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• People like the idea of giving something to subscribers while not taking anything away from the non-subscribers. I like the idea too, because I do recognize that not everyone has money to spend, and those who do not can certainly help support UF by actively reading our sponsor's messages and ads.

• We'll be introducing four levels of subscription, just like on those PBS fund raising drives. The difference is that we won't have celebrities asking you to send in money. It'll just be the overpaid, underworked cartoon characters I have on contract. And I know I'll be getting hell from their agents for that remark. The four levels will have greater benefits as you go up the tiers, culminating in a top-tier patronship that will include a unique something that no one else gets to have, just you.

• We'll be adding new features to the site, accessible by the paid members only, such as being able to toggle the ads on or off (without logging out), having the cartoon e-mailed to you, and the like.

• We'll be instituting a donation system as well as other payment methods, including credit cards and money orders -- note that we can only accept the latter for annual membership payments, not monthly ones. Ultimately, it takes a lot of person-hours to track a piece of paper for $3.95 every month.

• Student memberships are still being considered, and may constitute a fifth subscription level. For obvious reasons, we want to make the verification method watertight and automagical.

• More stuff: merchandise and other nifty saleable items are also being considered, but again these are a priority two compared to the subscription model. Rest assured that the many great ideas I've received in e-mail will eventually make their appearance on a t-shirt near you. :)

We're making progress and I'll be posting another update within the next couple or three weeks. I'd like to once again thank each and every person who has taken to the time to help UF, whether it's with a subscription, or buying books or merchandise, or getting people and ideas organized or by being active with our advertisers. I also want to thank those fine folks who have written in with words of moral support. Sometimes a simple sentence can give a guy more strength than a number with a lot of zeroes after it.