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I run some forums that offer value to mostly teens. How do you propose I make money from them? The more money I make from a forum, the more time I can invest i

by danneu 11y ago

I run some forums that offer value to mostly teens. How do you propose I make money from them? The more money I make from a forum, the more time I can invest in the forum which enhances its value to its community. Adsense pays good money. Donations are always a joke. And somethingawful.com had to get impressively big before it could charge $10/registration. Oh, and teens have no money and nobody pays for forums. "If it needs ads, it shouldn't exist" is just tone-deaf at best. Much of what people are willing to pay for and how they're willing to pay for it are perceptions that you have little control over. The thing about ads is that people generally don't associate a cost with them. It's just how it is. The second you charge $1 for something, then your website now charges money while all of your competitors are "free" regardless of their ads. Whether it's acceptable to charge that $1 mostly comes down to convention and what people are already used to.

Crito 11y ago
> "I run some forums that offer value to mostly teens. How do you propose I make money from them?" I propose that you do not. Advertising to children, even teenagers, is abhorrent. Fortunately for you, I am not in charge, because it would be forbidden if I were.
logn 11y ago
I think technology will eventually solve this problem through P2P sites that no one owns. Ads will still exist but they'll be mostly as endorsements, official sponsorships, and infomercials (e.g., any corporate blog). People who can't be easily paid this way (e.g., researchers, investigative journalists, writers, artists, open source programmers, forum admins) will eventually collaborate to create a fair system of distributed payments for projects/content. That system will be funded both from the grass-roots and top-down by governments and large corporations.
PhantomGremlin 11y ago
teens have no money Teens have lots of money. At least my daughter does (she has a part time job). Your problem is that even when teens do have money, they won't spend it on your forums. E.g. if my daughter already has four swimsuits, why does she need to buy a few more? And does she need to spend $4 on a sugary drink several times a week? The "free" website is more valuable to a teenager than the one charging $1. There's not much you can do to change that. As you say, "It's just how it is". If I asked my daughter if she would be willing to spend $1 (per month?) on a website, she'd probably find that laughable. Most teenagers would. The Freemium model for phone apps does work in extracting money from teenagers. Perhaps you can do something along those lines?
dragonwriter 11y ago
> Oh, and teens have no money Teens have often been attractive target markets because they tend to have, effectively, lots of disposable "income", even if its not directly held in their name. Getting teens to spend money on your product may be challenging, but that's a different issue.

by danneu 11y ago

Crito 11y ago

> "I run some forums that offer value to mostly teens. How do you propose I make money from them?" I propose that you do not. Advertising to children, even teenagers, is abhorrent. Fortunately for you, I am not in charge, because it would be forbidden if I were.

logn 11y ago

I think technology will eventually solve this problem through P2P sites that no one owns. Ads will still exist but they'll be mostly as endorsements, official sponsorships, and infomercials (e.g., any corporate blog). People who can't be easily paid this way (e.g., researchers, investigative journalists, writers, artists, open source programmers, forum admins) will eventually collaborate to create a fair system of distributed payments for projects/content. That system will be funded both from the grass-roots and top-down by governments and large corporations.

PhantomGremlin 11y ago

teens have no money Teens have lots of money. At least my daughter does (she has a part time job). Your problem is that even when teens do have money, they won't spend it on your forums. E.g. if my daughter already has four swimsuits, why does she need to buy a few more? And does she need to spend $4 on a sugary drink several times a week? The "free" website is more valuable to a teenager than the one charging $1. There's not much you can do to change that. As you say, "It's just how it is". If I asked my daughter if she would be willing to spend $1 (per month?) on a website, she'd probably find that laughable. Most teenagers would. The Freemium model for phone apps does work in extracting money from teenagers. Perhaps you can do something along those lines?

dragonwriter 11y ago

> Oh, and teens have no money Teens have often been attractive target markets because they tend to have, effectively, lots of disposable "income", even if its not directly held in their name. Getting teens to spend money on your product may be challenging, but that's a different issue.