I think it's kind of ridiculous, as why have a forum at all if you keep it just so you can earn money from it, it's nearly impossible for that to even happen because there are hardly any forums on the internet that anybody could make enough money to get close to living off of.
I think Hack Forums is proof it can be done. That site gets loads of traffic each month and the owner has to be making at least a thousand bucks every month, and then he's got some other really popular forums too.
Although it may be possible technically for huge forums, I don't think it is really a good idea, haha~ To get a lot of income must've means the forums are very active with many advertisements or something, and there must be risks beyond it though I don't really understand that part.
Also, I think forums can be treated as a hobby; you can use money for it but to try to get money in return for your life, not for the forum's life itself is just strange. XD
People do it, and there are a few companies that run forums as a business and are very successful at it. Yes, it is true that the forum has to be huge and very popular but it can certainly be done. Think of forums such as DigitalPoint that take in a lot of money in advertising revenue, the owner of that forum claimed that he was making a Million Dollars a month from eBay's affiliate program, it got him into some trouble but it is an example of what can be achieved.
Yeah DP was a cookie stuffing scheme, if Fergal put the effort he could probably live off FP through black hat methods like cookie stuffing, although its harder to do now.
Oh wait to add something to the discussion (merge my posts mod who approves this), take a look at http://slickdeals.net or http://cheapassgamer.com, both of which are similar concepts. Links posted are automatically turned into affiliate links to sites which they have deals with, so like amazon for example is a big earner for them. Both are examples of white hat ventures, I know that CAG is owned by one dude who's basically living the life in Tokyo making bank off of the site and investing it in stocks, so its definitely possible.
Not too many forums will be able to do this and it would take up alot of your time unless you have a rather large staff team to help out but then with all that income coming in I imagine you will be paying them for their job?
I think it is possible for larger communities (not only very huge ones) if they recommend affiliate products that their community is really interested in. This could lead to enough commissions to live on fo ra while if the members are interested enough in the offer that has been sent to them via the community newsletter, a link on the home page or somewhere else. I am far, far away from achieving this but I think it can be done.
Yes, you are able to make a living out of a forum. Some forums are getting quite a bit of members, that the owner already makes a living after a year of development. It definitely is possible to earn a living, but it requires time. Also remember that nobody gets rich of banner advertising.
See, I don't think I could really make money off of my forums. I mean I don't support ads on my forums, and I don't really use donation money. Now, a YouTube partner, that's where the money is.
You might not need to earn from your forum when it's small. If it's a bigger forum which need more resources like high-end VPS or server then it start costing loads of money.
Forcing offers on members or VIP sections / Paid membership maybe not so good for members but having couple of advertisements is not bad.
