Do you doubt that there is an official embargo on the information you are seeking? If so, you really aren’t paying attention to Ed’s posts.
Read the posts by Ed Zotti. He can’t give out the information. He is also not obligated to do so. His reticence to post it is proof of nothing. The numbers being bandied around by catsix and everyone else are also proof of nothing.
As for your question, since the issue of making more money keeps coming up, the answer would be (a) to generate income for the Chicago Reader. If it doesn’t, the word is that the board will cease to exist. We are the low fruit here. If it doesn’t turn around, we will be cut. It’s that simple.
The whining over – again – 2 inches of text is rather amusing. A part of me wants to see this board lose so much money that it dies just to put some of you in your place (I suppose you would win on principle) but I love this place so much. It’s a unique niche of the intarweb…I’ll support any ads, banners, and whatever else it takes to keep it afloat.
You might be right Harborwolf.
I didn’t come here to “fight ignorance”, and to be honest, I’d suspect anyone who would use that excuse for posting here. Especially if they’d paid money to do so, and would reply as you have to me here.
I came here to learn things I didn’t already know, and to find interesting people to talk to.
But really, what does any of that have to do with your latest post, or what I posted to Ed Zotti?
You would be right if your point was, “You are not one of us ‘regulars’, so don’t start acting ‘uppity’ before you have a right to do so”.
Was that your point? Fight my ignorance and be clear this time.
Ya Know I didn’t even notice the ads until I clicked on the OP, I thought it was about a different message board, and I was missing out on one. 
Then it would be a good idea to exit any threads wailing and gnashing teeth over the ads, perhaps to avoid the Pit altogether for a while, and explore the forums (IMHO, Cafe Society, Gread Debates, even MPSIMS) where your goals are more likely to be realized.
This isn’t a put-down of you as a newbie, merely an observation based on my experience over the past two-plus years. Had you been here for the uproar when the board first went pay-to-post, you’d recognize the same patterns of indignation at the SDMB’s pollution and outraged demands for justification, in many cases from the same Dopers.
This question has been asked and answered. Since I’ve gotten tired of hearing you continue to ask it, I’m closing this thread.