So why not come out and say “We’re not making enough cash to be worth our time” rather than this “OMG even though we charge way more than comparable services we can’t seem to tread water” evasion. I’m with the OP; it’s slightly insulting. Unless they’re sending our packets around Chicago in taxies or hosting complementary coke and wine parties I don’t see how they could be losing money.
According to Ed they have ~4,500 subs. Haven’t seen any breakdown of charter vs regular members though.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5917767&postcount=6
Heh, in this case, if 3000 of the members are 7 dollar subscription, and 1500 are 14 dollar subscription, you are still looking at 42k a year.
Certainly enough to pay a 10k a year bill for servers and bandwidth, and pay a good portion of a salary for a tech guy. Assuming a multi-million dollar corporation isn’t dumb enough to have a tech guy that does nothing but run this board.
(or a bunch of hamsters running on their wheels)
I mean, the ads don’t bother me so much as the idea that 14 (closer to 15) dollars a year from 4500 members isn’t enough. Seems more like some stockholders aren’t happy more than the money is drying up.
So what you’re telling me is that that is somehow not a threat. I like you. You’re silly.
The only thing I can tell you is that I won’t ever click on the mailing list/sales leads links. I get enough of that corporate culture on CareerBuilder.
I haven’t noticed a lot of incredibly annoying ads just yet. Also, my membership expires in April (I think).
Just saying.
Start one up. Feel free.
Recently, the Wendy’s near my work raised the prices of the burgers on their value menu from $0.99 to $1.19. As their customer I want to know what the fuck they are doing with my money. There are may other restaurants in the area I can still get a crappy burger for under a buck, and a crappy burger with more features at that. One that at least has the decency to have a patty that matches the size and shape of the bun. What kind of business model is Wendy’s using that their ninety nine cent menu choices now cost so much they can’t even call it a ninety nine cent menu any longer. I predicted that after Dave died, Wendy’s would really start to felch dead goat, and it appears I was right. I may just have to take my business elsewhere.
Really. How many is that, now? It’s got to be at least 2.
We’re already avoiding the Wendy’s nearest us due to bad service. I’m all for hiring immigrants but please don’t put them on the registers until they know how to work the things without supervision and have a clear command of the English language!
Wendy’s!? Arby’s, motherfucker.
</Dennis Hopper>
Do Zotti and the admins really believe that showing Google ads will increase their revenue by any significant amount at all? I don’t think so. Then why are they doing it? Simple. They’re testing the waters. If they get us used to ads on the board then the next step (banner ads, popups, whatever) won’t be quite as startling. Commercialization by increments.
And, please, no more dark threats. (The Chicago Reader considers us a money pit, we mean nothing to them, etc.) Fuck them, if they don’t want us then let them say so, I’m sure there are many Dopers out there who could run it successfully without constantly whining that they need more money.
How about Ed gives us a breakdown of the costs and lets us see just where our money is going?
Oh how adorable. Wookit dat cute wittle swippewy swope.
Next thing you know, Ed Zotti will be going door to door with a tattoo gun putting ads on our foreheads. CURSE THEM AND THEIR CORPORATE OVERLORDS!! PAWNS OF THE MACHINE!!!
I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords.
If this board is such a money pit, why do they keep running it? Just feeling charitable?
If the Chicago Reader can sell subscriptions or use ads to make a profit, more power to 'em. I don’t give a damn. I really don’t have a problem with my entertainment providers making a buck. I pay to subscribe to the New Yorker and I pay for DirecTV, both of which, I would imagine, are profitable enterprises (and both of which include advertising).
I do get the feeling that all the money pit talk is a little disingenuous. That’s annoying, even if I have no solid evidence for it. But I don’t come here because I admire the managment of the Chicago Reader. I come here for the content. $7.50 a year – or $15.00 a year, is cheap in my book. And I very quickly cease noticing Google Ads. They’re pretty ubiquitous these days anyway. Seeing them one more place has minimal effect on me.
The fanboy is strong with this thread.
That pretty well sums up my thinking on the topic. I didn’t even notice the google ads until they were pointed out to me.
I remember when cable TV was new, and we were told the great thing about it was that since we were paying for it, there’d be no commercials. :rolleyes:
One thing that people may not be considering re: the costs of running the board:
If I understand correctly, the boards were in the red for a long time. The Reader may be trying to recoup past losses in addition to having the board pay for itself currently.
This seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Daniel
On another, much smaller board run by a friend of mine, she just started putting Google ads up last month to help pay the bills. They pay well enough to make a real difference for a small board, although the rest of us still buy themed merchandise and such occasionally just to help out. That board probably has less than 5% of the members or the traffic of this one, but she did give us a good breakdown of the costs and how much the Google ads help out. This being a much bigger board, I’m willing to give the Chicago Reader the benefit of the doubt that a bit of passive assistance in paying the bills will help out. Even after we pay our paltry subscription rates.
Frankly, if paying $7 a year and ignoring a few ads is that big a hassle, what do you guys do for entertainment? You can’t even go to a movie for that price, and you certainly can’t ignore the pre-show ads there.
In the scheme of things in the world right now, this one is so minor that I can’t see getting worked up over it. Especially to the extent some of you guys are carrying on about it.
Pretty much spot-on.
The more I see the reasons people object to these ads and threaten to leave, the more I think the ads are terrific.