I'm John Freeman, publisher of the web site, downthetubes - and I'll cut straight to the chase. I need your help.

downthetubes is a comic site primarily promoting British comics, my work complemented by contributions from a fantastic team of volunteers. It's been running since 1998, and has a little bit of income from ads and affiliates, and we have a dedicated, loyal and appreciated audience. But what I don't have is the capacity to cope well with a large bill, especially when it's a hosting bill of just over £2100, up from £1500 two years ago, when I first ran this crowdfunder, up from £620 two years earlier.

The rises reflect not only service cost rises we're seeing in many areas of life, but, also, our increased popularity and the size of growing archive of news, interviews and features that I hope our many readers are still enjoying.

I have been working since then behind the scenes to get the site on a different server, but the technical scale of moving such a large archive, and work schedules, has meant we haven’t quite achieved that aim, yet.

I’m reigniting this crowdfunder, in the hope you can help me cover this bill, conscious that times are, perhaps, hard for many, and aware how much so many of you kindly donated back in 2024. Thank you.

At a time when things are tight for everyone, I fully appreciate it's a huge ask to come cap in hand, again, and ask people if they can stretch to supporting downthetubes. I have reserves to cover some of this bill, but if you can help in any way, that would be much appreciated.

Even if you can't make a donation, if you can simply let people know about this appeal that would be fantastic, or buy something from my eBay store, or use the affiliate links on the site to buy something.

Thank you for reading this.