Techdirt In The Time Of Covid-19

Techdirt

from the stay-home-people dept

First off, I hope that everyone reading this, and their friends, families, loved ones, etc, are staying safe — and I urge you to stay safe as well, which means staying home as much as possible. I did want to at least put up a post noting that these are unique and unprecedented times, and I honestly have no idea what this will mean for Techdirt over the next few weeks or months. We may very well be posting less. I don’t know if our posting focus will change. I have some posts on the way that touch on the pandemic situation, and plenty that don’t, and while I want to continue covering other things, it feels like we’re in a moment where pretty much the only thing that is going to matter for the near future is how we deal with the pandemic.

We will try to continue on in the same way we always have done, but I don’t know what that will actually look like.

While the team here is already effectively remote, and you might think that means we should be able to carry on as usual (or even moreso, since we’re all pretty much limited in going out and about), I think that’s an impossible request as well. Many people are now also dealing with watching children or parents or other relatives, all the time, and that obviously takes time, attention and energy. At the same time, all of us are watching the news and are concerned about what this means for our own health, the health of our loved ones, and the health of everyone else around the globe. It’s a frightening and uncertain time — and that, by itself, makes less than ideal working conditions for anyone. These are not times when I expect anyone, myself included, to be as productive as normal.

So, I at least wanted to put up a note that says, more or less, I have no idea what will be happening at Techdirt over the next few weeks and months. We have a new project that we were excited to launch before the end of the month — and that may still happen, or we may put it off. I don’t know how many posts we’ll have or what topics they’ll be on. I don’t know if anyone will feel like recording podcasts, or if I’ll feel like recording podcasts. I just don’t know.

I know that lots of people are now concerned about their own jobs and their own financial position, and I hope that everything works out okay for everyone. I will note, also, that we’ve already heard from some of our own sponsors and backers, who have put off decisions on sponsorship. Also, a decent part of our revenue last year, and in our planning for this year, was for live events, all of which have now been put on indefinite hiatus — meaning that if you’re not in dire financial straits due to everything else, and are in a position to do so, we’d truly appreciate the support to make sure that we can keep going through these trying times. If you want the most direct way of supporting us, it’s to do direct donations via this page, but the general support page lists many different ways to support us, some of which get you nice things in response, beyond the warm feeling of helping Techdirt continue.

But, the most important point of all: please, everyone, stay safe out there.

Filed Under: covid-19, techdirt