Friends,

Please excuse this intrusion (and double apologies to those receiving double copies), but the moderators of the "Goodlight" WBAI Issues forum are forced by recent events to reach out for support.

The many complaints about the numerous popup ads posters endure at the server.com location of the Forum (accessed at http://goodlight.net/wbai), have caused us to engage in an exhaustive search for an alternative. We have tried many options, but as it turns out that the server.com software is superior to all the others found, so we are considering staying with server.com and paying them for ad-fee forums. Server.com will remove the popups from the WBAI Issues Forum for $250 per year + $50 per year for the WBAI People Forum. We don't know if they will hold these prices when/if traffic increases, but this is their starting quote.

Obviously, we wouldn't be writing you if we had enough $ of our own to pay them. We could probably scrape the money together, but we'd be mightily gratified if we could see some support from those of you who see the value in having these forums available. As the saying goes, "No donation too small." A $5 donation would be fine. A $10 donation would be great. You can use the PayPal link at http://www.goodlight.net/payment.htm to donate immediately to the besieged (see below) "Goodlight boards." In the "Payment For:" field type "Donation to WBAI Issues forum" or simply "Donation."

If you would prefer sending a check or money order, please reply to this email for details.

Another concern -

As you may or may not know, the WBAI Issues forum has been subjected to an attack broadcast by Robert Knight on Wake Up Call and Earthwatch over our "tolerance" of what he feels are racist posts. Knight, during his recent 90 minute Earthwatch performance, evidenced little understanding of the paradoxes often experienced in trying to keep dialogue truly free and open. He repeatedly referred to the WBAI Issues Forum as the "gossip board, badlight board, good and white board," but then assured his audience that he "is not calling for an end to free speech - people have a right to gather and post in whatever Klavern they like."

Free speech advocates will doubtless be heartened that journalist Knight continues to be so open minded.

Knight purposefully misled his audience by saying I had turned down his offer to discuss the issues on Earthwatch. The fact is, we heard nothing from Knight about his dissatisfaction with the Forum until I wrote him on for an explanation of his September 30th WUC denunciation (the posts were published on September 9). A day later, and 6 hours before airtime, he emailed back (BTW, he knows my phone number) to suggest the discussion on Earthwatch. I replied that Gil Gilmore, the actual owner of the forum, was far better suited to discuss First Amendment questions on the matter than myself, but that on such short notice his availability for the program was in doubt. I also made the point that the discussion should more appropriately take place on Wake Up Call where Knight started the controversy. In one of his emails Knight proposed, "a brief discussion of this matter" and a "courteous conversation" on Earthwatch. We challenge anyone listening to the audio of the subsequent program (online at http://www.goodlight.net/zsound/) to believe that this is what Knight had in mind when extending his invitation. Judge for yourself how courteous was to be his conversation with us.

Some have already wondered if this attack by Knight might have something to do with marginalizing this independent listener forum during the run up to the coming Pacifica-wide elections. We hope that is not what is behind the attack, but the hostility towards the WBAI Issues Forum coming from key figures working at 110 Wall Street has been witnessed by many.

We thank you for your attention and support.

Peace,
Frank Fitzgerald
(and Gil Gilmore)