Let's talk money..:)

[PoorOldSpike]

Regarding donations, what's the target figure we should be aiming for to pay the bills? Has that target been reached yet?
Most other websites keep a running total on display so members know exactly how much more is needed..:)

[Buddahaid]

As much or as little as suits you really. I look at it by asking myself what value I'd put on what Subsim and it's members do for me.

The snarky answer is Onkel Neal is behind on the payments for his second mansion on Tahiti..... :arrgh!:

[Platapus]

I think that is an excellent suggestion. I bet that the majority of the people here really have no idea how much it costs to run SubSim.com

[Jimbuna]

As far as I'm aware (and Neal has posted the figure previously in public) the cost of the server alone is between 7 and 8 hundred $ per month.

[GoldenRivet]

As far as I'm aware (and Neal has posted the figure previously in public) the cost of the server alone is between 7 and 8 hundred $ per month.

about $9,000 a year if Jim is correct.

and the way i see it (and i confess ignorance as i know little about the subject of financing such a website) a site like Subsim has five primary revenue streams at its disposal

1. advertising - any website with a lot of traffic could benefit from selling ad space on its site. the obvious problem with this is that pop up ads, banner ads and the like take up space and inundate the user with often useless drivel which can annoy and even deter some users. I'm glad to say that i cannot think of a time that subsim has really used ads or very many ads to support its operating expenses

2. sales commissions - such as linking through to amazon, the way i understand it, when a site like amazon makes a sale, and that sale originated from subsim's link to amazon, subsim receives a kick back. I have actually gone so far as to save a link on our desktop called "Amazon" which is the click through link at subsim, so every purchase my wife makes on Amazon benefits subsim in some way.

3. Direct Sales - aka an online store. this relies chiefly on users visiting the online store and buying branded merchandise such as coffee mugs, calendars, shirts, hoodies, hats etc directly from the website, some of the revenue obviously goes into replacing stock, some would go into site maintenance etc

4. Paid subscription - wherein the user will pay a fixed monthly premium for use of the site and its offered services such as exclusive mod downloads, forum access etc. to my knowledge subsim has never used membership fees.

5. Donations - relying solely on the generosity of members to make contributions to support the site's continuation out of a sort of labor of love. donations are obviously non-compulsory, completely voluntary, and you get to chose the amount that works for your own budget. this is probably the largest, if not one of the largest streams of revenue for the site.

I have been a member of subsim for almost 11 years now. i can honestly say without a doubt, it is one of the friendliest, most user focused online forums/sites to be found anywhere. I am glad to contribute any time there is a fund raiser going on. frankly, anyone who visits the site regularly and enjoys its content and can afford to part with even $5-10 should do so in my opinion. we sometimes have to face the fact that subsims are a niche corner of the gaming industry, sites like subsim.com keep folks like us, and our interests on the radar.