Help Build the New Website

Top Donation $545.00

Average Donation $55.62

🎉 The $3,000 goal is met — and the site is being built right now

You funded it on July 23rd. Development started immediately, and the new Forum Borealis is taking shape as you read this. Everyone who has contributed so far keeps their free month and their place among the founding supporters.

The campaign stays open, because there is more to build. Here is what your continued support unlocks.

✅ $3,000 — The new website (FUNDED)

Everything described above, and owned outright by Al: the full audio and video archives, the membership system and paywall, the merch shop, member dashboards and profiles, the newsletter, and a site that finally works properly on a phone.

🎯 $6,000 — The Forum gets its own infrastructure

Our own video server, so the shows no longer depend on YouTube’s mood. And live streaming on top of it, so Al can go out live and take your questions while the show is happening, instead of only hearing them afterwards. A chat server for the community, with voice and video calls built in. Official Forum Borealis Telegram and Discord, bridged straight into that chat server — so wherever you already spend your time, you are in the same room as everyone else. Plus advanced RSS and syndication and personalized feeds, so you can follow exactly the parts of the Forum you care about.

🔒 $9,000 — Al hires help, and the Forum goes independent

Al brings on a video editor and an audio editor. That is worth more than polish: editing is the work that eats his week, and handing it off means more shows, more often. Alongside that, a 24/7 Forum Borealis radio station streaming the archive around the clock, and our own decentralized social platform — a home for this community that no corporation can switch off.

Every contribution still earns one month free at the new site (or an extra month for existing subscribers), whatever total we reach. Anything raised beyond a goal rolls straight into the next one.

WELCOME to the Forum Borealis website development campaign!

If you have visited forumborealis.net, you know it is a tangled mess with a convoluted signup process, primitive audio player, lack of dashboard for subscription management, and a horrible mobile layout. This ends here.

We have teamed up with Prometheus (dedicated to making the Internet a free place) to build the new Forum Borealis! Unlike the current site (hosted by the Israeli company Wix), the new will be 100% owned by Al himself!

Moreover: Upgrading our site with full automation will free more time to spend on producing shows!

Let us work together with the community to build a new home for our content and everyone enjoying it.

However, due to the low subscription cost, the budget is quite low. Thus, we call upon YOUR generosity to help make this happen.

A modern website is a “living” project that will constantly change as time goes on, but we have some explicit aims marking the first upgrade phase and set the initial campaign goal to a modest $3000. That goal has been met, and the new Forum website is being built right now.

The base build includes:

• A new site with a modern, intuitive design that works cleanly on both mobile and desktop
• Seamless membership subs and donations, with immediate access to episodes after subscribing (no waiting for a lengthy approval process)
• A member account dashboard to manage your sub
• Improved community features including a member profile page with social integration and robust comments section
• Launch of the Forum newsletter to keep the community updated throughout development and after launch
• A tiered membership system that visibly shows you’re a supporter and unlocks perks within the community
• Audio hosting with a modern player for all show content

Everything raised beyond the initial $3,000 goes straight into the stretch goals above — additional features and improvements beyond the base scope.

Additionally, anybody who contributes to the campaign will get 1 month free subscription at the NEW site (or 1 extra month for existing subs).

Contribute what you can (don’t break your back), share this campaign with other listeners, and help us reach the next goal.

Every penny beyond the goal goes directly into making the new Forum Borealis better — more polish, more capability, and more room to grow.

Thank you!