In case anyone who does not run their own website and work on their own internet machines wonders how much proper websites cost to run, and how you can make money fast with them..
Anything with failover or "non-stop" connectivity, storage, and processing, a little tiny bit of bandwidth, and most importantly, uptime measured in years - starts around $300 per month excluding maintenance and long-term backup power -if you do it all yourself at home amd already own the right computing equipment.
I'm talking about enterprise-class computers like what you see in the racks in a computer room, not PCs. You need at least two of those 'real computers', preferrably three if you want to be a player in Al Gore's Internet. I'm no big shot, I am describing the "starter kit" at this level. Each computer cost a few thousand when new. I get mine used.
Why the pro hardware? PCs die when put to the "run hard and put up wet" test in a 24x7 environment. As an admin I don't want to have to look at the system to see what's about to burn out. I don't want to walk into the Bunker and detect the smell of impending doom because some $2 Chinese fan stopped. I expect to continue to be able to ignore it completely for months with full confidence.
About backup power - When the power fails here, the costs increase by $4 per hour and that incurs 24x7 till the power comes back.
So a professional website cost a whole lot of money all the time.
All of this great situation can alternately be 'leased' from a hosting company for an astonishing monthly rate, and all you have to do is remotely administer it. The gear is locked up in a secure building with staff. Bandwidth and gigabytes-per-day charges apply. I could have gone that route but I like hands-on.
Those are my facts from experience for what it costs to run a serious website. (Talk to me about addictions, a boat might be cheaper).
Anything less that what is described above is a toy; sorry if that offends anyone who is running a perfectly useful site on the cheap.
There is no question that SS is a much beefier site than mine both from a storage and bandwidth perspective.
It's also none of my business what the total cost of ownership for SS is, but I wouldn't want to bear that cost alone each month.
In closing, I'm not against paying for full access to SS if it is available reasonably. I find more information and entertainment and friendship from SS than I do from the MVPA. I am free to give and take advice. I also get a chance to put my 2 cents in here, whenever I want, on whatever topic is interesting. It's worth something. I can only really justify shelling out for one or the other. Seems like an easy choice. Would it make sense to have a business model like that?
