This could be kickstarted. Tuba could run it.
Corporate sponsorship of the columns comes to mind. Corporate sponsorship of individual forums comes to mind.
If a corporation sponsors the entire message board, they will be associated with the Pit. Which is bad for them. In fact, it might be deal-breaker as it is. But not for the columns.
How do other boards survive? Benefactors and advertising are all I know about. I don’t think we’re a great venue for either of those.
Is there a way to have a donation for participating in certain contests? For example, when we have the free fantasy football and baseball leagues, how about a way that those who participate can donate $5 or so to the SDMB to keep it running? Same thing for major polls such as picking Oscar winners or election winners.
It would have to be a relatively easy way to do so, however. No one wants to go to a third party website, register, and agree to give away your first born just to donate to keep the board alive.
Software update – this place is running on an accent version and we could definitely use some improvements.
More smilies. Most boards have a whole bunch more.
Streamline the rule a bit – a lot of them tend to be confusing “was THIS a rule violation or not?” They’ve gotten really
Maybe a pledge drive once a year?
And while this isn’t really something Tuba could do, perhaps relax the whole “elitist” attitude that we’re somehow better than the hoi-polloi. “We don’t want to attract the WRONG kind of people here.” You know? Yes, the board will change. But what would you prefer – the board change and stay around? Or keep it the way it is, and have it be shut down?
Stop letting our members die. It’s been happening a lot lately and it’s pissing me off and making me sad.
I strongly disagree. I like the idea of making it possible for people to pay if they wish (I do) but requiring people to pay would most likely kill the board.
If this board ever went back to pay to post, my ass would be the first one out of the door. That would kill off this board, for sure.
- Get quality merc. (If death metal bands can make it work, it’s not that hard, the Dope can too. )
Not the hideous stuff that currently exists. Don’t let anyone involved in those choices have a say! No Sluggo illustrations please!
(in case you’re confused why, they STILL have unsold merc from back then! )
- Get Sheldon Cooper or Leonard Hoffstader to wear it on tv a couple of times.
Increase fees, include a tee shirt or mug ! Get your brand out there, where people can see it !
I agree that it’s hard to know without knowing the scope of the problem.
The main things that come to mind have been stated: Patreon is extremely important in this age, since advertising rates are just not enough. It’s how every online creator I know continues running. You can’t make enough money on ads.
Fire up the Staff Reports again. We need content. You have the rights to all our posts, so convert the best ones into articles.
As for merch, use one of those sites that allows you to pay per printing. They’ve existed forever.
Set up some Amazon referral links and stuff.
Maybe make some videos out of existing content, and make a YouTube page.
Our ranking is too high not to be able to be profitable. Yes, even with the downturn since 2017. I know much less popular things that make money. There’s enough new content here that there’s no reason it shouldn’t be able to be profitable.
That is, unless there’s too much being spent on it already.
Oh, and I do wonder if the increase in ads has a lot to do with the dropping numbers. As I said when Ed came up with it, having those ads on the bottom tends to make people not want to come to sites.
This. I love beer and coffee mugs.
and make the mods pay for their own jackboots…
Make the site mobile friendly? The software is horribly outdated and looks (and acts) like a relic of the late 90s. When was the last time this place has been upgraded?
I’m puzzled by the resistance of frequent users to paying the nominal annual cost to switch from “guest” to “member.” When I’ve brought it up in past threads, people get downright snippy about it, as though requesting a voluntary donation of mere pennies is some kind of extortion. Clearly, people who have been coming here daily for years find this to be a worthwhile service, and presumably they understand that hosting a ginormous website isn’t free. And yet they get huffy when you suggest they contribute to paying for it. Baffles me.
You know those guitars that are, like, double guitars?
Sorry, had to complete the Simpsons quote. I don’t have any clever ideas for saving the Dope, but I’ll put in my vote for upgrading and modernizing the board software. I’d also suggest overhauling the list of forums into a more logical arrangement; right now it seems like a unplanned, ad hoc mishmash. Make this the best board it can possibly be.
I also support using Staff Reports to get new and original content into the website, rather than simply cycling through the old Cecil columns.
Merchandising is probably a smart idea too, although I probably wouldn’t buy any of it. For what it’s worth, I haven’t been impressed with the quality of Cafe Press stuff, but maybe it’s improved in the years since I last saw some.
Whether this will actually affect the longevity of the Dope, I have no idea. My impression is that the decision will ultimately be made by corporate types who are disengaged from this board and don’t particularly care about its history and culture.
Can we quit pretending Cecil is real?
However, the “Sultantheme’s Responsive vB3-blue” was so horribly implemented, Dopers abandoned it in droves and went back to the original version. It still gives Dopers problems highlighting text if they use Chrome.
One of the things that I like about this place is that we’re a little quirky. We discuss things like how to get cream out of coffee, the physics of cats, and have long discussions about the legal ramifications of organ donation. I think our quirkiness is an important part of our overall appeal. I’d like to see it continue.
To generate new content with the potential for syndication, I like the idea of staff reports. If we’re not getting enough questions submitted from outside, we can have the community here generate them. I’d strongly suggest that we have a mix of factual (why is paper that shape), factual but odd (why does your dog watch you while he poops), and strange (what would really happen if a t-rex battled an Abrams). If we put the question of the week up 2 weeks before and let us all “work” on it for a week, then it can be edited and posted.
How about a weekly or bi-weekly podcast? A show with SDMB threads as a launching pad for general discussions, meandering from GQ-type stuff, to Cafe Society to MPSIMS, political debates, etc. I’d definitely listen to hear online discussions fleshed out in a one-on-one discussion, perhaps with the occasional guest (Dopers, experts on certain topics, nerd celebrities, etc).
ETA: (Sorry if this was mentioned upthread; if so, consider this a +1).