I’m kinda surprised that you think that ‘What’s your financial situation look like?’ is a valid question, I disagree but maybe … well, actually, I’m pretty sure I’m right.
Could someone explain to me why this is important?
I think my membership fee is a fair exchange for getting to post here and using the search function. If I change my mind, I’ll quit renewing. If the staff of the Reader are burning my money to keep the cold from cutting through their suits woven out of hundred dollar bills, it won’t affect my position. If they’re giving blowjobs to mall Santas just to get something warm in their stomach, it doesn’t influence my position to resubscribe.
It’s fifteen dollars a year. Four cents a day.
Christ.
Space Dog, this is not exactly what you are asking, but it might be food for thought. Most ad deals on websites are based on the number of viewers who click on ads. They pay the Chicago Reader (mumble) amount of money every time you or I click on an ad. So, if you want the Google ad deal to work out, click on an ad or two every day. It doesn’t matter at all if you intend to buy something. When you click on an ad for elephant guns or lacemaking or armadillo grinders, somebody pays Google, and Google pays the Chicago Reader.
The advertisers really don’t mind. One out of a thousand or so clicks will result in a sale, and that’s enough to make it work. I’m going to click on something riiiiight now.
I think it is a valid and not inappropriate question at all. It would be inappropriate question to ask of an individual but I don’t think thereis anything improper about asking this of the SDMB. I also don’t see anything wrong with the staff of the SDMB (or whomever) politely declining to answer such a question.
Which I believe they’ve done more than once before, and finally said that they would not be addressing this issue again in the future, IIRC.
AskNott, I realize that you mean well, but it is against our terms of service with Google to solicit clicks in this manner.
By all means, click on the Google ads if you’re interested in the ad itself; please don’t encourage others to click away just to support the board. While we appreciate your support, this puts our relationship with Google Ads in jeopardy.
Damn, and here I was looking for a deal on armadillo grinders! I’ve got a stack of armadillos, now what am I gonna do with them?
I second this opinion, what is the point?
Except for the mall Santa part, I can chip in an extra four cents for a bag of hot cocoa mix with marshmallows, unless they really have a Santa thing that is. Who am I to judge?
So now we know, SpaceDog - they’re not ignoring you, they’re ignoring your questions. Does that help at all?
(I’ve emailed mods/admins in the past and got no response at all, too. It happens. Life went on.)
I’m with Mama Tiger on this.
I’m quite sure that asking about another individual’s or group’s financial business – especially in public – doesn’t make sense. It’s annoying, petty and ultimately self-defeating tactic when employed by anyone from children to other people who should know better.
No one ever owes you a response of any sort to a personal question – not even an acknowledgement.
There are few things in life that we can demand. Choose your battles wisely.
I do agree that ignoring a question is rude and at odds with the whole “fighting ignorance” thing (having recently run into it myself). If someone doesn’t want to answer a question, at least of the courtesy to say so. How hard is that?
…or “have” the courtesy to say so.
I so need to fire my editor.
Server specs? No problem. I’d even publish what OS it’s running without fear.
Now firewall specs? You wouldn’t get those.
Buisnesses don’t usually bitch and moan at the customers and tell them what a drain they are on the business’s back.
They also usually advertise the strength of their products and all the stuff the customers are gonna get for being customers.
But bitching at us about what a drain we are is still allowed! Aren’t we all lucky?
Boo fucking Hoo.
I would’ve thought I’d have gotten sick of the “If you don’t like it, then leave” mantra, but it just seems so apropos.
I apologise in advance, this post may be quite lengthy.
Let’s be absolutely clear on two things. First, I never indicated that I was entitled to the answers or demanded them. Second, I didn’t ask for a full profit and loss report of the Readers financials, in fact only one of my questions was financial when I asked if the board was losing or making money.
Delving into the second point a bit, I see that asking for server stats, traffic, etc could be viewed as looking for financials but I really didn’t think that it was. Many sites show traffic stats and some server information. For example you can look at ‘site statistics’ page on big-boards.com and see that some boards show traffic breakdowns and on the general information page some boards have filled in server details and other information they feel useful. I know that’s only some boards but it was this that led me to believe that these details aren’t always regarded as company confidential. The SDMB feels differently, fair enough I’m happy to accept that I’m just trying to highlight to the people in this thread that it’s not such an unacceptable question.
Some responses to people:
Well I sure wish someone would have pointed me to that pronouncement a week or so ago. I’m a fairly sporadic reader/poster so I miss some things.
To Coin and nd_n8, I ask the questions for a couple of reason. One, professional curiosity, I work in networking, I’ve maintained high-load servers and written high-traffic database systems. I’m a geek, I love this stuff, the problems, the quirks, etc.
More seriously some people pay for the ability to search and post on the SDMB and are not able to due to the server issues – that’s where this whole thing started in the ATMB thread. I never said anything about what the Reader does with the subscription or ad money and frankly I don’t really give a stuff what they do, I asked if the board performance was likely to be improved. Since it was indicated that server upgrades wouldn’t be forthcoming I was looking to explore if anything else could be done to improve some peoples experience of the boards.
Oh, don’t be cute.
It’s nice how what I actually asked has morphed into ‘financial situation’ or ‘financial business’, that’s not what I was asking. Hopefully I’ve explained why I thought it was a valid question that I figured might be answered, and if not I’m happy to discuss the generic case in a different thread. I also made clear that I’d take no for an answer. They’ve said no and I’m not arguing with that.
I’m honestly stunned that people think the silent treatment was more appropriate than TubaDiva posting an “Oh, and sorry SpaceDog but it’s policy not to answer questions regarding the server, traffic or financials of the board” at the bottom of her TubaChristmas performance post.
Finally, I know this is the pit but there seems to be a bit of hostility here? Again I can’t see why? Christ people, I’m not out to ‘get you’ here. I only asked a few questions which, last I checked, is one of the things this board is about. Maybe my paranoia’s showing, I dunno.
SD
My guess is that no Mod knows. Mods are not the techies and may not be privvie to the techie info. It would be polite to say that, but politeness is not a requisite skill set for being a Mod. What Mod likes to admit to ignorance about anything? And the business people may like it that way. They may prefer that no one has access to any information that can be used to deduce profit/loss info in any way, even if that was not your intent.
What’s so difficult about accepting the “if we make this place better we’ll get more customers and the place will be worse” argument? :rolleyes:
We mods/admins don’t in fact know server stats. We can find out a bit about how much load is on the server, so if the board is running slow we can look and see “Ah, there are 1000 people reading the boards right now, that’s why” or “hm, not all that many people online, better have Jerry see what’s slowing us down.” When SpaceDog asked, Tuba asked Ed and Jerry to weigh in, and Jerry did when he got around to it. Even if we did know anything about the bandwidth or income, we’re not supposed to speak on those things anyway–that’s up to the Reader to decide what they want to say. You can ask, but looks like you’ll get a “no” and they might take a while to say anything.
I certainly don’t know the answer to SpaceDog’s question, nor am I privy to the motivations of the Reader with respect to the administration of the boards. Why didn’t I post as such to this thread earlier, or to the previous threads of this type? Some posters may view Mods as being indistinguishable from The Administration of the boards (rather than schlubs who fix typos in exchange for a coffee cup), so our comments in these types of threads may be incorrectly viewed as official statements or reflect official views. Better to simply stay out of it, especially when I have nothing to add or contribute.
Pardon me for being baffled by any business that spends more time bitching about its customers than trying to figure out how to be more attractive to people who might want to give that business money.
I wish I could be as simplistic as you and never think that the business practices of a place might just be driving customers away, but I just can’t seem to lower my IQ far enough.
You think a business that has repeatedly said it’s struggling to even be in the black can afford to take the tone of ‘We don’t need you.’?