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Well at first it looks much but then when you do the math...
There is near half milion of registered users. But barely 20 000 active ones and maybe 5000 or less subscribers. One year membership is 30 $. It is not that much. Of course there are ads for the non-subs... But you do need some employees, some equipment as well...
Hmm... Should I try to run some chess site..? Is it worth it ?
Originally posted by ivan2908In the beginning it was all free...then our wonderful admins realized they needed some money for their hard work and you could buy a pawn star for life...then something happened and it became yearly.
Well at first it looks much but then when you do the math...
There is near half milion of registered users. But barely 20 000 active ones and maybe 5000 or less subscribers. One year membership is 30 $. It is not that much. Of course there are ads for the non-subs... But you do need some employees, some equipment as well...
Hmm... Should I try to run some chess site..? Is it worth it ?
But for a small little enterprise thought up by two people I think they have done pretty good monetarily.
There were two other guys in Spartanburg SC who did something sorta like this...I think it's called yahoo...they have tons of money.
I wonder what Russ and Chris could sell this site for?
Any guesses?
Dave
Originally posted by nmdavidbI wouldn't like to hazard a figure but I'd imagine advertising pulls in far more than subscriptions. Let's be honest, subscription's a pittance. Well, perhaps not for Americans, but certainly for Europeans.
In the beginning it was all free...then our wonderful admins realized they needed some money for their hard work and you could buy a pawn star for life...then something happened and it became yearly.
But for a small little enterprise thought up by two people I think they have done pretty good monetarily.
There were two other guys in Spartanburg SC who ...[text shortened]... ons of money.
I wonder what Russ and Chris could sell this site for?
Any guesses?
Dave
I hope they earn even more than I do. I'd rather have the site owned by someone who's earned it that by some muppet who probably couldn't sit the right way on a lavatory.
Originally posted by nmdavidbI imagine a fair amount. Not sure how many Subs there are, but lets say you have 2000 subs paying 30USD a year...
In the beginning it was all free...then our wonderful admins realized they needed some money for their hard work and you could buy a pawn star for life...then something happened and it became yearly.
But for a small little enterprise thought up by two people I think they have done pretty good monetarily.
There were two other guys in Spartanburg SC who ...[text shortened]... ons of money.
I wonder what Russ and Chris could sell this site for?
Any guesses?
Dave
not bad money I would say...
Originally posted by nmdavidbThis site is still extremly cheap compared to competition with crappy "silver", "golden" or "premium " memberships (Up to 100 $ annualy) 😲
In the beginning it was all free...then our wonderful admins realized they needed some money for their hard work and you could buy a pawn star for life...then something happened and it became yearly.
But for a small little enterprise thought up by two people I think they have done pretty good monetarily.
There were two other guys in Spartanburg SC who ...[text shortened]... ons of money.
I wonder what Russ and Chris could sell this site for?
Any guesses?
Dave
Originally posted by LukerikI forgot about the ads.
I wouldn't like to hazard a figure but I'd imagine advertising pulls in far more than subscriptions. Let's be honest, subscription's a pittance. Well, perhaps not for Americans, but certainly for Europeans.
I hope they earn even more than I do. I'd rather have the site owned by someone who's earned it that by some muppet who probably couldn't sit the right way on a lavatory.
I wonder what the revenue is from that.
Hey Russ!! Can we see the books???
hehehe
Dave
Originally posted by nmdavidbActually, in the beginning it was free for everyone because Russ and Chris were paying for the cost of the original server out of their own pocket. As membership grew the need to upgrade to bigger and faster servers were putting a serious dent in their personal finances. They were providing this site as a hobby in their spare time, and had regular jobs.
In the beginning it was all free...then our wonderful admins realized they needed some money for their hard work and you could buy a pawn star for life...then something happened and it became yearly.
But for a small little enterprise thought up by two people I think they have done pretty good monetarily.
There were two other guys in Spartanburg SC who ...[text shortened]... ons of money.
I wonder what Russ and Chris could sell this site for?
Any guesses?
Dave
The early members made voluntary contributions to help pay for the hardware upgrades, but the amount was not specified. It was basically up to the individuals to do what they could to help. (Without some voluntary help, the site was not going to be able to survive.) They were given a pawn star icon by their name, were allowed to have more games running at the same time, and could download a free copy of a chess-playing program.
As membership still continued to grow it became necessary to introduce the subscription program in order to continue upgrading the system. Those who were the "original pawnstars" were at that time given a lifetime subscription in recognition of their earlier help.
I guess my point is that the original pawnstars were not aware that we were going to receive a lifetime membership. We were just sending in some money to help keep a decent chess site going. As a matter of fact quite a few of the original pawnstars continue to pay annual subscriptions even though it isn't required of them.
I just wanted to add a little additional historical information, for what it's worth!
Originally posted by mwmillerI was an original pawnstar as well mwmiller...i thought you would remember that one
Actually, in the beginning it was free for everyone because Russ and Chris were paying for the cost of the original server out of their own pocket. As membership grew the need to upgrade to bigger and faster servers were putting a serious dent in their personal finances. They were providing this site as a hobby in their spare time, and had regular jobs.
...[text shortened]... em.
I just wanted to add a little additional historical information, for what it's worth!
Dave