*A session is any 30-minute or less period of time in which an individual IP address accesses one or more files from one ProCon.org website. This definition of a “session” comes from Urchin (now owned by Google) – the software program used to track our website traffic.
- Board of Directors: ProCon.org added one new member to its Board in 2008. We welcomed A. Searle Field, JD, as our newest Board member on Oct. 15, 2008.
Mr. Field has a degree in economics from Princeton University and graduated at the top of his class from Georgetown Law Center. He served in the U.S. Senate Watergate investigation, and as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Intelligence Committee in the United States Congress.
In the 1980s, Mr. Field was the CEO of Field Industries, Inc., a leading regional construction materials business, and later served as President of the quasi-public Connecticut Development Authority, overseeing a significant economic response to the severe economic and banking crisis in the early 1990s.
Mr. Field was Chief of Staff to Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker, and Chief of Staff to the Mashantucket Pequots, owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino. He has also been Chief of Strategic Planning and Enterprise Management for the highly successful Mashantucket ventures.
As a Principal of Sportscorp Ltd. based in Chicago he has been involved with professional sports teams, primarily in the NFL and Major League Baseball, here and abroad, during which he has made extensive use of his career-long passion for leadership and personal effectiveness behaviors.
The remaining Board members remained the same during 2008: Jadwiga Markoff, MD, PhD, John Kurtz, JD, and Stan Shimohara, JD, CPA, MBA. I continued as Chairman.
- In the News: ProCon.org received 44 media references in 2008 compared to 16 in 2007 and 17 in 2006. The references started on January 2, 2008 with the Charlotte Observer, the largest daily newspaper in North and South Carolina, which mentioned our election website. Throughout the year we participated in one radio interview (102.3 WGOW in Chattanooga, TN) and one television interview (Bridges-TV cable station in Port Orchard, NY). Some of our numerous print and online media references included the BBC website, MobLogic.tv, the Oregonian, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate magazine, Huffington Post, Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden), Lenta.ru (Russia), San Jose Mercury News, and Discover Magazine.
- ProCon.org Revamp: On Monday June 30, 2008,ProCon.org unveiled new design for all ProCon.org websites with over 10 new features including search function on all pages, email this page function on all pages, scrolling news, faster server, time and date stamp on all pages, and more. Also upgraded was the content management system which made adding and editing content more efficient.
Given the substantial amounts of data on our websites, the redesign project required a tremendous effort. We had over 25 people from six companies in five cities spend over 9,000 cumulative hours to (among other things):
* Transfer over 5,500 pro and con arguments
* Rewrite over 6,000 introductory statements
* Transfer about 1,500 resource pages
* Transfer over 2,500 source biographies
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* Relink nearly 47,000 links
* Reupload over 1,400 files
* Clean up over 2,000 images
* Research and update content on thousands of pages
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ProCon.org User Survey: We started a ProCon.org User Survey on April 14, 2008 to learn more about our readers and gauge our success. The result, with 2,217 responses by Dec. 31, 2008, was overwhelmingly positive. The survey results follow:
1. Your Age
Your Age
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
11 or under
|
0.9%
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20
|
12-14
|
6.6%
|
147
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15-17
|
15.2%
|
338
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18-24
|
15.6%
|
346
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25-34
|
14.9%
|
331
|
35-44
|
15.6%
|
346
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45-54
|
15.2%
|
336
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55-64
|
10.5%
|
233
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65 or older
|
5.4%
|
120
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2. Your Gender
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
Female
|
48.5%
|
1,075
|
Male
|
51.5%
|
1,142
|
3. Your Ethnicity
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
African American
|
5.5%
|
123
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American Indian or Alaskan Native
|
1.3%
|
29
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Asian or Pacific Islander
|
4.1%
|
91
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Caucasian
|
72.6%
|
1,609
|
Hispanic or Latino
|
6.5%
|
143
|
Multi
|
4.3%
|
95
|
Other (please specify)
|
5.7%
|
127
|
4. Did ProCon.org help you to think more critically, to make better judgments on the subject matter, and/or to see issues in a new light?
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
A. Pro (yes)
|
64.5%
|
1,431
|
B. Not sure
|
25.3%
|
562
|
C. Con (no)
|
10.1%
|
224
|
5. Did you learn any new facts or information and come away with a deeper understanding of the issue or subject matter?
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
A. Pro (yes)
|
75.9%
|
1,682
|
B. Not sure
|
15.3%
|
339
|
C. Con (no)
|
8.8%
|
196
|
6. Based on what you learned at ProCon.org, did you change any of your perceptions, feelings, or opinions on an issue?
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
A. Pro (yes)
|
28.4%
|
630
|
B. Not sure
|
30.8%
|
682
|
C. Con (no)
|
40.8%
|
905
|
7. Did you learn any information from ProCon.org that you will probably use in the future?
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
A. Pro (yes)
|
72.4%
|
1,605
|
B. Not sure
|
19.4%
|
431
|
C. Con (no)
|
8.2%
|
181
|
8. Did your experience at ProCon.org make you want to learn more about any of the subject matter?
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
A. Pro (yes)
|
73.5%
|
1,629
|
B. Not sure
|
16.5%
|
365
|
C. Con (no)
|
10.1%
|
223
|
9. Did you enjoy your overall experience at ProCon.org?
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
A. Pro (yes)
|
78.6%
|
1,743
|
B. Not sure
|
16.2%
|
359
|
C. Con (no)
|
5.2%
|
115
|
10. What are the reasons for your visit to ProCon.org? (check all that apply)
|
Response Percent
|
Response Count
|
to gain or improve general knowledge on specific controversial issues
|
59.2%
|
1,313
|
to work on a school assignment
|
32.6%
|
722
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to validate or confirm my beliefs on an issue
|
35.4%
|
785
|
to challenge my beliefs on an issue or to be my own devil’s advocate
|
22.3%
|
495
|
to help me take a position on an issue
|
27.8%
|
617
|
to help me to decide how to vote on an issue or candidate
|
31.0%
|
687
|
to help me win a debate
|
13.9%
|
308
|
Other (please specify)
|
12.6%
|
279
|
- VIP Correspondence: We’ve received beneficial feedback and/or content from many VIPs. Here’s a random sample (in alphabetical order):
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Virginia Deane Abernethy (Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Anthropology at Vanderbilt University)
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Dr. Imad-ad-dean Ahmad (President of the Minaret of Freedom Institute)
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Dr. Cherie Bagley (President, Ohio Women in Psychology)
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Stephen M. Bainbridge (William D. Warren Professor of Law at UCLA Law School)
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Gina Bombardieri (Reports for the Boston Globe)
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Dr. Jack Britt (Vice President for Agriculture of The University of Tennessee)
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Dr. J. Budzizweski (Professor of Government and Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin)
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Dr. Arthur Caplan (Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania)
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Richard C. Dieter (Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center)
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Peter-Jan Engelen (Assistant Professor of Finance at Utrecht University)
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Dr. Paul Finkelman, JD (President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy Albany Law School)
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Stephen Fox (Managing Editor, Santa Fe Sun News)
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Heather Gonzales (Association Director, National Association of Evangelicals)
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Danielle Gordon (Editor, ChicagoTribune.com)
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Stuart Green (Louis B. Porterie Professor of Law at Louisiana State University Law Center)
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Matthew Hawes (Press Spokesperson for Ron Paul)
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Thomas Lee Hazen (Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law)
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Peter Henning (Professor of Law at Wayne State University Law School)
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Kimberly Hill (Reporter, ECT News Network)
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Gina Jones (Digital Media Project Coordinator, Library of Congress)
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John Judge (Press Secretary for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney)
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Nicole Kief (State Strategist, Racial Justice Program, ACLU)
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Ryan King (Policy Analyst, The Sentencing Project)
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Loralynne Krobetzky (Communications/Media/Policy Director, Nader for President)
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Andre Krouwel (President, Electoral Compass)
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Jessica Lamos (Policy Advisor for Congressman Brian Baird)
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Dr. Luc Van Leidekirke (Professor of Business Ethics at the universities of Leuven and Antwerp)
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Carol Leigh (Co-Founder of the Bay Area Sex Workers Advocacy Network)
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Henry G. Manne (Dean Emeritus at George Mason University and Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute)
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Joshua Marquis (District Attorney for Clatsop County Oregon)
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John Massaro, JD (Author of No Guarantee of a Gun: How and Why the Second Amendment Means Exactly What It Says)
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John J. McMahon (Pro Bono Program Director at University of Iowa Law School)
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Skyler McKinley (National Press Secretary for Mike Gravel)
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Toshihiko Murata (Food and Agriculture Organization Liaison Office with the United Nations)
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Thomas Newkirk (former Associate Director, Division of Enforcement, US Securities Exchange Commission)
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Dr. Holona LeAnn Ochs (Professor of Political Science at Howard University Graduate School)
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Jaline Quinto (Communications Manager, DC Vote)
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Jonathan Salant (Political Reporter for Bloomberg News)
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Hilary Shelton (Director, NAACP Washington Bureau)
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Nancy Slonim (Deputy Director for Policy Communications Division for Media Relations & Communication Services for the American Bar Association)
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DeAnne Stone (Director of Correspondence for Alan Keyes)
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Dr. Gerald Steinberg (Professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University, Israel)
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Mary Starrett (Press Secretary for Constitutional presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin)
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DeAnn Stone (Press Secretary for Independent presidential candidate Alan Keyes)
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Dr. Roman Tomasic (Chair of Company Law at Durham University)
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Carol Watts (Webmaster, League of Women Voters)
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Dr. Dov Waxman (Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Baruch College, City University of New York)
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Reader Comments Pro & Con: We received 2,400 reader emails and posted 640 reader comments to our websites in 2008. Over 99% of the emails we received were favorable or neutral to our overall efforts. Below you’ll find a sample of comments from some of our more enthusiastic supporters and detractors.
1. Pro:
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“I am the librarian in a grade 7-8 middle school in northern New Jersey. I put together an information pathfinder for an 8th grade English class doing a persuasive writing unit. The kids whose issues are covered on ProCon.org are finding it very useful in their research. As their teacher-librarian, I am always happy to find current, authoritative and, in the case of these hot issues, balanced information for my students. This is an excellent resource for our students. Thanks!”
Mary Kay Risi, Teacher-Librarian at River Dell Middle School (River Edge, NJ), Nov. 13, 2008
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“I believe what you are doing is INCREDIBILY important in an age of Rush Limbaugh and pre-spun, impressionistic, image-driven decision-making. It takes time (lots of it, as you know) to ferret out the truth. And most everyone is too busy (or lazy) to do the digging. You’re doing God’s work! I’m glad to promote your website, and I’ll be back for my own reference later. Thanks again and keep up the good work!”
Michael Greer, Webmaster of www.bestfreetraining.net, Nov. 11, 2008
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“Thank you for your in-depth research on the presidential candidates’ stances on the various issues. Up until this morning, I was still undecided on who to vote for. I was actually leaning towards one candidate based on hearsay. After taking time to go through each candidate’s profile, I was surprised to find the other candidate was the one whom I felt best represented my beliefs and interests. I appreciated knowing if either candidate changed their stance on an issue and what it was before. So, thank you ProCon.org for the great work! I will definitely look you up next time around.”
Carla, Nov. 4, 2008
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“During the summer session, my humanities class met every day. Because of that, I was able to use pro-con subject material two to three times a week; your service was invaluable in helping students understand various issues in much more depth than that to which they are accustomed. Usually students know (or think they know) whether they are “for” or “against” something, but they are clueless as to solid reasons relative to each position. Pro-con brings subjects to life for them, making for a much more meaningful learning experience.
I also plan to use your service later in the current semester.”
Steve Clark, Adjunct Instructor of Humanities at Wayne Community College, Sep. 18, 2008
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“The ProCon site is excellent: balanced, reasoned and not packed with the useless nonsense that choke most political web sites. Love it. And you can quote me on that!”
Doug Brooks, Founder and President of International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), June 3, 2008
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“I looked at your Procon.org website, and I found it interesting that people on both sides of an issue argued that the Procon was biased against them. To me, that’s a good indication that you are in the middle.”
Alexander, Apr. 8, 2008
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“Thank you to ProCon.org for putting together this excellent educational site. There is so much to know and you’ve organized the information in a way that is easy to navigate and understand.
I stumbled upon ProCon.org via google search in my quest to gain a better understanding of the election process and who the candidates are for 2008. By far procon.org had the most indept and valuable information that I found. And I spent many hours searching the internet. I wanted to understand each candidate, their issues to make sure my vote goes to the most qualified candidate. I’ve shared this site with my community a while back as there are many in my community may benefit from this site. Especially our youths.
As I say, there is so much information out on the internet and it is difficult determining which is credible and which is not. I can not imagine how much time and effort is put into a site like procon.org. And best of all, it is FREE to the public. I am enlightened and it did not cost me a dime. How beautiful is that. Thank you again.”
Chanly Bob, Board Chairman of Cambodian-American Community of Oregon, Apr. 3, 2008
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“I just want to say this site is amazing. I wish I knew about it when I was in high school it would have helped me out a lot. I’m in college now and I have to write about a controversial issue of my profession im entering which is the medical profession. I have to compare 3 websites and without a doubt this one was the best and displayed the most information and was unbiased.”
Amanda, Feb. 19, 2008
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“I am requiring that my speech and debate students use your websites for the final exam. We are doing debates for the final, and you guys have websites for three of the four topics. Brilliant! You should market your website to speech teachers.”
Carl Rogers, Teacher at Redondo Union High School, Redondo Beach, CA, Jan. 16, 2008
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“Finally! Something easy and concise for selecting a candidate [2008 Election ProCon.org]. I feel people are too lazy to vote or confused on issues and candidates, but if they realize there is a vehicle that will streamline the confusion or bias, maybe they would be more inclined to vote. Thanks SO MUCH!””
Christi, Jan. 6, 2008
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2. Con
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“The entire Clinton administration advised for regime change in Iraq and passed their intelligence and ‘on the record’ statements that Iraq had WMD, planned to use them. Because you are not upfront about this…you are a partisan unpatriotic libtard jerk.
Oh…not to mention, you make no mention of General Tommy Frank, the leader of CENTCOM under Clinton and through both the starts of both wars.
It is HE that advised we go to war…Bush and Cheney did not do this in a vacuum.
You are stupid, foolish and unpatriotic to say otherwise and libtards like you embolden the enemy and cost this country, TIME – MONEY and Soldiers lives.”
Jeff, May 10, 2008
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Linked Sites: The number of 3rd party websites that linked to ProCon.org in 2007 was 29,255 per month. In 2008, that average increased 40,036 – a 37% increase!
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Alexa Rankings: Our ranking on Alexa.com, a web service that measures online popularity, improved from 263,167 overall and 63,907 US in 2007 to 46,276 overall and 13,339 US in 2008.
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Staff: Our organization ended 2008 with a full-time staff of ten in-house employees. Our end-of-year staff included seven researchers, one IT Manager, one Managing Editor, and me, our Chairman (unpaid).
ProCon.org held its 194th weekly staff meeting on Dec. 30, 2008. These weekly staff meetings remain excellent forums for our staff to exchange ideas, news, site progress, and statistics.
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Financials: 2004-2008 Financial Information for ProCon.org:
Our accounting department expects the audited report to show that in 2008, we were slightly under our budget of $717K.
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