# how does proboards.com make money?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-proboards-com-make-money/821131>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 10, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-proboards-com-make-money/821131 "2018-09-10T22:12:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-proboards-com-make-money/821131/1 "2018-09-10T22:12:45Z")

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In the sdmb improvement thread on the last page the discussions are about how much it costs to run a mb like this

[https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21199066#post21199066](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21199066#post21199066)

And a lot of users thought that it wouldn’t take much to run a place like this because [proboards.com](http://proboards.com) is free and just has a banner or two on the hosted sites and we had the reader and subs ect …….

Now even tho ive been on a dozen or so pb hosted sites (the imaginary RP wrestling feds I play love the place) ive never needed or thought about a subscription …  
So is it just that cheap to run ? or does something bigger own it and just keeps it free for goodwill?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-proboards-com-make-money/821131/2 "2018-09-11T10:15:29Z")

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[Moderating]  
Moving to GQ

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-proboards-com-make-money/821131/3 "2018-09-11T13:16:08Z")

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Part of the answer is in the premium features, which presumably aren’t free.

“Premium Features — We offer additional premium forum options including the ability to use your own custom domain name, remove advertising from your forum, and the ability to change your forum URL.”