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Re: Maintain Altamont Press Discussion Board......
Author: BobH
Date: 03-21-2010 - 13:15
Even though I'm one of his "competitors", I hope this site can continue. The no frills nature of the board is what allows it to be relatively easy to maintain and inexpensive to run. It has to be done by somebody who enjoys the hobby, and who is doing it for enjoyment.
I run RailroadForums.com, and I can tell you that you don't make a living doing something like this. Sure, a few folks said they'd pay to keep it going. But how much would you pay? $50 per year? Probably not, but let's say you did pay that much.
Now, lets say I want to buy this board, retire and make my living running it. Let's also say I only need $50,000 per year to live on. That means I need 1,000 members at $50 each, and that's only if servers and bandwidth don't cost me a dime. (Trust me on this, they do cost money, lots of it, especially bandwidth. My server company sends me a fat bill each month for RailroadForums.com)
Sure, you can run ads, and make a bit extra, but it's not much.
There's a few folks out there that have enough traffic to do it. Railpictures does, and probably Trainorders. But the rest of us are doing it as a side job or hobby, and I'd venture a guess that most folks lose money on it. I know I do...
So, if you're planning on buying this site and making money from it? Uh, don't quit you day job. The books and timetables may be a profitable business, I don't know, but this site probably isn't.
I run RailroadForums.com, and I can tell you that you don't make a living doing something like this. Sure, a few folks said they'd pay to keep it going. But how much would you pay? $50 per year? Probably not, but let's say you did pay that much.
Now, lets say I want to buy this board, retire and make my living running it. Let's also say I only need $50,000 per year to live on. That means I need 1,000 members at $50 each, and that's only if servers and bandwidth don't cost me a dime. (Trust me on this, they do cost money, lots of it, especially bandwidth. My server company sends me a fat bill each month for RailroadForums.com)
Sure, you can run ads, and make a bit extra, but it's not much.
There's a few folks out there that have enough traffic to do it. Railpictures does, and probably Trainorders. But the rest of us are doing it as a side job or hobby, and I'd venture a guess that most folks lose money on it. I know I do...
So, if you're planning on buying this site and making money from it? Uh, don't quit you day job. The books and timetables may be a profitable business, I don't know, but this site probably isn't.
