Posted by Dr. Bob on February 18, 2001, at 23:46:38
In reply to Re: Cost to have this site hosted. » Dr. Bob, posted by shellie on February 18, 2001, at 0:45:43
> I think charging a fee would be a bad idea. First of all I think it would stop a lot of new posters from starting to participate. In the beginning I would not have known if it was worth it to pay when I had no idea what I would get from the board.
What if your first few posts were free, so you could try it out?
> If you want money from us you could have a fund drive like WETA or PBS twice a year with pledges (rather than a fee).
Hmm, there's an idea. Although there probably aren't as many regulars here as at a radio or TV station...
> Second, if you continue to write articles on us, then I will wonder if it's fair to charge us AND use us as subjects.
I think the general idea would (continue to) be that no one has to participate...
> Is the university now not paying for the site at all?
Nope.
> How many recurrent users do you have?From that article: Between January and August 2000, there were 21,230 (an average of 94 per day) posts by 1,516 members. Forty-eight per-cent of posters posted just once... One percent of posters posted 35% of all posts.
> How many of them would you lose by charging? How many posters do you need for critical mass?
Those are the big questions. Maybe there's only one way to find out?
> Some posters, like Cam and Anthony (sorry I don't know the group well enough to highlight all) seem to be more "giving" than "receiving" so charging them wouldn't make sense.
I know, that's something I've been thinking about...
Bob
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:619
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20001124/msgs/701.html