Fund to support Mumsnet through the battle

liberty website

In view of the fact that Freedom of Speech is a civil liberty luckily in our country. I think wannaBe1974 dh's suggestion of Liberty is an excellent one. Has anybody contacted them yet??

Hoorah Olivia! we need to get netwoeking to all these little sites who said they would support us now....!

I want to add that i have not posted on this thread, but if a fund is set up i will be adding to it.

What is this fund to be called?

We need something like the Private Eye Bananaballs fund when they were sued by Sonia Sutcliffe (after Ian Hislop's if that's justice then I'm a banana comment)

Howabout something to do with rockets...

Brilliant Olivia.

If possible can Paypal be made an option please.

hrh I by no means am questioning the generosity of some MN'ers, but there is a vast difference between raising money for one individual, and raising money to cover a costly lible case. How many people do we seriously think would donate? 100? 500? 1000? Yes we have 50000 members, but only a minority of those are regular posters who would feel passionate enough about mn to donate money towards a legal fund. imo hairymclary is right, even if we could raise £10000, and even ihat is a big ask, we simply wouldn't be able to raise enough money to cover the cost of a court battle and/or damages. Not forgetting that if mn lost this case it could be ordered to pay nobody's costs as well, and I have no doubt she can afford the best.

Have to say, if the site is subs only then I'm off until grants day through necessity not choice.

But would be happy to send in a small donation when my grant materialises at the end of next month

My understanding of these cases is that the awards have been quite small, albeit the legal fees very large

But I think the money could be raised. it is in a lot of peoples interests to stop this BS happening.

Lets make a few pledges here, my company depends on forums, so whilst we are not well off, I am prepared to send a donation for £500 if needed, as an admin of downsizer.net along with Tahir I would argue that of downsizer.net's somewhat small funds as a non profit site we should donate £100 (would need a vote amongst a lot of people but I think it would pass) then again with all the publicity around this case, maybe a few rich people and companies might help as well!

count me in. checking in from time to time to see what's happening - sounds like this is the money thread so will come back in a while.

What i'm saying is that even if we raised £10k for mumsnet it may not be enough, and thus would be pointless because who is going to pay the rest?

I read this on another site, regarding the MN situation:

The thing is with libel (again as I understand it), even if you lose 'small' this could still be a £50K award against you, plus legal fees so you're looking at probably 80 to 100K,

we can't make that much money. we can't even raise half of that, so while it's a VERY valid cause and one that a lot of people would be willing to contribute to we just won't be able to make a difference, IMO

wannabe - you forget how generous people can be - I don't know how many people supported Misdee when we had a huge 'fundraising' thing for her to help her travel to see Peter - but I know a LOT of people donated money - many of who never posted to say they would - they just did it.

What about this site:

here it is

We could say something like I pledge £10 if 100 other people do the same to support Mumsnet.

100 people is the suggested maximum number to encourage people, but there is no limit on how many people can pledge.

I would be happy to donate finaincally..well and anything else

I am willing to sell my handmade cards with all proceeds going to the MN fund if it helps (not that im sure anyone would actually buy my handmade cards!)

I'm really not so sure about that. This post was started yesterday and out of 50000 members we only have 29 responses, and some of those are from the same users. I do think people want to support mumsnet, but I don't think that people are going to put their hands in their pockets to do it. If 30 people donated £5, £10 even, you've got £300. To fund a court case and possible damages you need hundreds of thousands of pounds. Pluse you need to consider how people will feel about donating their money in the knowledge that mn might be ordered to close anyway.

the paypal account is a great idea!

I think you'd be surprised how much money you could raise based on people's passion and desire to protect mumsnet vs. raising money via subscription.

I'm not big on paying subscriptions, just not disciplined/organized enough to ever get around to signing up.

BUT, when I get my irish up about a threat to my much loved mumsnet.. well, then I'd be happy to donate as much as was feasible!

don't underestimate the love and devotion women have for this site... to many it a sacred refuge they would fight fiercely for.

Thanks - all done and dusted !!

Fab - off to give it a whirl now .... may be back

yeahinaminute got to 'contact another talker' and try to..it should pop up with soemthing about fees...

So any clues ladies - where do I bung me fiver for CAT registration ????

I am wholeheartedly for supporting Justine et al with the financial expense of a legal battle. But - as well as money - it takes an awful lot of time and effort to take on a battle like this and I would like MNHQ to know that we realise they're only human and should they decide they do not have the energy for a fight (even if they had the money) I, for one, would understand.