Actually, that was a slightly mis-stated take on a South Park episode where the Underpants Gnomes had a business plan that looked like most of the former dotcoms:
- Steal underpants
- ???
- PROFIT!
Y’know, I hear there are much better boards elsewhere on the internet.
You owe me a new laptop and a new box of Life Grahams cereal. This is SO not fair.
snicker…Bobby Hill…snicker
Ava
B & I, you forgot to say “Good Day” (once again) on your last post.
i Say Good Day Sheriff!
Doesn’t it go like this? -
- Steal underpants
- ???
- Hi Opal!
Sorry if that’s been done before.
$20,000 a year in operating expenses sounds low to me.
Granted all the Mods are volunteers. And it should stay that way.
But, how many hours do the tech people at the CR spend keeping this thing up and running? WAG=500. Or ONE quarter man year, 10 hours a week. Let’s say they make a fairly low wage. Include benefits. Make it $50 an hour = $25,000. That’s got to be on the low side. Way low.
Storage is cheap, but there are nearly 4 million posts to store. Not nice small records, every word of those posts are stored. Triple that space, and then mirror it. And back it up.
AND it’s searchable. Every one of those posts, For any word over 3 letters. I’m sure vbulletin has it optimized very well, but your going to have to have a heck of box to do it.
Extra switches, and routers. Network support in the CR workshop = more $.
WAG - Server about $15,000. Or a farm, which will take more network support and switches. And room.
Database support. Is it SQL Server, Oracle? Maybe Informix? It’s probably the same database that the CR uses. But, it probably takes another license.
The Chicago Reader is doing it’s best to keep this animal up and running. IMHO, if Chicago Reader doesn’t do something soon, they would probably have to drop the SDMB. You can’t leave technology behind.
So they opted for 5 a year for current folks, and 15 in the future.
Where else can you go to post a question about anything, and get a timely, intelligent response?
The homepage for the Straight Dope Message Board does not have any banner adds.
The homepage for the Straight Dope Column does have banner adds
I, for one, always go directly to the message boards. So when you said there were banner adds at the homepage, I, not surprisingly, couldn’t see any.
You’re pitting her for not looking for banner ads when you didn’t really look at them. Nice.
The topic of conversation was on how incorrect you are about your assessment of the Board’s funding. The method I utilize to pay for membership - it’s called a “credit card”, Einstein - never came into things…
Oh, I get it, you know that you’ve been caught in your idiocy, and you’re trying to distract the issue. Try again, dickhead. Where’s that evidence that you’re supposed to have?
As has been pointed out, and recognized so far by anything and everything on this planet with an IQ greater than that of tupperware, Miss CatLady was entirely correct in her comments.
You, however, have been entirely INcorrect with your comments.
So how can she have gotten her foot in her mouth?
Or are you above such trifling matters as “logic” and rationality, O Great And Wise CHA-A-A-A-ARTER ME-E-E-E-EMBER?
This is what I’m talking about you twister ignorant fuck. It was not about funding but about how relatively little it costs to keep a MB going. CCL asked if there was any benefit, not if there was a total recapture of costs.
You are the one that said you are attempting to figure the best way to pay the fee - you brought it into play but seem to be to god damn stupid to remember what you typed in another thread just 30 hours ago
What evidence did I claim to have? You are attempting to steer the thread into something else. It’s called for those that actually buy into your crap Fallacies of Distraction!
Wrong again. All I said was it does not cost much to keep a MB going and responded to CCL with the totally correct answer that there are banner ads and the site also creates recognition - but you attempt to make more of it - next your going to tell me that your dad can beat up my dad :rolleyes:
An syphilitic gopher could beat up your dad.
The red nose and greasepaint are alright, but the shoes need to be just a liiiitle floppier and you’ll be all set.
Wow. Forget the rules to one party game and you’re pitted. Harsh board.
If you weren’t talking about funding, then how come you were talking about ads? Advertisements, in most parts of the universe, are used to… create funds.
If there’s not a total recapture of costs, there’s no benefit, because it would still be costing the Reader money.
For some reason, you’re the only one that can’t realize this.
Cite it. If you can quote where I ever - EVER - claimed, in this thread or the previous one that you started, that I was attempting to figure the best way to pay the fee, I’ll eat my underpants.
Too goddamned stupid, eh? Prove it. Copy and paste where I ever made these supposed comments, dickhead.
I never said you claimed you had evidence. Can’t you read? Please quote where I ever said that you claimed to have evidence.
What I SAID, you illiterate twit, was that anybody acting as brashly as you - calling Ed a liar, pitting CCL - over something like this would SURELY have evidence to support his position.
So where’s this evidence? You maintain that it doesn’t cost much to maintain the boards. Well, prove it.
All I’m asking for is proof, Tinkerbell. Got any?
And all I asked for was proof of that assertion. Stop trying to distract the issue.
What does that have to do with how much it costs to keep the MB going? Incoming profits don’t diminish the total costs of the project, they just offset them.
Further, as has been pointed out, you were incorrect in your assessment of the banner ads, as they DO NOT EXIST ANYWHERE IN THE STRAIGHT DOPE MESSAGE BOARD.
If you believe that they do, simply take a screenshot of the Straight Dope Message Board homepage and post it as proof, showing the supposed banner ads.
Did I? Or did I simply ask you to prove your assertions?
Hey, moron, you’re the genius that started waving your membership status around like it was a ten inch dick. Compensate much?
No need to bring county into this! 
I can see why a lot of people were interested in injecting this maroon, but I want to know what poor creature he cajoled into blowing him.
Is anyone else reminded of the guy dressed as a wizard who tries (and fails embarassingly) to verbally spar with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog in that bit about the Star Wars nerds?
Good point. I hereby motion that the ten inch dick be stricken from the record, your honor.
A vacuum cleaner?