October 8, 2008

Feedback Pedantry

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FEEDBACK PEDANTRY….Vikas Bajaj of the New York Times explains the financial crisis:

The technical term for it is “negative feedback loop.” The rest of us just call it a panic.

I know that a lot of people use this term during a crash because “negative” is the same thing as “down,” but I don’t think this is right. It’s a positive feedback loop he’s talking about, where every action in a particular direction feeds back to cause even greater action in the same direction. In a bubble, it means that the market going up causes buyers to get ever more excited, causing the market to go up even more. In a panic, it means that the market going down causes sellers to get ever more hysterical, causing the market to go down even more. It’s bad news in both directions, and it’s a positive feedback loop whether that direction is up or down.

Unless, of course, this is some kind of weird term of art in the finance biz. Which would probably serve me right. Anyone know?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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