Well, thank you for the insult, but at no time did I say what you should or should not do. I was just making the observation that telling the SDMB owners that they are administering the board all wrong is probably not something that would be received well by most companies. STM owns the SDMB and can run it any way they like. None of us here are entitled to demand anything from them. We’re not shareholders.
You can pose any question you want. You can even make demands if you want. I did not say anything in my post about what you could or could not do here.
The topic has come up a lot lately. That particular comment wasn’t directed specifically at BucketyBuck or anyone else in particular. It’s just an observation based on the tone of many of these recent comments, and it is relevant because (as noted in the OP) those comments are what inspired BucketyBuck’s post.
The tone of a lot of the comments spring from frustration. And in mind it’s understandable. This is an old and strong community. The owners couldn’t care less about the members and it shows. In my opinion, it appears the moderators have grown weary of their jobs and that shows too. I understand stand the mods frustration too but snapping back at posters only makes things worse.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the owners shut this place down.
Well that seems a little extreme. Granted, I’m relatively new here - only 2yrs, and yeah a lot of posts but many of those are from simple games - so I haven’t been exposed too much to the Dopers v Mods v Owners movement. In my short time here I’ve learned a lot, and hopefully I’ve enlightened a few people along the way. Some people can get snarky or downright mean at times. I’ve found a few senior members who are ‘brave while hiding behind their keyboard’ (my language to describe those who hurl insults while safe in their pajamas and at their laptops), but there aren’t too many and I just ignore them.
Usually, over the last 2 years I’ve found this to be a pretty good town
The answer is simple. Operating a board like this (especially the way the SDMB does it) is dirt cheap. A single employee is responsible for its administration and apparently he is only needed on a monthly (if that basis). All the mods are volunteers and the vBulletin software is a one-time purchase of $250. The Sun Times likely has ample server space and running this board on the dusty machine in the corner doesn’t require much of a budget.
Even if the ads and subscriptions only bring in a pittance, it only takes half a pittance to run the board.
Great question. I’m curious also, although counting people here might be similar to counting people at church: how many people on the roles/roster, and how many regular Sunday attendees? Two very different, and meaningful, numbers.
And that’s the kind of info that very few privately held companies are willing to share.
The imminent demise of the SDMB has been a topic of conversation ever since I joined. Perhaps things are truly different now, and the end is near. Or perhaps not. I’ll continue to enjoy the ride.
If someone tells you that something is not a good idea, they are telling you that you should stop doing it. You don’t need the exact words to convey the meaning.
If you disagree, what purpose is there in saying that something won’t be received well other than to say you shouldn’t do it?
I do notice you switched from “should” to “could” at the end. But that distinction is rather hazy when coming form an authority figure. You seem to be equating the two, since you use them interchangeably above.
Well put: I see you have at least a rudimentary understanding of internal office politics, diplomacy and basic human interaction. I also understand that this really doesn’t apply to ATMB interactions, except insofar as you Ed will be circumspect about passing suggestions along to upper management. After all, the complainers here rarely even consider the business challenges facing the wider unit, which makes their armchair recommendations laughably self-centered.
Still, perhaps as a member I should humor them. Dear whiners: we care about your patronage and are 110% committed to total customer satisfaction. Your feedback is important to us. Send your ideas to SDMBideas@mailinator.com and receive a custom form letter with marketing double talk in return, once we’ve gotten around to composing the boilerplate.[sup]1[/sup]
cmyk: We have 5437 active members. Assume they all pull in $15/yr which is wildly over-estimated. That’s something like $80,000 which simply isn’t worth paying attention to if you’re a Vice President in the company. Maybe if we had 10x or 20x the activity it would be a little different. But this place can coast along provided a) ST doesn’t go belly up, b) ST doesn’t spin off the unit to someone who goes belly up, c) Ed continues to respect the time and attention of upper and middle management and d) Never mind that scenario.
What drives discussions in ATMB is armchair theorizing, narrow perspectives, a boundless sense of entitlement, and perhaps acclimation to corporate double-talk. Just remember: we value your patronage and your naive mollification.
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Understood. But it’s not that hard to ballpark, even using the “Active Members” count at the bottom of the board (5,437), and to keep things super conservative, let’s halve that and assign a price of $8 per, you’d get almost $22,000 per year. Just from a bit over 2700 subscribers at half-rate.
But I strongly doubt that ‘active member’ designation is the number of paying ‘members’ but rather includes the number of both paying members and guests who are posting above a certain threshold. Something similar has been stated in the past by an admin or moderator, IIRC.
I admit I too am curious as to how many paying ‘members’ and ‘charter members’ we have here, but I don’t expect the PTB will serve up the numbers.
Yeh, I figured that number was a mix, which is why I halved it and also assigned the discounted charter cost. But still, looks like plenty of money is there to run such a bare-bones board, especially with the costs Justin_Bailey pointed to up-thread is anything to consider.
FTR, I agree. Furthermore the fees and ads are large enough to put this micro-unit in the “Ignore” category. But if Ed telephones Jerry on a monthly basis to add a feature or install a special script, the balance tips. They can maintain a policy on malware, but that’s about it. Also, if upper management hires a consultant who pushes the “Staying focused on core competences” line of management [del]fad[/del] theory, then… well let’s hope that Ed has been smart enough not to annoy them previously.
Call me crazy, but that’s typically why competent businesses take a good percentage of the revenue earned from such a thing and use it as a yearly budget specifically for that entity.