# Do we know or have some idea of how much it costs to run the sdmb? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 23, 2023, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036 "2023-12-23T07:50:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/1 "2023-12-23T07:50:23Z")
ok the last time this was asked was 20 years ago and just about everything here has changed … i mean since were part of a not-for-profit media company these days velocitys question about ownership prompted me to ask for an update ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/2 "2023-12-23T11:52:53Z")
The software is open source. If you wanted to host with the developers, they only publish pricing up to the “business” level of USD$300/month. > **[Discourse pricing](https://www.discourse.org/pricing)** > > Official Discourse hosting plans for communities of every size. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/3 "2023-12-23T22:55:54Z")
The real name of `boards.straightdope.com` is `straightdope.hosted-by-discourse.com`, so it is being hosted by Discourse. I expect it is at least the $300/month business plan, because even for a small Internet community, I think we would exceed the capacity of the $100/month standard plan. The $100 plan only allows 100k page views per month, and the discourse site I run, which is basically unused for much of the year, does 11k page views a month from just bots and search engine traffic. The plan could be standard or business with excess page view charges, too. CPM should qualify for the 50% non-profit discount from Discourse, though. The wildcard is if CPM has an enterprise license with Discourse that may be even cheaper than $150/month, or more expensive due to the site’s traffic exceeding the business level thresholds. So my best guess is in the $150-250/month range. If the powers that be wanted to self host, then the costs would go down significantly. Of course someone would have to either volunteer time towards systems management, or an additional responsibility would have to be added to an existing IT person’s job. The direct cost of hosting could be under $20/month, but my guess is in the $30-50 range for a multi core VPS with adequate RAM and storage. Add another $20 or so for Cloudflare or similar, if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/4 "2023-12-23T23:44:54Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Of course someone would have to either volunteer time towards systems management, or an additional responsibility would have to be added to an existing IT person’s job. There’s the rub. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/5 "2023-12-24T11:54:17Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I expect it is at least the $300/month business plan, because even for a small Internet community, I think we would exceed the capacity of the $100/month standard plan. When we first moved to Discourse I tried to look up how much we were paying. Based on the number of page views we get, we’re well up into the “call for a quote” cost category. I suspect that it’s significantly higher than your $150-250/month range, but I’m not involved at all in the financial side of things here, so I really have no idea. I also have no idea how much money we bring in from advertising. I have heard that Cecil’s Column was where the real money was and that the ad revenue from the SDMB side of things isn’t worth much. I’ve heard a lot of grumblings about ad blockers so I suspect that’s taken much of the SDMB ad revenue away from us. The general impression that I get (and again, I’m not involved in the financial side of things so this is just guesswork) is that we are barely keeping the lights on around here. Message boards in general have been declining significantly in the last decade or so. Many, if not most, have completely gone away due to being financially unsustainable. We have been steadily declining too, but we’re still here, so we’re doing better than most. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/6 "2023-12-24T16:55:50Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > We have been steadily declining too, It’s taking longer than we thought! ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/7 "2023-12-24T16:56:41Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Based on the number of page views we get, we’re well up into the “call for a quote” cost category Yes, if as a mod you can see the more detailed Discourse statistics page, then you’ll have a much better idea of the number of page views. The non-negotiated price would be $25 for every 100k page views beyond whatever is included in the plan. That _should_ set a maximum, but it’s really impossible to know from the outside. I also ran across several threads on the Discourse meta-board about in instance page views and billed page views being different, so even that number may not accurately reflect the a la carte costs. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > We have been steadily declining too, but we’re still here, so we’re doing better than most. Even the brief statistics that regular users can see under the “about” section (click the hamburger menu) are interesting. Mine is showing 95 new signups and 1700 active users in the last 30 days. That’s not going to bring in any VC capital, but it ain’t nothing, either. And wow is this ever a more pleasant place to hang out than Reddit, Facebook, exTwitter, Bluesky, Mastadon, Instagram, etc. Warranted or not, I always read two things into questions like this one: how much would a pay to access model cost, and how much would running it ourselves cost? I think if even 5% of active users paid $5/month, that could cover most of the hosting cost as it is. (If not, then CPM needs to renegotiate with Discourse.) If CPM were to spin-off the board into a not-for-profit, then self-hosting costs with volunteer technical administrators could probably be under $50/month. That would mean 5% of active users paying $10/year should be able to cover hosting. Obviously there are a _lot_ of issues, like copyright, trademark, and other considerations for a spin-off, so I don’t expect that to ever happen, unless someone high up at CPM was both dedicated to keeping the board alive, and at the same time dedicated to no longer owning it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/8 "2023-12-24T16:59:11Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Mine is showing 95 new signups and 1700 active users in the last 30 days. I suspect, based on conversation in the “Trolls R Us” thread in the Pit (about trolling among SDMB members), that a significant percentage of the “new signups” are spammers or trocks (banned posters who create sock accounts to come back and troll). > [@echoreply](#): > > I think if even 5% of active users paid $5/month, that could cover most of the hosting cost as it is. Back in the vBulletin days, we had the option of paid accounts (I had a paid account here for years). I believe that the intent was always to offer these once we moved to Discourse, but I also suspect that TubaDiva’s sudden passing just after the transition played havoc with that. It’d certainly help to keep the lights on, but at this point, several years on in our Discourse era, with no option for paid accounts having materialized, my suspicion is that, for reasons which are beyond my security clearance, it’s not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/9 "2023-12-24T17:20:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I suspect, based on conversation in the “Trolls R Us” thread in the Pit (about trolling among SDMB members), that a significant percentage of the “new signups” are spammers or trocks I agree, and probably even the “real” signups are mostly lurkers who want the benefits of a login: thread tracking, favorites, un/read status, etc. New posters are generally of the one-and-done variety, too. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > with no option for paid accounts having materialized, my suspicion is that, for reasons which are beyond my security clearance, it’s not going to happen. I agree, and I have no insight whatsoever into any discussions that have or have not happened at Chicago Public Media, but just in my general experience the cost in administrative time to setup and manage memberships is higher than the cost to simply pay for the board as-is. By “cost” I don’t necessarily even mean the dollar to dollar value of paying someone for hours worked, but rather the cost of taking those people’s time away from other responsibilities. Obviously that is an organization with experience in taking memberships and donations in general, but the NPR model is to donate to or join your local station, rather than the one that produces the show you like, so accepting widely distributed donations for this board may go against their culture. Again, I’m just making all of this up based on my partial experience with non-profits and as an NPR listener, and I welcome anyone with actual knowledge to fight my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-or-have-some-idea-of-how-much-it-costs-to-run-the-sdmb/995036/10 "2023-12-24T17:33:37Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > probably even the “real” signups are mostly lurkers who want the benefits of a login: thread tracking, favorites, un/read status, etc. Or, just to be able to make a post – that’d also include the drive-by posters who pretty clearly create an account in order to post a comment on a long-dormant thread that probably showed up on a Google search for an obscure topic, most of whom never make a second post.