Blog V Forum

[OverHere]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby

I don't think u can define running a forum as a hobby... its way too time consuming and costly

 

[Paul B]

You have a very unique view on forums.

You do realise that a lot of hobbies can be extremely expensive and time consuming?

 

[OverHere]

You have a very unique view on forums.

You do realise that a lot of hobbies can be extremely expensive and time consuming?

I agree with you, but they are usually offline hobbies... but, any how, are you saying that there's no xF or other forums out there that can make or are indeed making thousands of $'s per month?

 

[TPerry]

I don't think u can define running a forum as a hobby... its way too time consuming and costly

Let's see... when I was fishing:
$27,850 for the boat
$42,000 for a new truck to pull the boat
$450 x 5 for reels (to start)
$125 x 5 for rods (to start)
$1200 for assorted tackle
$83 a month for boat insurance

And then you had all the ancillary costs (life jackets, coolers, etc).

Now, hunting was a little less expensive.
$7500 a year for the lease
$3000 year for food crop to plant
$1500-2000 year for corn for feeders
$10,000 for ATV to use on lease
$1150 for rifle
$3000 for practice ammo (per year)
$18,000 for trailer to put on lease
$1000 for generator for trailer
And figure usually a few hundred (usually less than a $1000) per year for feeder maintenance

Now, my forum
$279 a month for the server
$120 year (roughly) for script renewals
$75 a year for style renewals
$150 for various other license renewals

Guess which my wife prefers I do as a hobby.

And none of the hunt/fish hobbies includes the "time" involved.... it's simply a dollar cost. If you sit down and put pen to paper, then there is NO way what you catch/kill is cost effective. You could be eating rack of lamb twice a day for what it costs.... but that's not the point in the hobby.

I think what most people are trying to tell you is that you have the "pie in the eye" syndrome... and that you should not expect to make gobs of money running a forum.

 

[meetdilip]

You can always keep blog as home page and keep a forum. F0rum if properly used is free premium content.

 

[OverHere]

Let's see... when I was fishing:
$27,850 for the boat
$42,000 for a new truck to pull the boat
$450 x 5 for reels (to start)
$125 x 5 for rods (to start)
$1200 for assorted tackle
$83 a month for boat insurance

And then you had all the ancillary costs (life jackets, coolers, etc).

Now, hunting was a little less expensive.
$7500 a year for the lease
$3000 year for food crop to plant
$1500-2000 year for corn for feeders
$10,000 for ATV to use on lease
$1150 for rifle
$3000 for practice ammo (per year)
$18,000 for trailer to put on lease
$1000 for generator for trailer
And figure usually a few hundred (usually less than a $1000) per year for feeder maintenance

Now, my forum
$279 a month for the server
$120 year (roughly) for script renewals
$75 a year for style renewals
$150 for various other license renewals

Guess which my wife prefers I do as a hobby.

And none of the hunt/fish hobbies includes the "time" involved.... it's simply a dollar cost. If you sit down and put pen to paper, then there is NO way what you catch/kill is cost effective. You could be eating rack of lamb twice a day for what it costs.... but that's not the point in the hobby.

I think what most people are trying to tell you is that you have the "pie in the eye" syndrome... and that you should not expect to make gobs of money running a forum.

1. I agree with everyone who says that no one should start a forum purely with the intention of making money, but rather start a forum on a topic one enjoys... yes, fine...

2. But, what I am saying is that you can indeed monetise a fast growing forum (for webmasters who keep both interest and business in mind in relation to their forums), and you can then earn anything upwards of $10,000 per month in time...

My point further is that if you only think of your forum as a hobby only then you simply don't have the business desire to earn from it nicely, but rather just cover the running costs...

My feeling is that the following forums are indeed earning at least $1500 to $10,000 (+) a month:

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

http://www.discussworldissues.com/forums/

So, the bottom line is, may be this is not the case with any XenForo forum yet, that one can not only enjoy running a forum but with a little ambition monetise it.... of course this depends on the topic also - and General Forums can make good money, above is an example...

In your case if you are running a knitting forum or something similar, then yes, it cant really be monetised and you can indeed keep to your theory!

 

[OverHere]

You have a very unique view on forums.

You do realise that a lot of hobbies can be extremely expensive and time consuming?

What I am saying simply is that some forums are capable of making decent money in time... In my view not every forum owner just runs a forum as a 'hobby'.