The 2007 Daring Fireball Membership Drive

Monday, 26 March 2007

On April 20 last year, I began writing Daring Fireball as a full-time job.

As the one-year mark approaches, many of you have been asking how it’s working out. My answer has been “Pretty good so far, but we’ll see.” Starting today, we get to see.

Last year’s announcement is still worth reading for an explanation of what I’m trying to do here, and why I need the support of readers like you. Last year’s support was tremendous, and it’s the reason I’m still here working on DF full-time today. I’m hoping to build on that support this year — that those of you supported me last year will continue to support Daring Fireball by renewing your memberships, and that some of you who have been considering it will come on board.

Many of you have written to say that the difference since I’ve gone full-time has been both noticeable and welcome: more articles along with a more consistent and steady pace to the Linked List. The funny part about these messages is that most of them end by thanking me, as in, Hey, I’ve really been digging Daring Fireball since you took it pro last year. Thanks for making it such an enjoyable site to read.

I say, thank you. Thank you for reading Daring Fireball, and, to those of you who have become members and purchased t-shirts, thank you for making this possible. The membership system is the primary source of revenue for Daring Fireball. This web site is better because of you.

Click here to support Daring Fireball for just $19 a year.

The Prizes

To kick off this year’s membership drive, I’m delighted to announce an amazing list of prizes, generously contributed by some of my favorite Mac developers and design companies.

• Omni Group: 5 winners, each gets choice of OmniPlan, OmniWeb, OmniOutliner Professional, OmniGraffle Professional, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, or OmniObjectMeter. (Ken Case, proving he has a great sense of humor, adds: “Or even OmniFocus, if anyone is more interested in vaporware than in a currently shipping product.”)

• Rogue Amoeba: 5 winners, each gets choice of Fission, Airfoil, Audio Hijack Pro, or Nicecast

• Panic: 1 copy of Transmit, 1 copy of Unison, and 2 Panic t-shirts (winners choose the shirts)

• Bare Bones: 4 copies each of BBEdit, Yojimbo, and Super Get Info

• MacroMates: 5 copies of TextMate

• Coudal Partners: 1 Jewelboxing 150 pack ($210 value); 1 sweet limited edition vintage camera poster from the Swap Meat

• Nolobe: 5 copies of Interarchy

• CocoaTech: 5 copies of Path Finder

• The Iconfactory: 10 licenses of Frenzic (Guru bundle); 2 “basic collection” licenses from StockIcons.com ($349 value each)

• Fetch: 2 copies of Fetch, each with a plush Fetch mascot

• Shirt Pocket: 10 copies of SuperDuper and 5 copies of netTunes

• C-Command: 5 copies of DropDMG, EagleFiler, and SpamSieve

• David Watanabe: 10 copies of Xtorrent

• Late Night Software: 2 copies of Script Debugger 4

• Disco: 5 copies of Disco

• Veer: 1 $50 gift certificate good towards products in the Veer Merch store

• Red Sweater: 3 winners, each gets the entire “Red Sweater Software Bundle” — each winner receives all five Red Sweater apps: MarsEdit, FlexTime, FastScripts, Clarion, and Black Ink

• Flying Meat: 9 prizes — 3 copies each of VoodooPad, FlySketch, FlyGesture. FlySketch includes free upgrade to upcoming version 2.0

• Delicious Monster: 5 licenses to the upcoming Delicious Library 2.0 Pro ($80 value). Winners receive Delicous Library 1 licenses now, free upgrades when version 2 ships

• Ambrosia Software: 5 prizes — Winner’s choice of SketchFighter or GooBall, both of which are very fun games.

• Mint: 5 copies of Mint 2.0, Shaun Inman’s excellent web stats package.

• 37signals: $50 credit toward a new or existing Basecamp account.

That’s over 120 total prizes, with a combined value of over $6300.

Here’s how the prizes will be awarded:

1. Deadline is Monday, 16 April 2007.

2. Anyone who has already signed up for a new membership or renewed an existing one in 2007 is eligible for the drawing. I.e. if you’ve joined or renewed after 1 January 2007, you’re already entered in the contest.

3. Winners will be selected randomly.

4. Each person can only win once. I.e. if there are 122 prizes, there will be 122 winners.

5. Winners will be notified on Tuesday, 17 April 2007.

The Bottom Line

Thank you for supporting Daring Fireball.

—John Gruber