June 22, 2021
Not that we are taking an examination of regional economist Marla Dukharan’s analysis on the Trinidad and Tobago supplementary budget. No. We are more personal with this no free lunch topic this evening. It’s about our business here at Caribbean Magazine Plus.
Some people seem to think that our poetry contest and crossword puzzle weekly contest should be for free. A very small number of them are taking to our Facebook page just to say they don’t want to pay and they shouldn’t pay and why do they have to pay, etc, etc, etc… Our thing is it’s the same thing when you have to go into a store and pay for milk, toilet paper or the newspaper. It’s not free. There is a cost associated with that.
Just like any news organisation and any business out there, CMP has costs associated with running our content. We do not get free bandwidth from our internet provider or webhost. We have to pay for Facebook ads and other marketing to ensure that we are as visible as the established news organisations out there who also charge for content while we don’t. We don’t ever want to charge for content because we feel information should be as free as possible to all and sundry.
If you are cheap or broke, then just simply move past our invitation to treat and we will work with those who want to enter (We really appreciate those who are participating with us) Those who want to win and take a chance and be seen and heard. Those who have confidence in their ability and who see what we are trying to do out here- and that is give as many in the Caribbean and of the diaspora a voice and a platform to project that voice from.
The thing is these online trolls are not worth responding to, really. But we have to mention that as we got Ms Dukharan’s analysis of T&T’s debt and budget and we said to ourselves, writing and news is what we do. This is what we do! So, let’s use our skills to address this maturely.
The other thing is that the only artistic competitions out there without an entry fee are the ones ran by large organisations like the Commonwealth Secretariat, the US Department of State, the Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations or the UK/Canada/Chinese Foreign Offices. We are not nearly any of those agencies. We are barely a news agency, as we just started up in late 2020. Yup, we are a COVID-19 start-up.
If you search for any poetry, crossword, short story competition online you would find that 95 percent of them have an entry fee. The ones that don’t are large organisations like the one aforementioned, or ones that have sponsorship from the large organisations or corporations to use their branding and logo above all else- We are starting as Caribbean Magazine Plus, no fluff, no handouts, no one looking over our shoulder telling us what we can and can’t say. Respect that.
That’s all we want to say about it anyway. So, let us run CMP the way we need to and you can just simply not enter any of our offerings if you don’t feel you want to pay, no one if forcing you or trying to rob you. But the weak and petty trolling is amusing as we see it for what it is and it will not work. You will not destroy this platform in the womb by creating negative buzz or a troll atmosphere- because what we will do is use your negativity for something useful and positive, like this post explaining more of what CMP is all about. The thing is, some of these whiney trolls don’t even know what they are doing, as they are led by a spirit they have no idea of or control of. But we see it, even if they don’t.
CMP will live and we will provide a platform for people of this Caribbean and Central American diaspora- God as our strength!