb needs to be prominent and if possible needs to be included in the banner or right below it. Also, a prominent link to Ron Paul's official site needs to be present including a message/disclaimer that all contributions are to be made to the official site. The older version of blackthisout website did have this so maybe something similar. Thank you for all of your activism!

Agreed! We'll be adding a whole lot more over the next few weeks.

[skyorbit]

It doesn't say our Goal is to get 1 million pledges on the site anymore.

[parocks]

Hmm, was the slider function broken or did you pass by it without realizing the slider controls the pledge amount? That's one thing I'm a bit concerned with.

without realizing the slider.

I just played with it and it works well

[dusman]

It doesn't say our Goal is to get 1 million pledges on the site anymore.

Eh, simply because 1 million pledges is an unrealistic goal at this point. Don't get me wrong, WE CAN get there.. but the groundwork isn't laid for that to happen just yet. To get a million pledges, we need a considerably larger base, a much longer time frame, and much better marketing initiatives behind it. I'm pretty sure Ron Paul has about 2-3 million supporters, but only a fraction of those people actually donate.

My thought on this is, if we focus on 1 million.. we'll get overzealous and not do the little things that get us 1 or 2 at a time, thinking that it doesn't do enough to get us there. That approach will then stifle us even getting to 50,000 pledges. It's those small little influences that get us there and where we should focus our efforts. Bear in mind in Dec. 07 we had a historical day of $6million raised, but we did it with only about 60,000 donations.

1 million translates to about 15,000 pledges every day for the next two months. That is quite a task. However, there is a lot of effort to get there!

[TexMac]

Hm, I had to SCROLL DOWN to find the pledge thingy. Also, don't you think the header should be "Black THIS Out" instead of "BLACK this out"

[Steve-in-NY]

Well done! I pledged.

[dusman]

Hm, I had to SCROLL DOWN to find the pledge thingy. Also, don't you think the header should be "Black THIS Out" instead of "BLACK this out"

Don't worry, we are going to do A/B testing on the pledge form to see where it works best. As for the logo, I'm there with you on that.. and have been thinking about changing it. I'll make some variations and get a consensus before going all out on marketing materials.

[TexMac]

OK, thanks for all your hard work.

[ItsTime]

Looks good, suggestion would be put the pledge box where the video is and the video where the pledge box is. Also will there be a map showing 'pins' where all the pledges are coming from? I think that will set this moneybomb over the top.


Edit: missed this

Don't worry, we are going to do A/B testing on the pledge form to see where it works best. As for the logo, I'm there with you on that.. and have been thinking about changing it. I'll make some variations and get a consensus before going all out on marketing materials.

Good idea.

[ItsTime]

Also need the disclaimer and privacy statements on the bottom.

[bluesc]

Wow. The site looks awesome. Good job!

[LinuxJedi]

I think that it might be a good idea to show how much everyone has pledged so far (in total), or how much each person would have to contribute to reach that goal. It might be a good idea to have a ticker for pledges, even, just so that people can get satisfaction from seeing that number go up.

[dusman]

I think that it might be a good idea to show how much everyone has pledged so far (in total), or how much each person would have to contribute to reach that goal. It might be a good idea to have a ticker for pledges, even, just so that people can get satisfaction from seeing that number go up.

We intend to launch that kind of functionality. We may also feature stories of media bias and allow each one to accept pledges to "protest" bad journalism. In this way, we can keep track of how much pledged money is raised from these stories and thank those authors for their bias... which raised x amount of dollars for the Ron Paul campaign.

[PastaRocket848]

i'm going to be sending the .csv of the existing pledges to jack once i get home tonight. you should have them in your email this evening. no need for people to re-pledge.

[dusman]

i'm going to be sending the .csv of the existing pledges to jack once i get home tonight. you should have them in your email this evening. no need for people to re-pledge.

Awesome. Thanks!

[teacherone]

the slider looks like a donation thermometer or a ticker!i thought that only 0 was pledged and that there was no way to enter a pledge amount into the field.i would definitely change this - i recommend a standard text box to enter the pledge amount which automatically updates the ticker/ thermometer.very confusing as it stands...but amazing design!

[dusman]

the slider looks like a donation thermometer or a ticker!i thought that only 0 was pledged and that there was no way to enter a pledge amount into the field.i would definitely change this - i recommend a standard text box to enter the pledge amount which automatically updates the ticker/ thermometer.very confusing as it stands...but amazing design!

The challenge is standardizing the input, so that we can automate the process of collecting the database info and getting an accurate pledge/total count.

We could do a standard input, but that raises some odd issues if they enter it incorrectly (validation measures would reload page with an error message/throw a popup alert.. some might enter extra 0s or miss that they pledged the wrong amount) and could lead to some drop-off or distortion in the totals. We could put in radio options (like ronpaul2012.com donations), but that is ugly and limits flexibility. A dropdown menu is probably the next best alternative, but that leaves 250 options to scroll through if going by $10 increments.

With that in mind, I am pretty convinced a slider is the best solution available. However, I definitely see what you mean that it might be confusing and I have started to put measures in place (like the "Slide It" text) to clarify the functionality.

I completely agree it could use some work and I'm open to suggestions on how to make a slider make more sense here. I put that together pretty quickly, so it has by no means been fully vetted as far as usability is concerned.

I'm most interested in the perspectives of those people, like you, who found it confusing.

Since the point of this thread is to fix all these issues, I'd love to hear some opinions on the verbiage and how it can be adjusted to not be confused with any other purpose. This is most important, because once a final consensus has been reached, this will be converted into a widget and shared across the web to allow multiple points of pledging that may span many, many web sites.

Thanks for the input.

[parocks]

Don't worry, we are going to do A/B testing on the pledge form to see where it works best. As for the logo, I'm there with you on that.. and have been thinking about changing it. I'll make some variations and get a consensus before going all out on marketing materials.

I prefer Black THIS out.

[dusman]

I prefer Black THIS out.

Yep, reworking this.

[PastaRocket848]

Use Rails! No seriously I'm a rails fanboy but everything you just mentioned can be done in a few lines of ror.

[Paul4Prez]

A dropdown menu is probably the next best alternative, but that leaves 250 options to scroll through if going by $10 increments.


Use a dropdown menu, and limit it to a few choices: 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 2500. People are still free of course to donate more, but those are pretty standard increments. You could even word it like "I pledge to donate AT LEAST...." and then the dropdown.

The slider is cool, but it makes people feel poor and unwanted if they can only donate one or two percent of the max, even though 20 and 50 dollar donations are what most people can give, and they can really add up.

[parocks]

The challenge is standardizing the input, so that we can automate the process of collecting the database info and getting an accurate pledge/total count.

We could do a standard input, but that raises some odd issues if they enter it incorrectly (validation measures would reload page with an error message/throw a popup alert.. some might enter extra 0s or miss that they pledged the wrong amount) and could lead to some drop-off or distortion in the totals. We could put in radio options (like ronpaul2012.com donations), but that is ugly and limits flexibility. A dropdown menu is probably the next best alternative, but that leaves 250 options to scroll through if going by $10 increments.

With that in mind, I am pretty convinced a slider is the best solution available. However, I definitely see what you mean that it might be confusing and I have started to put measures in place (like the "Slide It" text) to clarify the functionality.

I completely agree it could use some work and I'm open to suggestions on how to make a slider make more sense here. I put that together pretty quickly, so it has by no means been fully vetted as far as usability is concerned.

I'm most interested in the perspectives of those people, like you, who found it confusing.

Since the point of this thread is to fix all these issues, I'd love to hear some opinions on the verbiage and how it can be adjusted to not be confused with any other purpose. This is most important, because once a final consensus has been reached, this will be converted into a widget and shared across the web to allow multiple points of pledging that may span many, many web sites.

Thanks for the input.

you might consider the words "pledge slider" or "amount slider" in the "make a pledge" font right below the slider on the left. slightly larger than the text below it, in the
same color as "make a pledge" You might want to use those pixels for something else that you're adding in later. That's a place where the various facebook twitter etc etc etc shares and likes and tweets seem to go. - take a look at the revolution pacs superbomb page for various code you can drop in there.

[Monique]

Great news. When I started with a facebook account 4 days ago, there was a website for this money bomb and 57 people were attending. Now it is up to 368 and rising. I send out around 300 invites a day. Here is the page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224265770952480. Make sure you go over there and click attend too.

I adore the new BlackThisOUt website!!! Kudos!!!! A+++++ work. I will be sending out that link to everyone I can too. lol...In only 3 days I have
so many friends I can't keep track. I get about 50 new Ron Paul friends a day.

I will continue to work on this. I will push it more right now and see how many attendees I can get.

Oh, I can feel this. This is going to freakin' huge!!!!!!

It is sooo early and we have people already getting excited!! I know I am.

Go Ron Go!!!!!

[RonPaulFever]

We are sick of your lies and repeated attempts to dismiss Ron Paul as a 2012 GOP Frontrunner. The media BLACKOUT immediately after the 2012 Ames Straw Poll proves just how far the media will go to suppress the message of freedom. This is the last straw.

We will not let you dictate who we should vote for. This October 19th will go down as one of the greatest grassroots donation efforts in history. We will do it WITHOUT You.

I don't care for this at all. Besides the bad grammar (ending a sentence with a preposition), improper capitalization (Frontrunner), and odd usage of all caps (BLACKOUT, WITHOUT), it just sounds really amateur.

[ItsTime]

Great news. When I started with a facebook account 4 days ago, there was a website for this money bomb and 57 people were attending. Now it is up to 368 and rising. I send out around 300 invites a day. Here is the page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224265770952480. Make sure you go over there and click attend too.

I adore the new BlackThisOUt website!!! Kudos!!!! A+++++ work. I will be sending out that link to everyone I can too. lol...In only 3 days I have
so many friends I can't keep track. I get about 50 new Ron Paul friends a day.

I will continue to work on this. I will push it more right now and see how many attendees I can get.

Oh, I can feel this. This is going to freakin' huge!!!!!!

It is sooo early and we have people already getting excited!! I know I am.

Go Ron Go!!!!!

Try pushing them here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471

Since it looks like you maybe trying to hijack this and suggesting to others that the day may be moved to Nov 5th. We were also going to hold off promoting this until the Constitution moneybomb was over.

[Monique]

What are you talking about? Nov 5th? Huh? This is for the Moneybomb on Oct. 19th. WTF are you talking about?

Hijack it?

HUH???

Since when is supporting Ron hijacking anything?

I didn't create either website. I am simply pushing the moneybomb that people started.

[ItsTime]

What are you talking about? Nov 5th? Huh? This is for the Moneybomb on Oct. 19th. WTF are you talking about?

Hijack it?

HUH???

Since when is supporting Ron hijacking anything?

I didn't create either website. I am simply pushing the moneybomb that people started.

Are you Awaken America? A post made by them yesterday:


If we need to, we can push this back to November 5th, but hopefull no later because there aren't any significant days (that I know of) after 11-5 that won't interfere with Christmas shopping (nobody will be able to afford a moneybomb after Thanksgiving). Post on my Awaken America page if you think it should be moved back or if we should continue with this date (I like this date, but Nov 5 does have some nostalgia attached to it).

If you are not Awaken America sorry for the confusion. But it appears they are thinking about moving the date, which would really f@#k things up. Therefore "hijacking".

[Monique]

I don't know who Awaken America is. I am not moving any date, that would be insane.

Moreover, the 5th of November is Guy Fawkes day and the day some group called anon or something, is planning on tearing facebook down.

I was against using the 5th of November last time around and I wouldn't be for it this time.

As far as that facebook page goes, the other one, that was up before this one was posted, already has dozens of people on fb promoting it. I know, because I have been working for days trying to get it pushed.

I haven't seen anyone on here doing anything except saying they want the money bombs to be a big success, and I happen to know it takes hard work. I tried for a long time to get people to help me actually promote these things but I didn't get one bit of help. I tried to do work on the Sept. 17th one, but I was yelled at and attacked and for a while they wouldn't change the ronpaulwins thing to have only one date on it. I know I can't promote a money bomb that is advertised as an end of quarter push. I don't like to get yelled at. I decided to help promote this one instead. And since I can't find anyone else who wants to help I am not going to sit around here and wait for people to act. I support Ron Paul. It takes a long time to promote a money bomb and so I am doing the work. For me that means sitting around for hours sending out requests for people to spread the word about this money bomb. And so far, in 4 days, the attendees has moved from 57 to 369 now. I sent out invitations to over 50 people to that event today. In the past half hour that is.

I just thought it would be nice to share some victory.

[LibertyEagle]

Are you Awaken America? A post made by them yesterday:

If you are not Awaken America sorry for the confusion. But it appears they are thinking about moving the date, which would really f@#k things up. Therefore "hijacking".

No, I'll vouch for her. She is a friend of mine and was quite active in the '07-'08 campaign. :)

[ItsTime]

^Awesome! To be safe please promote this one, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471 we are going to go all out after the Constitution moneybomb and the site is out of beta. But if you want to take action now please go ahead! We love your type of go get em attitude.

There is also an official Black This Out an page: http://www.facebook.com/BlackThisOut

I am a little worried that the other person is thinking about changing the date, when we have already decided on the 19th of Oct.

Best case is we have two event pages.

[ItsTime]

No, I'll vouch for her. She is a friend of mine and was quite active in the '07-'08 campaign. :)

Yup got your PM, thanks :)

[Monique]

Which group is planning on changing the date? I already have 50 people who have offered to help spread that facebook page and they are already spreading it to others. So far, I have had 10 requests to me for that event! lol. So, I know it is spreading like wildfire. What do I do now?

[Monique]

I will push the other page from here on out, but that is really going to hurt. Are you sure they are trying to change the date? B

[ItsTime]

Which group is planning on changing the date? I already have 50 people who have offered to help spread that facebook page and they are already spreading it to others. So far, I have had 10 requests to me for that event! lol. So, I know it is spreading like wildfire. Do you have any reason to belive that this page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224265770952480 is in the hands of the Awaken America people?

The group you just linked too may be planning to change the date. From what I get from their posts.

If you look at who created the event

Created By Awaken America

The one I posted to is the "official" one.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471

[Monique]

Are you sure they are trying to change the date? I have already gotten so many people pushing the first one. UGH!! It would really be horrible if they do.

[Monique]

Alright, I will try to use the new page, but can you put up a nice picture? The other page is much better with that pic attached to it.

[ItsTime]

Picture up. Like I said we were holding off until the launch but fire away!

[LibertyEagle]

Why are there 2 separate Facebook pages?

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471
http://www.facebook.com/BlackThisOut

Do we really need two? I am a Facebook noob, so I may not be understanding. Would you please explain, ItsTime?

[Monique]

Great! The new pic is terrific.

Now, can you please add the line The Ron Paul Money Bomb to Surpass all other Moneybombs! Or something like that. That title was really catchy. I am not saying to change the title, but add that phrase so people think it is all the same thing. What can they do, sue you for using a phrase? I will start pushing everyone over there now. I promise.

[Monique]

We are currently at 17 attending. I will double that and more by the end of the night.

[ItsTime]

Why are there 2 separate Facebook pages?

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471
http://www.facebook.com/BlackThisOut

Do we really need two? I am a Facebook noob, so I may not be understanding. Would you please explain, ItsTime?

One is a regular facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BlackThisOut the other is an "event" page (where you rsvp for the moneybomb) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471 created by the regular facebook page .

[ItsTime]

Great! The new pic is terrific.

Now, can you please add the line The Ron Paul Money Bomb to Surpass all other Moneybombs! Or something like that. That title was really catchy. I am not saying to change the title, but add that phrase so people think it is all the same thing. What can they do, sue you for using a phrase? I will start pushing everyone over there now. I promise.

Good suggestion and done.

[Monique]

My problem is people are confused. They search for the moneybomb so they can attend, don't see an attend button, and leave. Could you change the other page to something like Money Bomb event page or something generic. I mean, I know that is a pathetic title, but you know what I am suggesting. Whatever you are trying to do with the regular page, it could have a different name, right?

[LibertyEagle]

One is a regular facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BlackThisOut the other is an "event" page (where you rsvp for the moneybomb) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471 created by the regular facebook page .

Ok, excuse my ignorance, please. What's the purpose of having 2? Why not just have 1 with the attend button? Seems confusing to me. Like I said, I'm a Facebook noob. lol.

[Monique]

But, OMG, it is wonderful to work with someone who is willing to take suggestions!! I can't thank you enough.

I LOVE the new pic on the event page! And the copy after it is great too!!!

[ItsTime]

My problem is people are confused. They search for the moneybomb so they can attend, don't see an attend button, and leave. Could you change the other page to something like Money Bomb even page. I mean, I know that is a pathetic title, but you know what I am suggesting. Whatever you are trying to do with the regular page, it could have a different name, right?

Just invite them to RSVP. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181997088537471#!/event.php?eid=181997088537471

26 and counting ;)

[Monique]

In 4 days I have managed to get 235 facebook friends on an account and they are all Rp supporters!!

[ItsTime]

Ok, excuse my ignorance, please. What's the purpose of having 2? Why not just have 1 with the attend button? Seems confusing to me. Like I said, I'm a Facebook noob. lol.

Two was so I didnt need to create the event with my personal facebook page. Really dont need to like the page, just RSVP.

[Monique]

Or do you have to have a regular page before you can create an event for it? I don't know nothing about the darn facebook. rofl.

[LibertyEagle]

Oh, I get it. Thanks so much for explaining. :)

[Monique]

Two was so I didnt need to create the event with my personal facebook page. Really dont need to like the page, just RSVP.

Ahh. That makes sense. but, can you change the title of that page you created? Even just a We Support Ron Paul and Help Him Get Money page? Something like that? Something that you can use again for events? Does that make any sense?

Anyway, I just sent out 200 invitations to the now official Black This Out event page!

[Monique]

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! From 17 to 31 attending already!!

[ItsTime]

Ahh. That makes sense. but, can you change the title of that page you created? Even just a We Support Ron Paul and Help Him Get Money page? Something like that? Something that you can use again for events? Does that make any sense?

Anyway, I just sent out 200 invitations to the now official Black This Out event page!

No the fan page is set in stone. Facebook wont let me change that. On that page Ill be sending reminders to RSVP for the event. This way it covers all bases.

Thanks for the help. 34

[Monique]

Ok. It is what is. No biggie. I will be sending out the official BTO page to EVERYONE!! As we get closer, I will send it out to whole groups and hope they post it on their website.

[Monique]

From 31 to 39 attending! See, I promised I would double it! Now...we have to double that! LOL.

[ItsTime]

Awesome! Im signing off now, Ill pick this back up in the morning, should be exciting to see the growth.

[jlaker]

Nice! Sent info to a few of my friends already:)

[dusman]

We are sick of your lies and repeated attempts to dismiss Ron Paul as a 2012 GOP Frontrunner. The media BLACKOUT immediately after the 2012 Ames Straw Poll proves just how far the media will go to suppress the message of freedom. This is the last straw.

We will not let you dictate who we should vote for. This October 19th will go down as one of the greatest grassroots donation efforts in history. We will do it WITHOUT You.

I don't care for this at all. Besides the bad grammar (ending a sentence with a preposition), improper capitalization (Frontrunner), and odd usage of all caps (BLACKOUT, WITHOUT), it just sounds really amateur.

Yeah, it could use some work. Feel free to write something up and we can take a consensus!

[Monique]

yippee!!! We have now moved from 39 to 54!!! This is fantastic!!

..............58 attending now!

[Monique]

Up to 69 already! I am pushing this really hard. :)

[Monique]

nvm

[Monique]

80 and counting!! I did it. I doubled the 17 to 34. And I doubled the 34 and we are up to 80! It will be hard to keep up doubling it every day, but I will certainly try!

[ItsTime]

134 in less than 24 hours good job guys and gals!

Moneybomb schedule as follows

Constitution Day Sept 17th
Black This Out Oct 19th
Veterans Day 11/11/11 V for Veterans!

[Monique]

Update...currently at 145 attending! And I have already seen people send me the link to it too! It is spreading!!

[justatrey]

I haven't checked this in a while; the new site looks great!

A few minor things others have probably already mentioned:

- I like the slider, but I think you should also let users type in any amount between 0 and 2500. For example, I should be able to pledge $5, $25, $75, $20.12, etc.
- Emphasis on "Black THIS Out".
- The text could has a couple mistakes I noticed. "You" and "Frontrunner" are capitalized but shouldn't be. Yeah, I'm nitpicking. I just think that overall the text could be a little better.

[Monique]

Up to 202 attending so far!

[dusman]

Original:

We are sick of your lies and repeated attempts to dismiss Ron Paul as a 2012 GOP Frontrunner. The media BLACKOUT immediately after the 2012 Ames Straw Poll proves just how far the media will go to suppress the message of freedom. This is the last straw.

We will not let you dictate who we should vote for. This October 19th will go down as one of the greatest grassroots donation efforts in history. We will do it WITHOUT You.

So go ahead, BLACK THIS OUT!


New:

WE THE PEOPLE stand as one against media censorship, misrepresentation, and bias. With great power, comes great responsibility and we will hold you accountable.

WE THE PEOPLE always prefer the message of freedom over any other corporate-spun utopia. Occasionally, the idea of freedom is lost to our minds, but never shall it be lost to our hearts.

WE THE PEOPLE, on October 19th, 2011, will make tens of thousands of donations to Ron Paul. It will be the largest presidential campaign contribution day in history and you will be forced to report that it was inspired by your own reporting.

So, go ahead, BLACK THIS OUT!

-----

Thoughts? Improvements?

[Monique]

I actually like the original text. I think yours looks a little campaigny and more rah rah and the first one looks more like it came from the heart. I sort of like the more grassroots look about it. More homey.

My favorite line is:
We will not let you dictate who we should vote for.
and number two is:
We will do it WITHOUT You.

[parocks]

Original:

We are sick of your lies and repeated attempts to dismiss Ron Paul as a 2012 GOP Frontrunner. The media BLACKOUT immediately after the 2012 Ames Straw Poll proves just how far the media will go to suppress the message of freedom. This is the last straw.

We will not let you dictate who we should vote for. This October 19th will go down as one of the greatest grassroots donation efforts in history. We will do it WITHOUT You.

So go ahead, BLACK THIS OUT!


New:

WE THE PEOPLE stand as one against media censorship, misrepresentation, and bias. With great power, comes great responsibility and we will hold you accountable.

WE THE PEOPLE always prefer the message of freedom over any other corporate-spun utopia. Occasionally, the idea of freedom is lost to our minds, but never shall it be lost to our hearts.

WE THE PEOPLE, on October 19th, 2011, will make tens of thousands of donations to Ron Paul. It will be the largest presidential campaign contribution day in history and you will be forced to report that it was inspired by your own reporting.

So, go ahead, BLACK THIS OUT!

-----

Thoughts? Improvements?

The Ron Paul campaign back in 07 seemed to have 2 types of vibes - the Revolution / v for vendetta / and black THIS out vibe and the patriotic, founding fathers, traditional, tea party, constitution day vibe. This black this out is more of the youthful, edgy type, and the "we the people" language is more of the traditional type.

I would think the language for black THIS out would lean as close to young guy who is really pissed off at the media as possible.

[dusman]

Yeah, after looking at it more carefully I think I see what you guys mean. I'll work on another draft later on. Open to submissions from anyone if they'd like to give it a shot.

Also, I'm looking for some help with publishing stories that get submitted from web site visitors. Basically, one of the next features that will be available is allowing people to submit any news reports that fit in the realm of bad reporting. Just need help writing a quick brief on any of these that come in and provide sources for rebuttal, counter arguments, etc.

Anyone willing to help on that front?

These stories will then be published on the web site and visitors will be able to make pledges from each article, which will be reflected in both to the total amount of pledges and tracking for each individual page. Working on building up a Twitter following @blackthisout and will push these out to Twitter and hopefully Facebook, once I can get coordination with our Facebook guy. We'll basically use social media to promote those stories and start accumulating referral links backk to the web site and expose more supporters to the pledging features.

Nearly done with a widget so that we can embed pledge abilities on other web sites. For now, I have one that basically just displays number of pledges and total amount pledges, with a donation button. I'll be deploying this sometime today.

I spent a few hours in the realm of Google Map API and retrieving ZIP codes to plot on a U.S. Map. No luck so far understanding it quite yet. Lat/Lon coordinates are typically inserted into the database directly, but I can't find a way to pull ZIP codes OUT of the database and do geolocation conversion to the Lat/Lon for plotting.

Anyone have any experience on this front?

-----

On a side note, best wishes to freejack as they deal with the aftermath of hurricane Irene. Hope all is well, friend.

[teacherone]

there are plenty of joomla plugins and modules that will map users based on google maps API.

maybe you can download one and reverse engineer it?

[european]

*bump*

[ItsTime]

What program/script are you using to collect the emails? Ill see if my coder can get the map thing done.

dusman, you have a PM.

[ItsTime]

Found this while looking around. http://econym.org.uk/gmap/ and http://econym.org.uk/gmap/basic9.htm

Maybe an xml file with the zips and a cron running every X mins/hours to add the new zip codes?

[dusman]

Found this while looking around. http://econym.org.uk/gmap/ and http://econym.org.uk/gmap/basic9.htm

Maybe an xml file with the zips and a cron running every X mins/hours to add the new zip codes?

I ran across some prebuilt databases that store all ZIPs in the country with their associated lat/lon. I just am not sure how to bring it all together.

[ItsTime]

^Ok Ill see if this is something my guy can do. We have never worked with google maps before. Ill PM you if he can do it.

[Monique]

268 attending the BTO mb!!

[Monique]

Folks. We really need to get busy. Obama raised 86 million for the second quarter this year. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/obama-campaign-releases-bundler-list.php

[european]

Folks. We really need to get busy. Obama raised 86 million for the second quarter this year. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/obama-campaign-releases-bundler-list.php

That means that someone thinks he is doing a great job. :eek:

And we need to increase our numbers aswell if you look at this quote:

"More than 550,000 people gave a total of more than 680,000 donations to the campaign last quarter. Ninety-eight percent of those were $250 or less."

[ItsTime]

99.9% of Obama's campaign money came from Super Pacs

[european]

*bump* :)

[dusman]

I need to work out a more coherent sharing strategy for the web site. It's been slow because there isn't much in place yet and not much incentive to share the web site, aside from just pledging.

Open to ideas here on ways to encourage people to share. The immediate one, would be to add a share feature after someone pledges that's in their face and points on the value of their sharing.

I really want to add some "match a pledge" type ideas, but am struggling to balance that with actual pledging.

[european]

maybe add a referall and show the top 10 referalls :)
or let people enter a group-name (and/or group-code) and all who pledge with that code will add to that particular group.
dunno :p

[ItsTime]

Just dont make it too confusing. This early, we are doing great.

[r3volution]

This October 19th will go down as one of the greatest grassroots donation efforts in history.

bit premature to say this don't you think ?

[dusman]

bit premature to say this don't you think ?

We will likely reword that introduction. However, I'm not against hyping it up a bit. =)

[dusman]

maybe add a referall and show the top 10 referalls :)
or let people enter a group-name (and/or group-code) and all who pledge with that code will add to that particular group.
dunno :p

I kind of like these ideas actually.

Referrals would be easy to display and gives some additional incentive to promote it on other web sites. Nice idea!

Group codes.. pretty good idea, except we could probably do this behind the scenes with some nice referral variables getting passed into the forms.

[dusman]

Originally, I thought about taking pledges to counter bad stories, but I'm thinking maybe we just encourage an immediate $5.00 donation for those stories?

Presumption:
Black This Out web site serves as a source to find all the bad stories/hit pieces done against Ron Paul.

Scenario:
I come to the web site to pledge and find out that I can come back regularly to find stories that misrepresent Paul. I come back from time to time and one story in particular really upsets me. On the page the story resides there would be a "check-in" form, that basically says "Hey, I'm donating $5.00 to Ron Paul because of this story", when I check-in on that story, it then redirects me to the Ron Paul donation page at www.ronpaul2012.com (http://www.ronpaul2012.com) where I can immediately donate.

That would let us to still track which stories garner the most donations, but gets people to donate while they are still emotionally-driven. It also allows the moneybomb to take on another form, beyond just the 1 day donations. Anyone that makes $5.00 donations would also get plugged into the e-mail going out on the day of the moneybomb. Leading stories can be ranked and filed to build more exposure and donations for them.

Would you donate $5.00 to counter a false hit piece?

Thoughts?

[PastaRocket848]

i'd do it.

[Monique]

I don't know. The problem with those tiny donations is they get eaten up with processing fees. I don't know if this idea makes sense, but I am finding people who won't pledge because they can't do it without giving an email address and they don't want spam. What if we included a way to pledge without an email address? Then say, if you would like to be reminded of this date, put your email address here and we will let you know.

What do you all think? At least the pledge counter would rise faster and it might build more momentum?

I am having a really hard time finding people who are willing to help me send out this link to people. Maybe it will pick up when the Constitution day mb is over. In the meantime, I am plugging along. I have invited over 3000 people so far. Sadly, not even 10% have accepted. But, I guess that just means I have to work harder. :)

[Monique]

Oh, I had an idea. What if we called it the Black THIS out moneybomb? Just making the middle word all caps?

[ItsTime]

Looking for someone to design a slimjim I can print and hand out at rallies. Something simple like the banner on the facebook page. Would be ideal if it had the facebook page, pledge site and Ron Paul 2012 url on it.

[Paul4Prez]

I need to work out a more coherent sharing strategy for the web site. It's been slow because there isn't much in place yet and not much incentive to share the web site, aside from just pledging.

Open to ideas here on ways to encourage people to share. The immediate one, would be to add a share feature after someone pledges that's in their face and points on the value of their sharing.

I really want to add some "match a pledge" type ideas, but am struggling to balance that with actual pledging.

How about a Statue of Liberty graphic, filling up with pledged dollars (or donors)? Who says we have to wait for the official website on the day of the money bomb to have a ticker and graphic? (Or the Statue of Liberty filling up with dollars and the Liberty Bell filling up with donors?)

How about a US map, with the leading states in pledges highlighted? (Or pledges per capita, to make it fair?) Scroll over it and see the details on each state: "Oregon, 5 pledges, $550" for example.

How about a daily update, with the media slight/sign of the times/reason for replacing Obama of the day? Heck, make it a blog site below the pledge counter (with maybe one new headline near the top every day), with articles, videos, and comments. After 10/19/11, keep it active as a major pro-liberty blog. Start slow, just one story or news link with reaction or posted video with brief commentary. People here might even help out with blog entries....

[ItsTime]

^If you know any coders that can work with google maps api see if they can do this.

[Paul4Prez]

Make the map show donors per Electoral vote for the contest.

[justatrey]

Just a thought on promoting this. There are tons of YouTube videos dedicated to the media bias. Just search for things like:

"Ron Paul media bias"
"Ron Paul media blackout"
"Ron Paul media censorship"

The comments are then full of angry Ron Paul supporters. I'm sure 99% of them haven't heard of this yet.

[justatrey]

Bump for Ron's blatantly biased questions (and lack of questions) at tonight's debate.

[dusman]

Bump as well.

http://www.blackthisout.com