I am but a humble newbie and whether I stick here only time will tell. Yet I can’t help but wonder what can be done to improve the overall experience.
I’m sure this has been discussed before, but using the search feature has taken years off my life with little or no results.
So I must ask:
With so many loyal users, why not have a fundraiser to pay for a faster server/memory upgrade or whatever needs to be done to make the board more stable and responsive?
Or is there already a paypal account or other form for taking donations I have not come across?
Barring that, with the incredible traffic coming through here, why not sell banner space at the top? I understand the Chicago Reader hosts this board (kindly) yet I don’t even see their own ads. Considering the bandwidth, that is highly unusual.
Yes, we’ve had this conversation before. In short, the Chicago Reader would have all sorts of nightmare tax problems that even Cecil will be able to unscramble if it starts accepting donations.
A while back, a possibility of a subscription model was mentioned, but that has not been mentioned for a while.
The donation and subscription issue has been discussed at length here on the boards, and they haven’t hit on a solution as of yet.
The boards had banner ads for a while, but I remember an admin saying that the revenue was too small to be worth the trouble. The preferred way to help out right now is to go to the main straightdope.com site and purchase some books, mugs, etc.
There are serious legal/tax/accounting problems with the input of money from board members to the Chicago Reader, Inc., the company that owns the boards and pays for their upkeep. Many of us, including the administrative staff, are trying to figure ways in which this can be done, since we value the service and would like to be able to subsidize it. Don’t hold your breath waiting for results, however; there are always valid objections to every idea that’s been brought up so far.
As for “turbo-izing the hamsters” (getting faster/higher-capacity server, routers, etc.), this has actually been done several times, but is a victim of Parkinson’s Law. Use of the boards expands at a rate that consumes the added capacity, and brings the boards back to the speed we’ve all grown accustomed to. Search for posts by jdavis, perhaps the best-loved IP professional in the business, for details on this. (Thanks again, Jerry, for all the work you put into keeping our playground running!)
We’ve not been considered by the Reader as a potential source of revenue; if anything, to quote from Reader Big Cheese Mike Lenehan, this has all been “a fascinating experiment in cyberspace.”
Which is better than how it was when we started; we were simply using their web portal until they got a better idea of what, if anything, they were going to be and do online. To be brutally honest with you, we never thought we’d make it this far.
It has been an experiment that has only cost them money; they have yet to make dime 1 from this part of their enterprise. While I’m sure they get something from the Straight Dope Store revenues, that’s not exactly Nike money we’re talking there, either.
The Reader has been very good to us, considering all these things.
The Chicago Reader is first and foremost an alternative newspaper and I don’t think they should be faulted for sticking to their main chance. When you see the bigger picture, I think you’ll agree with me that we have been quite fortunate to have what we have had for the last 4 years, meager as it may seem to some of our Teeming Millions.
The tail ain’t wagging this dog, folks.
Will this situation change? I’d like to see it happen, but right now, we’re counting our blessings to have a board at all. If you want to contribute, buy stuff from the store, make the greatest posts you can, and hope for a better day. And on that great getting up morning we ask you for money, I hope you will ante up with a smile.