A few simple questions

[Cyclone]

Since questions are not allowed about this project, I am sure I will be flamed for starting this, but I have asked these questions and it appears the post got buried because I never got an answer, so here goes:

I have a few simple questions:

1. How much money are the folks who are running this project going to make? (All of them)?

2. Where is the money going that is coming in as revenue from the advertising sales that is above and beyond your operating expenses?

3. Why is this a for profit venture, Elijah's post did not explain anything to me?

4. How long does this thing need to be in the air and why?

5. What happens if this project never gets off the ground, do the people that have donated so far get their money back?

6. When you write that there will be no refunds are you talking about for the advertising venture? If so, how can you do that? Don't people who pay for advertising usually get what they paid for? How often do folks agree to such a deal?

7. You make it clear under the Terms of Purchase that "you are not making a donation to any political candidate or committee. " This implies that you cannot use any excess funds you make from the advertising to help Ron Paul in any way or support other grass roots efforts to support him either, including supporting grass roots efforts for any TV, radio, or newspaper ads.

8. I have a million questions about your terms of service because every other sentence seems to contradict the one before, but these are minor - not of course to those that would be purchasing from you - but they are minor to the people who are outright donating to your project.

[Cyclone]

bump

[Cyclone]

I am asking these questions because I care about the people on this board. I do not want to see anyone being fleeced. This is looking stranger and stranger as things progress and the terms of service look weird. Also, since now these folks have decided to take a salary for putting this idea together, what happens if after all the donations have been divided up there is no money left for the blimp?

What if there are not enough donations to get the blimp off the ground? What happens to the donations? Hopefully, I just don't understand their website well enough and they will come in here and promise that everyone will get all of their money back if the project looks like it is going to fail.

Can anyone involved with the blimp project promise that they will not take a penny in salary, until the blimp is in the air?

[hillertexas]

bump.

I wish I could anwer your questions, Cyclone. I guess we are all at the whim of Elijah and Trevor...whenever they decide to bless us with their wonderful detailed information. :)

bump

[MozoVote]

These kinds of questions were the sort of things I wanted very much to avoid when I raised $700 to mail postcards on my chip in. I even offered a payment method directly to the mailing company, because I wanted to make it very clear that I did not even need to handle the money. (Everyone chose to PayPal me anyway, probably because there wasn't any doubt it was all legit and it wasn't all that much money.)

Elijah is handling some big stakes here, so need for transparency is even higher.

[JoeSixPack]

The fact that questions like these have to be asked is evidence the blimp project is now doomed. I don't think the guys running it were fully aware how tough it is to get people to donate hard earned dollars. Even the slightest whiff of something fishy and people just won't click that button. People might want to donate to get RP a blimp, but they don't want to give their money to lawyers and wanna-be advertising executives.

I'm quite sure the blimp project has died and it's really too bad because the other day it was a raging success. It's still going to generate media alright, but not the right type. All Howard Dean had to do was make a funny yell to submarine his run. I hope people realize this mess wasn't anything to do with RP.

[MozoVote]

I'm sure the HQ is glad for the "wall of separation" on this. :rolleyes: The grassroots stuff does get pretty wild and wooly.

[alexpasch]

Yup, I think it's fair to say they failed. Sad, because it's not for lack of hard work or a great idea; but rather because they fucked up the logistics.

People don't give money unless they know what they're getting.

The only shrewd businessman affiliated with that company is the lawyer. The money raised will probably just go to pay his fee. Maybe he'll donate some of it to Romney's campaign since he's a Romney supporter.