WTF B&I are you serious or friggen drunk? Libs right. You’re an idiot if you believe this board doesn’t cost the chicago reader a significant amount of money.
You wanna try logic, you gaping head wound? Fine, try this:
-They’re asking for $15 a year from each member. That’s not even a nickel per day, per person.
-Anticipate, say, 1000 people actually paying (and frankly, that’s probably generous). That’s 43 bucks they’re getting every day.
So even by your math, dickhead, they’re STILL in the red.
Want your pie with extra humble?
Are you really flamin the guy based on a $7.00 difference?
No, I do not believe this board costs TCR a significant amount of money.
The $100K figure probably does not take in to account lots of costs that do not need to be costs to TSDMB. Even if we accept that figure, it is not a lot of $$$ over five plus years and it does provide a benefit to TCR.
JFC, have any of you actually run a business. I know $90K/yr mechanics that spend about $15K just on tools every year.
I am not a mega rich person, but damn, even to me, IT IS NOT A LOT OF MONEY for a business venture. Shit, just calendars, pens, and a few thank yous will add up to $20K every year. Just the company picnic costs, for one of the SMALL (maybe a dozen employees) business’s I run costs about $15K.
Oh shit, this screen does not show is a member - do I have to drink again:) 
Try again there are 45,000 members, so if we accept the 90% drop out expected you do the math dickhead.
There, I busted the chops of another non contributor guest scum - I will now drink
Frankly, given the choice between you being mistaken about your estimates, and the mods and admins of this board lying to our faces, I know which one I’d choose (though to be fair, you’re hardly the first to suggest the latter).
Nope, wrong-o buffalo-breath.
The donations would likely be considered income unless the CR set up a trust. But they ain’t money laundering.
In general, a single transaction has to hit a $2000 threshold (See USC Title 31) before it raises the first possible “Money laundering” red flags. We have $1995 of leeway. :rolleyes:
Go read Title 31 USC, then come back. :wally
Please, O Great and Magnificent Business Mind, explain to me how this board benefits the Reader. It doesn’t increase subscriptions, because there aren’t any subscriptions to increase. The bulk of the Teeming Millions don’t live anywhere near Chicago, so we’re not exactly increasing revenues from personal ads. As far as I know, no Dopers advertise with the Reader just because of this board. I quite simply don’t see how this board is anything but a financial drain on the Reader. So, please, you explain it to me. Feel free to use little words so I’ll be sure to understand.
Also, can you explain to me how you concluded that all 45,000 registered posters are actually active posters? I seem to recall seeing estimates of active posters that were roughly an order of magnitude smaller.
Thank you ever so much for sharing your wisdom and insight with the rest of us.
Even if he’s right, so what? What’s bad about the Reader’s board benefiting the Reader financially? That’s how it works. An exchange of goods and services for whatever people are willing to pay. Welcome to capitalism.
. . . now ***there’s ** * a sig-worthy line, if ever I’ve seen one.
On the other hand - <gack> - “testicles of my eyeballs” - <gack> . . .
I call bullshit on this. $1250.00 per head for a fucking picnic? I don’t believe you.
It doesn’t suprise me. Most company picnics include family members too, spouses and kids. It seems a little high but not that crazy.
Haj
I have to back up UncleBeer’s bullshit.
When I worked for a property management company one of my duties was party planning for our tenants (this was at the higher end properties, the lower end tenants didn’t get squat :D). We had about 14 floors, and I can’t remember what the head count was, but I know it was more than 40. I could plan a nice party, complete with more than enough food, big shade umbrellas, and live music for less than $15K. I believe I actually did it for less than half that.
In order to pre-empt a rebuttal that the cost of living must have been lower where I was - that was in Los Angeles. I don’t think any one would argue that LA actually has a low cost of living.
Yep
Also invite customers, some vendors, friends, and families. about 90 to 110 show up for the ho-down
Aye, Captain. It’s not just the whales. It’s the water.
I should add that it is a catered affair at a local park - there is a rental fee for the park and rental fees for the games for the kids
Improving employee morale, and B2B relations with a picnic is a rather different thing than giving away tens of thousands of dollars to people you don’t know, see, interact with, or get a single solitary dime from. Spending money on tools is an investment in the business, a message board is just a fun thing that earns nothing.
We, as a group, contribute very little outside of headache and cost to the Chicago Reader. Outside of occasional merchandise sales there’s nothing to offset their costs. I, as a corporate finance guy, would have come down like a ton of bricks on this place. Instead of spending $20,000/yr on some internet yahoos, I would either give that money to the shareholders or reinvest it in the company.
Do you seriously think that all 45,000 registered screen names are active, dunce? Or do you think it’s more like, oh, 2,000 or so? Hmm… I wonder…
I was being generous, and it still came up short. Divide the final answer by three if you want an estimate of the more likely total (for the near future, anyway).
The ultimate point is this: B&A made a big, idiotic assumption, with no evidence, no facts, and so little understanding of the situation that it required scientists to recalibrate their definition of “zero”. And came out, full-bore.
I’m just one more snag that he tripped over in his oh-so-zealous quest to conquer Evil Warlord Ed.
Well if there really are only 2000 active users then this board really dont cost shit to run.
The company picnic was not a value comparison to the MB, just making a point that this is not a lot of money!