Most episodes of The Lunduke Journal Podcast are exclusive for full subscribers.

The reason for this, I think is pretty obvious: it encourages people to become subscribers which, in turn, funds everything else I do here (the articles, shows, all of it).

Most professional "free for everyone on Earth" podcasts are supported by advertisements and sponsorships from Big Tech companies and the like. But that is something we refuse to do here at The Lunduke Journal. No Big Tech. No ads. Not gonna do it.

So let's try something this week. An experiment.

A way to off-set the potential lost revenue of making a podcast episode publicly, freely available... without taking any money from Big Tech. While, at the same time, providing a fun way for for some of you to take part in episodes.

Set Podcast Episodes Free. (tm) 😎

The idea is simple:

A) I provide all of you a list of the episodes that I will be producing this week.

B) If you like the idea of a specific episode becoming free for the public to enjoy, you can propose a Freedom Sponsorship (tm?... lol) of that episode.

C) If any episode gets enough sponsorship pledges -- from one person... or multiple combined together -- it will be released free for everyone.

Easy peasy. (There are some caveats... see below.)

Here are the episodes coming this week (each is recorded in the early morning hours):

• Mon - The Wikipedia Hustle (FREED!)
• Tue - This Week in Computer History
• Wed - The Red Hat-ification of Linux
• Thur - Ask Lunduke Q & A

Here's how to set a specific episode free:

1) Pick an episode from the list of upcoming episodes.

2) Decide how much you would like to pledge -- each episode needs $200 to be made free-for-all. You can pledge all or part of what is needed for an episode.

3) Choose what you would like your message to be. Serious or silly. A message for someone else. Fake parody advertisements. Something you have been itching to hear Lunduke read. News, ideas, declarations of running Arch. Whatever you like. While I don't allow Big Tech advertisements... I will allow messages to let people know about Open Source project, personal blogs, and the like. If you would like me to write a short message, I can do that for you ("This episode set free by Martin, who is sick and tired of needing to jiggle his smartphone charging cable all the freaking time."... etc.)

4) You can either post your pledge here in the comments... or by E-Mail. (bryan at lunduke.com). Include how you want to be credited (first name, Locals user handle, "Captain Arch Dude", etc.).

5) If your pledge is accepted -- I reserve the right to refuse any pledge (for any reason) -- I will let you know. Then you pay. Then I will include your message (if desired) in the episode... which will be released for free.

A few things worth noting:

1) All of these episodes will be produced and released to all subscribers. No matter what. So if nobody "sets an episode free"... no biggy! Those episodes stay exclusive and are still a win for all of us!

2) When an episode is "set free" it will be posted (free for all) to Locals... and to iTunes, Spotify, Rumble, and YouTube as well.

3) Past episodes can also be "set free"... but, since they are already recorded, no custom message can be added for past episodes. Any "setting free" of past episodes would simply be out of the goodness of your heart. Or something. 🤣

4) If you want your involvement to be anonymous, email me (bryan at lunduke.com). And make sure to say so.

Is this a great idea? Is this a terrible idea? Is it... an average idea that needs a lot of work?

Who knows! Let's find out together! 😎