Thetownend.com

This is a bit of a cheeky question so feel free to ignore...

Roughly how much does it cost to keep this place alive? I only ask as on another forum I lurk on the admin is threatening to shut it down as it runs at a loss, despite it being full of adverts and them charging a subscription? It has probably double the number of members that this one has but I don't think there is any more functionality than here?

Ta muchly!

Barry Scott is the person to ask.

Us admins have become rich enough to live a life of leisure from this site.

I suspected as much.... the fleet of leased Mercs out front gives the game away!

It's a bit pie in the sky as each website is different but depending on the software needed to run the website and how much traffic it gets, you could easily be in the £300+ a month for it's "hosting" for a really busy site but that doesn't include staff time, payment processing costs and other stuff that goes with running a website.

You would think subscriptions and some adverts will cover costs but forum usage is dieing, advertising rates are tanking and users tend to use adblock too. I have seen so many forums die off as the income from them falls, usage falls and the "owners" get bored of it. Most comversations are now on Facebook groups than dedicated forums.

It costs me about $5 a month - although without sounding like billy big bollocks, few people are capable of administering their own server which  saves about $25 or so a month.

I've ran a few sites and, in my opinion, anyone who runs a forum at a loss when they run ads, even more so if they have subs, is either hideously, disgustingly, idiotically, massively over paying for their hosting (read:doesn't really know what they're doing) or lying.

I'd be genuinely shocked if anyone running a proper forum with real members and traffic doesn't make some money if they're running AdSense.

 I can tell you don't particularly want thanks... but sometimes it is worth reminding folk that this place wouldn't be here without your and the mods efforts.

 At a time when the link between fans and club is at a low, then it is through the existence of such places as this and Richard Banyard's site, plus the efforts of the Trust and the likes of Plowman and the hardcore regulars in their various shapes and sizes, where the true spirit of STFC resides.

Long may it continue  :beers:

I concur, thanks may not be wanted but definately given to Barry.

Hear,hear!

The appreciation is appreciated. Thanks. I'm sure the rest of the rich nazis feel the same.

As long as the cheques keep on coming...

Maybe you chaps could pool your wealth and nip in ahead of PSG to sign Neymar for the Town?  :)

Shut the fuck up, Gillman.

As I said, it depends on each site so get your finger out of your ass, I build websites and some run on servers which cost less than a coffee a month and some go into the hundreds per month.

A forum can be incredibly server recoursive, I have worked on quite a few over the years, for example, ukbusinessforums.co.uk gets hundreds of thousands of visitors a week, it won't run on a $5 server, there server costs will be eye watering.

A bit upbeat Reg ?

I was feeling a bit server recoursive earlier, luckily it passed

Given the state of the forum today maybe we should be using one of those $500 servers

:D
When the forum was down this morning this thread came to my head, knew someone would make a comment.