[srl7741]

Curious? What would it take to get rid of the banner ads we see?

[murpheous]

donate some unknown amount of $ figure to Guess, monthly

[Tom]

Sorry, but the ads that you see on this page is what keeps this place running. It pays for things like the large monthly hosting charge, the licenses involved in the use of the software on the board, and on the server, and it pays to keep me here so I can keep the site online, alive and kicking.

Not to mention the fact that it creates sort of a spam free society around here, because if we didnt have platinum sponsors, who would be the judge of what was allowed posted on the site from companies? This way.. the Platinum Sponsor gets to decide what is allowed.

[srl7741]

Originally Posted by Guess

Sorry, but the ads that you see on this page is what keeps this place running. It pays for things like the large monthly hosting charge, the licenses involved in the use of the software on the board, and on the server, and it pays to keep me here so I can keep the site online, alive and kicking.

Not to mention the fact that it creates sort of a spam free society around here, because if we didnt have platinum sponsors, who would be the judge of what was allowed posted on the site from companies? This way.. the Platinum Sponsor gets to decide what is allowed.

Good enough for me i was just wondering?



I have installed/maintained three other forums on un-related topics in the past and they cost next to nothing to run. Alltho they never became as large as this one. I understand your time on the other hand is another thing. I had ad banners but then did away with them after looking into other things. That is why i had asked. Just curious they don't bother me i was only wondering cuz i'm bored.

[jibi]

when sites become this large with this much traffic, hosting companies tend to not offer you shared-server services (the cheap plans), as they begin to affect other sites on that server (and that is a pain in the arse for innocent site owners like me when someone not associated to your site has a cronjob or script that is running amok and takes down the entire server), and you have no choice but to move to dedicated hosting. tom ended up purchasing the hardware, if i'm not mistaken (a few grand min), on top of leasing a fairly high-bandwidth co-lo for the server.

i spend approximately $400/year on hosting for 3 websites that i run, one of which has vBulletin (approx $60/yr in support renewal fees on top of the initial $160 or so). these are all non-professional/small sites that are novelty or personal use. when i took over my community-shared site, not a single penny was put into it (ezBoard forum; site hosted on someone's cable modem personal connection), but i've ended up spending no less than $1,000 or so of my own personal money on hosting, licenses, support renewal fees, domain registration renewal fees, etc. and let's not even count the number of hours i've spent on rebuilding my entire site and then again and again, along with a few issues here and there and general administration (based on what i make now, it'd be in the neighborhood of tens of thousands of dollars in time spent working). aside from being able to attend any concert event or dance club on VIP/Guest List in my general area that i want to (along with a guest, in most cases), i've not made a single penny on my investment (ugh, talk about passion.. heh).

...and it never hurts to make a little extra on the side - never know when you may have to purchase something like a server to keep things running.