State of the forums - January 2021 - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > State of the forums - January 2021

Jeffrey of YOSPOS: Dec 22, 2005; GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

As promised, I figured I'd give an update regarding the forums finances and where we are at. I want to be open about such things - the money we make is to be managed by me on behalf of the community, rather than funding my own lifestyle, and as such there is no reason for me to keep these numbers private.

Income:
October 22nd - October 31st, 2020:
Raw store revenue: $8,401.55
Processing fees: -$509.30
Hosting cost: -$1,127.33

November 2020:
Raw store revenue: $7,903.01
Processing fees: -$635.22
Hosting cost: -$1,126.40

December 2020:
Raw Store Revenue: $5,549.14
Processing fees: -$463.28
Hosting cost -$1,138.45

Credit card processing fees are pretty harsh. Hosting costs remain relatively stable for now, but in the next year, costs will go up. We have some modernization projects that are going to require spinning up new servers and migrating to them, and, in the interim period, both new servers and old servers will co-exist. In addition, some of these new costs will be permanent and represent things that provide new functionality or development resources. It's wild that we don't have a dev database instance and I plan on keeping one around.

Other costs we will incur include bills for legal and accounting services. These will be for the purpose of keeping the business in good legal standing and are 100% unrelated to the initial transaction with lowtax - I gave my word that forums store purchases wouldn't go to him or making a deal with him, and I meant it. I have kept a strict separation between forums finances and my personal finances and that is how it will stay.

I would like to congratulate Skyl3lazer for spending the most the first month - he will get to permaban lowtax! He spent enough to pay for an entire month of hosting costs, super cool.

I think this has the potential to be a really good year for something awful. I intend to be proactive in growing this place, be it be enticing old users to return or attracting new ones, and I intend to do so without compromising the culture here. I think old-style internet forums are the best way to communicate online and I think a lot of people who have never posted on a forum would use them if they knew they were there.

Forums tech has been progressing nicely. I am still in the process of doing the legal legwork to hire Astral (it is more onerous than I ever realized to do this right.) We have some big improvements planned even if many of them are under the hood. There is a tech forum now that I expect will get much more active over the coming year as more stuff changes.

Overall, while we are covering our costs just fine, I could use more money for development work. I am not going to pretend that we're on our last legs, or struggling to pay hosting costs. That said, I am going to spend money on modernizing the software and software process around here. Developer hours are expensive and there is a lot of work to be done to modernize this place. It would be nice to have some sort stable base of revenue that doesn't so much depend on people making purchases each month. I am considering starting a patreon for this reason - recurring donations are difficult to implement in the store software we have, and it would be nice for planning purposes to be fairly certain we're gonna get at least $X/month. Please let me know what you think of this - my impression from the emails I've received is that a number of people are willing to contribute each month, and they currently don't have a way to do that.

I still don't have an update on the front page. There has been so much to do for the forums themselves that it's hard to even start thinking about the frontpage. I managed to get lowtax's name off of it, eventually.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:09

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 20, 2024 12:29

ItohRespectArmy: Sep 11, 2019; Cutest In The World, Six Time DDT Ironheavymetalweight champion, Two Time International Princess champion, winner of two tournaments, a Princess Tag Team champion, And a pretty good singer too!
"When I was an idol, I felt nothing every day but now that I'm a pro wrestler I'm in pain constantly!"

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

As promised, I figured I'd give an update regarding the forums finances and where we are at. I want to be open about such things - the money we make is to be managed by me on behalf of the community, rather than funding my own lifestyle, and as such there is no reason for me to keep these numbers private.

Income:
October 22nd - October 31st, 2020:
Raw store revenue: $8,401.55
Processing fees: -$509.30
Hosting cost: -$1,127.33

November 2020:
Raw store revenue: $7,903.01
Processing fees: -$635.22
Hosting cost: -$1,126.40

December 2020:
Raw Store Revenue: $5,549.14
Processing fees: -$463.28
Hosting cost -$1,138.45

Credit card processing fees are pretty harsh. Hosting costs remain relatively stable for now, but in the next year, costs will go up. We have some modernization projects that are going to require spinning up new servers and migrating to them, and, in the interim period, both new servers and old servers will co-exist. In addition, some of these new costs will be permanent and represent things that provide new functionality or development resources. It's wild that we don't have a dev database instance and I plan on keeping one around.

Other costs we will incur include bills for legal and accounting services. These will be for the purpose of keeping the business in good legal standing and are 100% unrelated to the initial transaction with lowtax - I gave my word that forums store purchases wouldn't go to him or making a deal with him, and I meant it. I have kept a strict separation between forums finances and my personal finances and that is how it will stay.

I would like to congratulate Skyl3lazer for spending the most the first month - he will get to permaban lowtax! He spent enough to pay for an entire month of hosting costs, super cool.

I think this has the potential to be a really good year for something awful. I intend to be proactive in growing this place, be it be enticing old users to return or attracting new ones, and I intend to do so without compromising the culture here. I think old-style internet forums are the best way to communicate online and I think a lot of people who have never posted on a forum would use them if they knew they were there.

Forums tech has been progressing nicely. I am still in the process of doing the legal legwork to hire Astral (it is more onerous than I ever realized to do this right.) We have some big improvements planned even if many of them are under the hood. There is a tech forum now that I expect will get much more active over the coming year as more stuff changes.

Overall, while we are covering our costs just fine, I could use more money for development work. I am not going to pretend that we're on our last legs, or struggling to pay hosting costs. That said, I am going to spend money on modernizing the software and software process around here. Developer hours are expensive and there is a lot of work to be done to modernize this place. It would be nice to have some sort stable base of revenue that doesn't so much depend on people making purchases each month. I am considering starting a patreon for this reason - recurring donations are difficult to implement in the store software we have, and it would be nice for planning purposes to be fairly certain we're gonna get at least $X/month. Please let me know what you think of this - my impression from the emails I've received is that a number of people are willing to contribute each month, and they currently don't have a way to do that.

I still don't have an update on the front page. There has been so much to do for the forums themselves that it's hard to even start thinking about the frontpage. I managed to get lowtax's name off of it, eventually.

nice

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:11

I. M. Gei: Jun 26, 2005; CHIEFS

BITCH

ok cool

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:12

Seth Pecksniff: May 27, 2004; can't believe shrek is fucking dead. rip to a real one.

I'm an Old School Poster (tm), but I gotta say I love how refreshing your transparency is Jeffrey. The drama with [INSERT OLD OWNER'S NAME HERE] is what brought me back to the site, but this sort of up-front stuff is what's keeping me coming back after like nearly a decade in the wilderness

thanks for being cool about this and giving me a place to shitpost that doesn't use my actual name

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:12

Michael Transactions: Nov 11, 2013

Revenue going down..

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:12

madmatt112: Jul 11, 2016; Is that a cat in your pants, or are you just a lonely excuse for an adult?

u da bomb

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:13

BUG JUG: Feb 17, 2005

there's a front page?

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:13

ChubbyChecker: Mar 25, 2018

lmao at how much lowtax lied

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:14

Fluffy Bunnies: Jan 10, 2009

thanks for being a cool transparent owner, jeffrey

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:15

ColdPie: Jun 9, 2006

I would sub to a Patreon.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:15

Master J Plus: Apr 20, 2010; by Hand Knit

Diversify and open a Something Awful weed dispensary

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:16

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

the money we make is to be managed by me on behalf of the community, rather than funding my own lifestyle

I know you said this but have you tasted my artisan cookies yet?

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:16

Famethrowa: Oct 5, 2012

obviously 3 months are too short to draw conclusions from, but I'm curious if you have a general sense based on prior years what the inflow was. Is revenue higher? Lower? Returning to baseline?

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:17

Jeffrey of YOSPOS: Dec 22, 2005; GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

Rarity posted:

I know you said this but have you tasted my artisan cookies yet?

For full disclosure I ate some fancy cookies about a month ago, but I paid for them with my own money.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:17

Dignity Van Houten: Jul 28, 2006; abcdefghijk
ELLAMENNO-P

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

It would be nice to have some sort stable base of revenue that doesn't so much depend on people making purchases each month. I am considering starting a patreon for this reason -

Thanks for the transparency. If I were you though please consider an OnlyFans over patreon. There's been a lot of horny going around.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:17

Code Jockey: Jan 24, 2006; 69420 basic bytes free

low key sex master posted:

I'm an Old School Poster (tm), but I gotta say I love how refreshing your transparency is Jeffrey. The drama with [INSERT OLD OWNER'S NAME HERE] is what brought me back to the site, but this sort of up-front stuff is what's keeping me coming back after like nearly a decade in the wilderness

thanks for being cool about this and giving me a place to shitpost that doesn't use my actual name

seriously

thanks for not just occasionally swinging by to say PLEASE GIVE ME MONEY BECAUSE $current_reason

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:17

The Hambulance: Apr 19, 2011; ASK ME ABOUT MY AWESOME STARTUP IDEA; Pillbug

I'd kick in a few bucks every month to a patreon.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:17

Seth Pecksniff: May 27, 2004; can't believe shrek is fucking dead. rip to a real one.

ChubbyChecker posted:

lmao at how much lowtax lied

THE FORUMS ~~(my expensive cookie habit and my need to rent a 30 bedroom house in the middle of nowhere Missouri and a GTR)~~ WILL COLLAPSE WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:18

Bob Socko: Feb 20, 2001

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

As promised, I figured I'd give an update regarding the forums finances and where we are at. I want to be open about such things - the money we make is to be managed by me on behalf of the community, rather than funding my own lifestyle, and as such there is no reason for me to keep these numbers private.

Income:
October 22nd - October 31st, 2020:
Raw store revenue: $8,401.55
Processing fees: -$509.30
Hosting cost: -$1,127.33

November 2020:
Raw store revenue: $7,903.01
Processing fees: -$635.22
Hosting cost: -$1,126.40

December 2020:
Raw Store Revenue: $5,549.14
Processing fees: -$463.28
Hosting cost -$1,138.45

How do these figures compare to historic income and costs? For example, is there usually a dip in income from October -> December?

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:18

Spanish Manlove: Aug 31, 2008; HAILGAYSATAN

You misspelled Sky13lazer in the op.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:18

Dietrich: Sep 11, 2001

Itdbecoolif the patrons on patreon got one free av/title text change per month or something in exchange for their continued support.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:18

Jeffrey of YOSPOS: Dec 22, 2005; GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

Famethrowa posted:

obviously 3 months are too short to draw conclusions from, but I'm curious if you have a general sense based on prior years what the inflow was. Is revenue higher? Lower? Returning to baseline?

The data I have is highly variable - my first impression is we're a little lower than the average was a couple years ago, but that could easily swing up or down and it's close. That's not including lowtax's patreon income which was all just money on top of numbers kinda like these. January is already higher than December was fwiw.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:19

Laserjet 4P: Mar 28, 2005; What does it mean?; Fun Shoe

The Hambulance posted:

I'd kick in a few bucks every month to a patreon.

same

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:19

Anno: May 10, 2017; I'm going to drown! For no reason at all!

I'd throw in if you opened a Patreon.

Thanks for the cool info.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:19

Coasterphreak: May 29, 2007; I like cookies.

I will be more than happy to throw five bucks a month at a patreon now that I know it's going towards dev costs and not somebody's new water heater

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:19

Jaeluni Asjil: Apr 18, 2018; Sorry I thought you were a landlord when I gave you your old avatar!

I was doing a patreon for the forums 'before' quite happy to reinstate it. (Wasn't much but I get a lot out of this forum.)

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:20

Pragmatica: Apr 1, 2003

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:21

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

Numbers going down?? You're fired!!

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:21

Brother Tadger: Feb 15, 2012; I'm accidentally a suicide bomber!

You rock, Jeff!

E. Also

I got

on it

Brother Tadger fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jan 27, 2021

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:22

axeil: Feb 14, 2006

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

As promised, I figured I'd give an update regarding the forums finances and where we are at. I want to be open about such things - the money we make is to be managed by me on behalf of the community, rather than funding my own lifestyle, and as such there is no reason for me to keep these numbers private.

Income:
October 22nd - October 31st, 2020:
Raw store revenue: $8,401.55
Processing fees: -$509.30
Hosting cost: -$1,127.33

November 2020:
Raw store revenue: $7,903.01
Processing fees: -$635.22
Hosting cost: -$1,126.40

December 2020:
Raw Store Revenue: $5,549.14
Processing fees: -$463.28
Hosting cost -$1,138.45

Credit card processing fees are pretty harsh. Hosting costs remain relatively stable for now, but in the next year, costs will go up. We have some modernization projects that are going to require spinning up new servers and migrating to them, and, in the interim period, both new servers and old servers will co-exist. In addition, some of these new costs will be permanent and represent things that provide new functionality or development resources. It's wild that we don't have a dev database instance and I plan on keeping one around.

Other costs we will incur include bills for legal and accounting services. These will be for the purpose of keeping the business in good legal standing and are 100% unrelated to the initial transaction with lowtax - I gave my word that forums store purchases wouldn't go to him or making a deal with him, and I meant it. I have kept a strict separation between forums finances and my personal finances and that is how it will stay.

I would like to congratulate Skyl3lazer for spending the most the first month - he will get to permaban lowtax! He spent enough to pay for an entire month of hosting costs, super cool.

I think this has the potential to be a really good year for something awful. I intend to be proactive in growing this place, be it be enticing old users to return or attracting new ones, and I intend to do so without compromising the culture here. I think old-style internet forums are the best way to communicate online and I think a lot of people who have never posted on a forum would use them if they knew they were there.

Forums tech has been progressing nicely. I am still in the process of doing the legal legwork to hire Astral (it is more onerous than I ever realized to do this right.) We have some big improvements planned even if many of them are under the hood. There is a tech forum now that I expect will get much more active over the coming year as more stuff changes.

Overall, while we are covering our costs just fine, I could use more money for development work. I am not going to pretend that we're on our last legs, or struggling to pay hosting costs. That said, I am going to spend money on modernizing the software and software process around here. Developer hours are expensive and there is a lot of work to be done to modernize this place. It would be nice to have some sort stable base of revenue that doesn't so much depend on people making purchases each month. I am considering starting a patreon for this reason - recurring donations are difficult to implement in the store software we have, and it would be nice for planning purposes to be fairly certain we're gonna get at least $X/month. Please let me know what you think of this - my impression from the emails I've received is that a number of people are willing to contribute each month, and they currently don't have a way to do that.

I still don't have an update on the front page. There has been so much to do for the forums themselves that it's hard to even start thinking about the frontpage. I managed to get lowtax's name off of it, eventually.

This is very interesting, thanks for the transparency.

I know I'm fine to kick in $10/month on a Patreon or whatever to help keep the lights on/pay for coders here. I've gotten almost 15 years of use out of this place and $10/month seems cheap to keep it going.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:22

Kirios: Jan 26, 2010

I think a Patreon's a great idea and I'd definitely contribute to it. We already have good Discord representation within SA so there's some cool expansion we can do on that front to "justify" some of the Patreon tiers.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:22

Jose Oquendo: Jun 20, 2004; Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

How difficult would it be to setup some sort of SA subscription for recurring revenue instead of going through Patreon since they'd take a cut. Offer something like something awful.com email addresses and other cheap nerd poo poo in exchange for a sub.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:23

Shinjobi: Jul 10, 2008; Gravy Boat 2k

Typically I think we slow down around the holidays, but I'm not sure if COVID affected that trend this year. COULD BE TALKING OUT OF MY rear end, THOUGH!

Still, thanks OP. Nice to have it laid out like this.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:23

Katamari Democracy: Jan 19, 2010; Guess what!
Guess what this is?
A Post, Just for you!; Wedge Regret

Thank you for everything you are doing Jeffery.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:23

Carbon dioxide: Oct 9, 2012

I just want to know what sort of shitposting will end up in the dev database, if only the tech folks have access to that.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:23

Wiggly Wayne DDS: Sep 11, 2010

adding a recurring income stream seems reasonable for figuring out the development plan, but is there an idea of how much per month we'd all want to fund operations in perpetuity with a cushion for risks? obviously the development would flow off of the poster's needs and what the internet in year+x is like, but is there a plan for $100k/month to discourage donations, etc?

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:24

Colonel Cancer: Sep 26, 2015; Tune into the fireplace channel, you absolute buffoon

Keep shitpostin', comrades! Every av someone buys on your behalf is more money to the forums.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:25

El Grillo: Jan 3, 2008; Fun Shoe

This is cool and good, thank you.

Bring back old megathread boring non-FYADy GBS

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:25

LuckyCat: Jul 26, 2007; Grimey Drawer

I would contribute $5/mo to a Patreon for the forum. I get enough value out of the forums that $5/mo is a bargain.

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:25

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 20, 2024 12:29

denereal visease: Nov 27, 2002; "Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own."

Voted 5 and moved on

good post OP!

fake edit:

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

It would be nice to have some sort stable base of revenue that doesn't so much depend on people making purchases each month. I am considering starting a patreon for this reason - recurring donations are difficult to implement in the store software we have, and it would be nice for planning purposes to be fairly certain we're gonna get at least $X/month.

I think this idea is: not bad

# ? Jan 27, 2021 18:26

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > State of the forums - January 2021

«‹›21 »