Back when we went to pay to post, I was on board. I understood this place needed money to stay afloat.
That doesn’t seem to be the case any more though. Now we’ve got more sponsors than you can shake a stick at.
We don’t have sponsors, we run ads. They don’t pay much, unfortunately.
We need a bigger stick.
Maybe Obama will let us use his. He’s from Chicago, after all.
The site has ads but ad revenue alone isn’t sufficient to make things go here.
We appreciate our subscribers very much and hope they keep on keeping on.
I still can’t figure out what a subscription here costs. If I have to do that much research I’d rather spend it on a story I can sell or on a topic I’m fascinated with.
A person can still be a member without being a Mod and I know how hard mods work. Sometimes people build up a board with major traffic in mind and then sell the site to some sucker (?) Such people sometimes give their trusted/ most favorite mods a cut.
I’m new here. I don’t know who owns the board and I haven’t gotten around to checking out who Cecil is.
A board owner could have other agendas, as opposed to cash–publicity–culling for info, and so on…
Running a busy board does cost money. Of course depending on the owner’s resources it is a relative pittance or a hardship.
Adverts don’t generate any income worth mentioning UNLESS your board is specific to a vulnerable and desperate membership to whom related targeted ads are, um. targeted (somebody please fix that sentence --I’m really wiped but I love the Tuba Chick) which is not the case here.
Besides I’m her entertainment industry manager now.
What was the question? 
OH CHRIST I THOUGHT TUBADIVA WAS THE OP. My bad. BUT STILL.
For the record, subscriptions for most people on this board are $14.95 a year. For that $14.95 a year you get no ads on the message board pages, you get a few little upgrades, you have the satisfaction of having struck a blow in the fight against ignorance, you help keep the Straight Dope operational. All in all, something that will give you a nice warm glow for a minute or two, perhaps.
No worries, cynyc. Stuff happens. No offense taken, no harm, no foul. Relax and read the FAQs when you have some free time.
Wasn’t the expectation when the board went free that adverts would bring in more money than subscriptions? Did that ever work out on balance, i.e. is the SD more profitable than before?
Know you probably can’t give out exact numbers but it would be interesting to know.
Yes, the expectation was that ad revenue would be sufficient not to have to bother people about subscriptions, we would have big ad moneys instead. Didn’t work out that way and we discovered that we truly need both ad money and subscription money to keep the hamsters fed. We need it all, honey.