I took a good long look at this board with all it’s traffic, and I seriously wonder how you guys can afford it. I used to run a message board of my own and it cost a not insignificant sum, and my board had maybe a dozen regular members.
My board had a “community chest” where people donated to keep it running. Are there any such plans in the future for this place? I’d chip in a little if it were an option.
Or should I just buy a bunch of Chicago Reader products and hope that makes up for it? 
I don’t think the cost is nearly as high as you think. First off, the Reader owns its own server, so hosting costs are zero. Most of the cost is in the electricity to run it and the people who maintain it, and they have to be there anyway to run the Reader’s main site; and in the internet connection (probably a dedicated T-1 line).
Damn Straight! That’s what everone should do. The t-shirt looks great and I get stares at the local store on the weekend when I wear it. The books are a great read. Get 'em.
I echo samclem’s advice. Besides, if enough copies of the stockpiles of prior books get sold, perhaps Cecil will issue a new one.
As noted elsewhere, discussion is underway about dealing with the costs of the site. When they figure it out, they’ll let us know.
I’ve bought a couple Straight Dope books, that’s what eventually led me here.
I didn’t know you guys had T-Shirts. Might be worth buying…
https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat
There ya go. I like the shirt, myself.
I’ll add that the T-shirt is an especially good bargain at ten bucks. It’s the nice high-quality Beefy Hanes® model.
Bought the t-shirt, the books, and the mug. The site didn’t get no betterer.
Get your friends and family to ditto. You can’t judge an experiment from just one test.
I did, and then they threw them back at me, those who could reach me. Those who couldn’t sent me hate mail. My parents disowned me, and all of my friends vowed never to talk to me again. My ex-girlfriends, all one of them, posted my name, address, and phone number on the Great Losers of All Time message board, simply because I begged them/her to buy some of these goshforsaken books.
But I can’t complain.
I’m volunteering to be the control subject in this experiment. I’ll do nothing and see if the board spontaneously gets better. If it does then I know I don’t have to buy anything because the effect of buying something is simply coincidental.
UncleBeer, didn’t you use to be a nice high-quality Beefy Hanes® model yourself?
Oh yeah, that reminds me. I switched from 50 posts per page to 20 posts per page about eight months ago, to see if it sped things up. Did anyone notice? 