Many of us, in fact, have asked and the answer is always that the Reader is a private enterprise and does not wish and has no obligation to reveal its finances to us. Most of us can accept that. Do you ask to see the books of businesses YOU patronize?
Listen, I really, honestly, truly do not care. On any given day, this is by far the most fun I can have for four and a half cents. I also wonder if I have some Magical Uber Computer that experiences fewer problems than other people’s computers (unlikely: my brother refers to my circa 2000 laptop as the “Hewlett-Packard Boat Anchor”), or if I just has a higher tolerance for “Huh. Board’s crapped out again” than other people do.
I also think that while you’re demanding an accounting, you might ask them to throw in a pony.
Sounds like you’ve already got your accounting.
Where do you get “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from, if not from an accounting? I mean, you could be making up the numbers, but you seem so reasoned and level-headed- you couldn’t possibly be doing that, could you?
Seriously, what KIND of accounting would you like? It’s not a hard question.
Ummm… I don’t know it. Fifteen dollars is not a lot of money to me, and this message board is not that big a part of my life. The opinion of people on this message board is not something I seek.
I subscribe to the SDMB. I subscribe to Sports Illustrated. When the latter has a loose staple or an article about NASCAR or comes a day late, I don’t throw a fit. Not because I don’t want to piss off Time Warner, or because I’m afraid Rick Reilly will be mad at me, but because it just wouldn’t occur to me that an issue of SI that wasn’t 100% compatible with my personal wants was worthy of blowing a gasket.
Have you tried building ships in a bottle? Or the NYTimes crossword puzzle? Or Facebook Scrabble? These are all wonderful hobbies, and you sound like you need one.
How disappointing, I open this up thinking it’s a rant about where all the $$ went to in Iraq, or at the United Way, or at least at the local Parent Teacher’s association bake sale. Instead, I get lukewarmed over generic ‘this board sux’. Who should I see about a refund?
Facebook Scrabble? Really!
Given that we have solid evidence that the Reader has several hundred thousand dollars at their disposal, they could certainly afford it (although it might eat into the hookers’n’cocaine budget).
Actually, I think $15 is a low price to get the opportunity to troll a bit. After all, where else can you go and call a bunch of people that haven’t insulted you “fuckheads” for no good reason? Plynck was only kidding, and to be honest, he beat me to that joke.
We didn’t take your money and no one here is responsible for the accounting. I can understand the griping if you’re unsatisfied with the service, but the insults are kind of unwarranted.
Very good.
You cut me to the quick.
Not really, but it sounds good anyway.
Let’s just cut to the chase. I know there are many, many computer experts out there who can state how much it would cost to run and maintain a message board of this type.
I’d like to hear from them. I’d like to hear dollars and cents, and i would like to hear about the hardware and software involved.
Why do I have this bee in my bonnet? Because in a recent thread (Sorry, I can’t remember the title) this topic was brought up by a well-regarded poster, and no answer was provided.
I thought that was a little off-putting.
Sure, I can live with the board going down occaisionally, but it would be nice to have a definative answer, without all the defensiveness from the high-timers.
Just a simple answer. And I know that many of you who would not dare to be critical of the SDMB would also like the same answer.
Don’t pretend you don’t care to know.
$15 is definitely not a lot to worry about. But, It’s $15 more than they had before.
Let’s hear how they’re spending it.
Can I think that the SDMB is god and think the board runs shitty sometimes? Because I believe that the SDMB is god and that the board runs shitty sometimes.
So when you joined, in April 2007, did you think that your personal $15 was going to be the tipping point that would get new servers installed?
You’ve been lurking for years; you knew how the board’s performance was, and so you decided to throw in your money anyway, and then bitch about having bought something that you don’t like? In other words, you bought something that you knew you didn’t like before you even bought it?
So you want to make a bunch of baseless accusations, then demand that others who actually know what the fuck they’re talking about back you up with facts that haven’t been pulled out of your ass?
While we’re at it, what color pony do you want?
I really would be surprised if there are as many as 4000 people paying. I would suspect that 1/2 or more of them are charter members so that is about $45K a year. That is not a lot of cash.
Once I saw Alan Thicke from Growing Pains on a Zambini!
I don’t expect shit for $15. I paid it and still get called a troll. Ain’t that some shit. But yeah just get over it. In San Francisco $15 dollars buys about one half a sandwich, and I’d rather have the board for a year personally, flaws and all.
If it’s a Mustang, I’d like a red one please.
Well, Czar-boy, here’s hoping that someone in the know will check in and testify what it takes to run and maintain a message board of this type.
I don’t expect it, though. Who has the guts to back up a lowly 300 post poster?
I do recall, from another thread, that it only takes, at the very extreme, maybe 2 grand to run a board of this type.
Of course, you probably know more about it than I do.
So, why don’t you just lay it out?
How many posters? How many paying $15? Total revenue intake? Total outlay?
?
Yeah, well. If you want to roll over, that’s your deal.
Call us names, make up figures and demand information from a privately held company?
FOAD
Oh, so now we see where the money IS going.
Get a nice little $250 bonus did you ? (which should bring your monthly net to about $500)
Fuck you.
Fess up, or shut up.
You knew (or should have known) how this would turn out. Why are you lashing out beyond simply what you said in the OP?
No, I really wasn’t attempting to ridicule your post, but thank you for the opportunity to do so now. I was just trying to hijack and deflect serious responses to your observations. Observations that have been made here many times by people more intelligent than you, wittier than you, and more civil than you. You would know this if you have been here as long as you say. You aren’t saying anything, and you’re saying it much too loud.
Very few will disagree that the performance is spotty. Those who find it overly annoying leave. Those who choose to put up with it stay. I’ll put up with it. You may choose differently. Each to their own.
But implying that those who find your attitude offensive are sucking up to the management? Do be serious. I really don’t care if management takes exception to what I say about this board or about other members, nor (I believe) do most here, but perhaps that’s because we usually don’t say much that is offensive. Perhaps it’s because we come back to interact with others, even if we disagree with them. Perhaps we were brought up well. Perhaps we had good toilet training. It’s a mystery.
Damn, I was looking forward to “Ask the Zamboni Operator”…