Daily blurb
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Super Bowl will be played this weekend. And if you’re still hanging in there in Football Pickoff, make sure you get your picked logged in before the kickoff.

With Pickoff winding down, and GuruGolf just getting started, it’s as good a time as ever to comment on the recent decline in GuruPatron donations. As you probably know, the primary source of financial support for this site is the voluntary donations of its users. Advertising and affiliate revenues contribute a little, but I have been unwilling to “gunk up” the site with excessive advertising, and have completely rejected the most annoying forms of advertising – pop-up ads, and pop-under ads, and audio ads. Those would generate more revenue, but at a “quality cost” that I’m unwilling to pay. Over the years, GuruPatron donations have been declining, but have still generally been sufficient to cover at least the marginal costs of running this site.

In 2009, that was not the case, however, as GuruPatron donations were down 50% from the prior year, and for the first time, marginal costs were not covered. If you are playing GuruGolf, you may notice that I’ve decided to cut back on the limited prizes by eliminating multiple prizes to the same managers. I’m also considering some other cost saving moves this year, in an attempt to break even. But as you can see from the current year’s tally (a total of $75 in January), GuruPatron donations are negligible so far this year. Some of that is no doubt due to the economy. But a lot of it, I suspect, is due to the low key approach that I’ve generally taken toward “fundraising”, with the resulting impact that most of you seldom even think about it anymore.