This would be difficult to quantify. For instance, there are 148 current Contributor level members at this moment. No realistic way of telling how many became Contributors before the platform changeover, much less the last time they visited this site. Nor if they will be renewing. But if looking for a ballpark figure, roughly I would have to say that if I had just one Contributor level member every day to compensate for getting rid of the Google ads, then that would mean I would be seeing 365 Contributor level members at any time. Of course, there are a lot of holes in that theory. One Endowment level member would be the equivalent of 10 Contributor level members financially. I NEVER look at such facts that closely. I rely more on gut feeling about how things are going here. And honestly, this new platform pulled a lot of info I could look at and is no longer available for me. I used to be able to generate reports of data that would show me how many registered members logged in each day over a period of time to see how deeply stats were dipping. How many post and new threads were made. If such data exists in this platform, I have not stumbled onto it yet. So yeah, I am just winging it, most based on how often I see a PayPal notice come in that a payment has been received from a member. Which honestly, lately, has been few and far between. Except the blip in the radar when I posted that notice and in this thread. So it did catch the attention of some people who apparently would rather not see FaunaClassifieds go away.
But just for giggles...
As a rough figure for calculations, let's say the single expense of the server costs me $4,000 per year. 365 Contributor level members per year would mean around $9,000 per year revenue. Obviously I am not going to get wealthy with this. Not even making a minimum wage, now am I? Honestly, maybe it is best I don't try to quantify this, as it may just discourage me even further. When things are going smoothly, I am OK just letting this site run itself with the moderators volunteering to do most of the member management duties. But when server problems crop up or I suddenly get a large helping of crap from one or more members over something, well, the pay really sucks then. Honestly, I have no idea why I didn't just chuck this all when the Board of Inquiry was extremely active and I got monstrous loads of crap nearly every day. It really WAS a lot to have to put up with.
Heck, how do I factor in even such things as tax breaks I get for deductions I have for things like my internet service and the occasional new computer? Or the fact that it does give me something of interest to do in my later years. I guess I have to admit that my feelings one way or another about how much of me I am still willing to give running this site are more the deciding factor. Paying members tells ME that a lot of people appreciate this site and my keeping it running, and are willing to help keep it running. When those numbers drop way down, well, how else should I interpret that situation?
Sorry, really no black and white answers to your questions. It is all just infinite shades of gray.
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