Free positioning of footnotes/comments

Question

I am writing a paper in which I want the ''normal'' footnotes to appear in the references list as usual, BUT as opposed to them I wish to insert one comment which will appear at the bottom of the first page. My question has two parts:

1. Is it possible to place only one special footnote at the bottom of the page, while all the others go to the references list?

2. Is it possible to place such comment without relating it to a specific location in the text (namely - so that it will not appear as superscript at some specific point in the text, but instead as a general comment)? It doesn't even have to be numbered (in fact - better not numbered).

   • Update: The answer below is good, and it answers my questions for the document class: article. BUT I should stress that: I am using document class: Revtex4-1. This class seems to be incompatible with the "endnotes" package so the solution doesn't work in my case. My question still stand and I'd appreciate help.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Answer 1

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{endnotes}
\let\svthefootnote\thefootnote
\newcommand\freefootnote[1]{%
  \let\thefootnote\relax%
  \footnotetext{#1}%
  \let\thefootnote\svthefootnote%
}
\textheight 2in
\begin{document}
This is a free footnote%
  \freefootnote{Here is my free footnote, unlabeled here or in text}.
Now for an endnote\endnote{Here is an endnote}.

\theendnotes
\end{document}

If you wanted the endnotes not as "notes", but in the same list as references, here is a way, basically creating footnote \cites:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{mynotes.bib}
@note{A01,
  note = {This is a footnote. This is a footnote. This is a footnote. 
    This is a footnote. This is a footnote. This is a footnote. }
}
\end{filecontents*}
\begin{filecontents*}{mycites.bib}
@BOOK{author1999book,
title = {Very Informative and Handsome Book},
publisher = {College Town, ST: College University Press},
year = {1999},
author = {First M. Last},
}
@BOOK{test2,
title = {Not So Informative and Handsome Book},
publisher = {College Town, ST: College University Press},
year = {1899},
author = {Last, First M.},
}
\end{filecontents*}
\renewcommand\refname{References and Notes}
\bibliographystyle{unsrt}
\begin{document}
This is a test of a citation\cite{author1999book} and a footnote\cite{A01},
followed by a citation\cite{test2}.
\bibliography{mycites,mynotes}
\end{document}