Too bad they can't close Wellesnet Facebook down instead.

[Le Chiffre]

Here's one option:

$600 + $108 hosting fee = $710 (roughly). Divide this into 71 $10 shares.

Anyone interested in purchasing shares can indicate either here or on Wellesnet Facebook how many shares they want. That way we will have a record of how much has been pledged and by whom, and after payment has been made, another thread will be created listing all those that contributed as NEW OWNERS of Wellesnet. It seems to me that total transparency would be critical to making this work if it can.

[etimh]

...I will forward it to whomever receives the Crown of Agony, aka the person in charge, and they can use the funds to pay for hosting fees/hookers and blow/etc.

Lol. Dude, you are a lot funnier than I remember. I can see why this place was so vibrant and successful in the early days. Despite your dejected cynicism about this whole enterprise (which I completely understand and sympathize with, btw), what this place needs is someone with precisely that irreverence and sense of humor about the whole thing. Hopefully somebody with exactly that perspective, and some energy and patience as well, will step up to the challenge.

Tim

[Jeff Wilson]

Here's one option:

$600 + $108 hosting fee = $710 (roughly). Divide this into 71 $10 shares.

Anyone interested in purchasing shares can indicate either here or on Wellesnet Facebook how many shares they want. That way we will have a record of how much has been pledged and by whom, and after payment has been made, another thread will be created listing all those that contributed as NEW OWNERS of Wellesnet. It seems to me that total transparency would be critical to making this work if it can.

A tracking thread is a good idea. Assuming there are people who are either not members, or wish to remain anonymous, I can add them (or at least their total) as needed.

[Le Chiffre]

I started a tracking thread, but Larry French has indicated at Facebook that he thinks he already has the money necessary.

[Glenn Anders]

Thanks, Jeff, for your generous and welcome response. ". . . things have [indeed] progressed a bit" since you last checked in!

As Mike noted above, "Wellesnet" has just posted a bulletin that the $600 to save the Board has been suddenly found. Were you aware of that, Jeff? How much of those funds do you have in hand? The history of these developments remind me of the shortwave broadcasts that my Old Scottish Soldier Father used to listen to at the beginning of World War II, the Summer and Fall of 1939. Many news agencies, some of them contradictory, crackling in the ether, used to report the sinking of the British aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL. [The British carrier was beginning to hunt down German pocket battleships in the North Atlantic, was reported sunk by the Germans numerous times, but survived to fight in the Mediterranean before being torpedoed in 1941; the captain was immediately put before an Admiralty Board of Inquiry, but later exonerated.] I believe, as Mike also suggested, absolute "transparency" should be our watchword, going forward.

Mike has started a "tracking thread" and it would probably be wise to continue that. In fact, would it not be transparent to have a rough accounting of how much has already been contributed by us to the $600 in funds Wellesnet now reports in hand:

As I've just told you, I contributed $70. Nepenthe indicated that she gave a fair sum. I know by repeated Emails from Tony Williams that he sent enough money for scripts that he wanted an accounting. My impression is that others bought scripts, too, the monies to be donated to buying and maintaining the Board for us. There must have been a number of others.

How many of you gave money? How much did you give? Do you have friends who no longer follow these developments but chipped in, over the past three years? Contact them, have them report. This crisis may have been avoidable.

Once we have established our base, and where it came from, we can start a new balance sheet.

As I promised, I'll send between $200 and $300 to you, Jeff, maybe more, from the gold out of my mouth. ["Taking my money from where my mouth is," as it were.] I have to go to the dentist soon, and I estimate, he might mine as much as another thousand dollars from my Scottish smart mouth hoard! I'll be in touch with you, Jeff. as to where to send the money. I have another two birthdays to fund this month -- most of my bairns were Leo's! -- but I shall send you a substantial cheque by end of the first week in September.[I eschew Paypal because the person who stole my identity, "pyst4evr," as he called himself [never caught] got his line on me through that service, about the time I joined Wellesnet.]

What about the rest of you? How much have you contributed AND how much more are you WILLING to contribute to Wellesnet?

I strongly urge that money be sent directly to Jeff, so he can combine our contributions with the $600 he now has in hand. It would be wise soon that a bank account be set up in the name of Wellesnet, the address be made known, standard accounting practices applied, a means of appointing a bonded Trustee established. In other words, we should do what we should have done when you decided you wanted out, Jeff: ESTABLISH A TRUST FUND, to compensate you, cover the Board's expenses, and endow Wellesnet for the future -- SO WE NEVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS NONSENSE AGAIN.

Put Wellesnet on a good business status, though we don't want to be a profit-making enterprise.

Sweet Nepenthe once observed, in a posting about The Other Side of the Wind on this Message Board, that the problem with the present Wellesnet on Facebook is that it tends to be scattered, and include odd bits of information having little or nothing to do directly with Orson Welles or his works. [Rather like my typically superfluous reference to the ARK ROYAL Incident, above . . . .] What do you all think? My strong preference would be to return the Board to something like it used to be, with the addition of an Upgraded Software System, as Jeff suggests. What a wealth of knowledge is here, if we can only get a proper indexing, etc. [Who can spell something old-fashioned like . . . "A-L-P-H-A-B-E-T-I-Z-I-N-G?]

Speak up, my friends!

WE ARE WELLESNET!

Never let anyone forget it again.

Glenn

[Jeff Wilson]

Again, Glenn, I was not involved in any way in the last round or two of fundraising. I had nothing to do with the scripts offer. Consequently, I have not handled any money from anyone related to Wellesnet beyond the very first time funds were raised, something like four or five years ago?

Though generous, you do not need to send me any money.

Setting up all the financial safeguards you suggest seems a little extreme for what is, at the end of the day, a simple web site. Should others wish to do that when the site is passed into their hands is up to them; it's not something I want to get involved in.

[Le Chiffre]

The money received in late 2007 (I don't recall the total) paid for the renewal of the domain as well as most of the hosting fees up through early April 2009

So the renewal of the domain is an additional expense? Excuse my ignorance, but I'm a bit confused as to what exactly a "domain" is. I guess I would understand it to mean simply the website name "www.wellesnet.com". But It sounds like the site might cost more then $108 per year to operate.

The recently collected amounts involved in Mike's rough audit probably amount to less than $2,000, but why not give everyone who stepped up to donate a pat on the back? Think what good PR that would be, and how proud it would make everyone feel.

Glenn, surely you must mean less then $200.

[RayKelly]

Someone feel free to correct me if I am totally wrong.
Domain names (http://www.wellesnet.com) are renewed annually. From what I see advertised, I understand the cost is less than $20 a year.
Further, the hosting company (where all this digital stuff is parked) gets paid each month. Something like $10 or so.
I really don't want to dwell too much on the past.
I just want to see the site restored. I think the Facebook site (which btw has more "likes" than this site has members) should be used to direct fans to the wonderful resources here.

[Jeff Wilson]

Ray, you are correct in your explanation. A web site has to pay for its domain name, and then the hosting fees. Domain names can be paid for yearly or in multiple year chunks. The price ranges, but the site I had been using charges $15 per year. The hosting site I use is $9 a month, as I said. Those are the only fees incurred by the site. I am including the domain name in the site sale, if that wasn't clear before, incidentally. It will simply be up to you to renew it each year/years.

[etimh]

Hey, were there posts DELETED from this thread?

THIS, more than anything else, is what drives me away from forums.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Tim

[I=Eye]

You are not wrong. There were five or six lengthy posts deleted. An explanation seems unlikely.

[tonyw]

Over 18 months ago I sent $40 to this site when the new moderator offered a script in exchange. To date, I've not received anything despite constant emails to the person who furnished the lame excuse that he was depressed and offered to send me the money back. No, I don't want the money back since I want wellesnet to survive and would probably have sent it anyway without the lure of a screenplay I really needed for my Welles class. What I find inexcusable is the fact that this offer was made in the first place and the person has reneged on the agreement due to "depression." Well, I suffer from it most days but do not use it as an excuse to avoid commitments and promises. I think people on this site should be informed in case any more dubious offers are made in the future.

[RayKelly]

I sent $40 at that time too, but I was uninterested in the scripts. There was an October 18, 2010 posting on the FaceBook page stating: Sadly, we can no longer offer to send donors copies of Welles scripts, at the express wish of The Estate of Orson Welles.

[tonyw]

My donation was sent BEFORE this message appeared.

[F. Scott]

Obviously, the Estate put the kabosh on the scripts-for-donations offer before scripts could be sent out, but after some donations and script requests were already received. The owner should have sent the scripts secretly to those that had already donated for them. I doubt the Estate would have ever found out.