# How does the SDMB pay for itself... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 30, 2001, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323 "2001-01-30T00:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sethdallob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@sethdallob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sethdallob)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/1 "2001-01-30T00:15:13Z")
How does the SDMB make money? Is the Chicago Reader running a charity? There are no banner ads (thank God), no subscription charges, no income…yet it costs money to keep the electrons flowing. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/2 "2001-01-30T00:37:10Z")
Well, read that little thing on the bottom of the page. Chicago reader owns the right: > [@](#): > > \*\* > “The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams” is a registered trademark of Chicago Reader, Inc. Contents of the Straight Dope Message Board and the Straight Dope Web site are copyright 1984-2000 by the Chicago Reader, Inc. All rights reserved. By posting on this board you grant the Chicago Reader, Inc., and its successors and assigns a nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to you. No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written consent of the Chicago Reader, Inc., except that message board users retain the right to republish or repost their own work. \*\* See? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/3 "2001-01-30T01:14:56Z")
The Chicago Reader does not make money from this message board. They do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Really. Yes, newsmen have hearts. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/4 "2001-01-30T01:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > \*\*Well, read that little thing on the bottom of the page. Chicago reader owns the right: > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > "… By posting on this board you grant the Chicago Reader, Inc., and its successors and assigns a nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to you. No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written consent of the Chicago Reader, Inc., except that message board users retain the right to republish or repost their own work. > > \*\* > > See? \*\* Does this imply that they are going to sell a book featuring our postings (without notice or compensation)? ---
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/5 "2001-01-30T01:37:01Z")
Buy a recently published Straight Dope book and you will see that Cecil includes many postings from this very board. Hey, wait a minute I own the books, therefore… $ ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/6 "2001-01-30T01:51:33Z")
A… right… answer? Wow, I’m good :). Thanks for bringing that up though, I’d wondered but never bothered to look around. In the books does Cecil credit them to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/7 "2001-01-30T05:53:30Z")
Don’t forget, this site also has an e-commerce page where the books, t-shirts, coffee mugs etc. are sold. Voila - revenue stream. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/8 "2001-01-30T13:39:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IBBen \* > **Buy a recently published Straight Dope book and you will see that Cecil includes many postings from this very board.** Wow! That’s cool! I don’t have a recent book so I maybe you can fill me in. Does Cecil include the secret crush threads? Or how about post count parties? And what’s his opinion about Montfort and Anniz hooking up? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/9 "2001-01-30T14:00:07Z")
Cheese, Cnote, you wanna know what’s in the books? Well, BUY THEM, for heaven’s sake, and help us out financially by another fifty cents or so. For sure, Ed Zotti, who edits Cecil’s book, included several bits from the then Message Board into the last two books. However, that’s probably not more than six or seven pages worth in total, scattered throughout. The READER gets next to nothing for that, the mugs, t-shirts, etc combined. This discussion has been held several times, and the bottom line is still that the READER does it because they think it is the right thing to do, not to make a buck. At some point, the ongoing expense may overwhelm the sense of “rightness”, of course. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/10 "2001-01-30T15:11:15Z")
Beyond **Dex** ’ comments, I think the Reader mostly keeps it around so that they can brag that they have a net presence with a lower burn rate than last year’s _Time_ Person of the Year Jeff Bezos. But perhaps someone in About This Message Board will have something to add. ---
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/11 "2001-01-31T09:09:26Z")
I would think that a active fan base would make the column more attractive/valuable to the newspapers that carry it. Newspapers usually do an annual survey on what features are pulling their weight. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/12 "2001-01-31T11:35:02Z")
The Reader says that the Straight Dope fights Ignorance. By financing this message board, they’ve PROVED IT, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/13 "2001-01-31T16:09:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\*And what’s his opinion about Montfort and Anniz hooking up? \*\* He told me himself that he approves. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sdmb-pay-for-itself/52323/14 "2001-02-01T14:37:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > **At some point, the ongoing expense may overwhelm the sense of “rightness”, of course.** At which point I think you would find a lot of Dopers willing to contribute to the running expenses, if given the opportunity. But maybe I shouldn’t say that too loud.