Earn $1,500 or shut down

[Shawn Gossman]

Here's a forum scenario for you:

Your hosting bill hits a whopping $1,500 a month. You don't have the money to spend, and you can't move to a cheaper host.

You have two choices:

(1) Attempt to generate $1,500 a month for your forum
(2) Shut the forum down

Selling is not an option for this scenario.

If you accept the first option, what are you focusing on to earn the $1,500 a month?

If you're shutting down, why are you giving up so easily?

 

[Page]

Right away, I do not have $1500, and getting that amount each month would be very hard on a site that isn't as big as it can be. Also, getting help to get that amount of money from your community wouldn't be easy, as most people might do it once off, but with the cost of living, they would be hard up.

Shutting down is one way to deal with it, but then again, maybe you do not want to close it. So maybe another option is to look elsewhere or look for people to partner up with that they can invest in you, or look for investors?

Shutting down means they not giving up, they just do not ahve the money, servers will just close if you do not pay up

 

[Cam]

If selling/switching hosts isn't an option, I don't see how I could avoid shutting my forum down. My forums are a hobby, and generating $1,500 on any of them would be very unlikely. I'm also not going to jeopardize myself IRL to support a forum.

 

[Nomad]

In a situation like this, I would shut it down. It is not possible to generate $1500 per month on forums.

 

[Katrina]

Shut it down! $1,500 is too much and that host is taking advantage of you.

 

[Cedric]

I could financially handle it, either from income from the forum doing services or my private income. The question is, why would it cost 1500 USD all suddenly? 1500USD is starting enterprise stuff.

 

[Allenafaith]

I’d shut it down. I don’t have $1500 on hand to afford it. That would require me to work 3 extra shifts at work which is very mentally draining and if I had that much money, I wouldn’t be able to spend it on that knowing there’s other things in life I needed to pay for first.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I would have to shut it down, I think it would be almost impossible to generate that much money on a forum. While I did get a raise at work recently I wouldn't be able to pay for it out of pocket.

 

[Krissycakes09]

Shut down, nothings worth that kind of headache.

 

[fantanoice]

I'd try to raise the $1500 by asking community members to contribute. If that doesn't work, shut it down. I'd have a backup so can bring it back with another approach later on

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I'd try to raise the $1500 by asking community members to contribute. If that doesn't work, shut it down. I'd have a backup so can bring it back with another approach later on

I was hoping to see at least one strategy put into place.

I'd do the same, as well as try to get some freelance jobs, doing posting services, whatever I can to attempt to raise the money needed.

In this scenario, there wasn't enough context but it was meant to really see what people would immediately do.

I do understand that shutting down might be the only way, though.