How do you deal with members who object you making money?

So here is one. My forum is getting fairly profitable, from a variety of sources. Will not state exactly how much, but... it is enough to be a full time job for most people in the United States outside of North East and California.

A few years ago, there was one member who was complaining, and now we had another. Now while it did get squashed by other members, who see no reason with me making an income, it did get under my skin a bit.

Does the love of community supersede income? How do you just brush it off yourself?

Should that discussion be allowed in the community or deleted?

 

I see objection to anyone receiving payment for their efforts. If it is mentioned that a site receives income then no one can object.

I can only see a justification for objecting if the owner stated that he was not receiving income when he was.

If a member complains, then I would probably ask him if he receives wages for his work and if so why would he object if you receive income for your time and effort.

On our site we do not make money, nor do we accept donations, as this could compromise our independence.
This is our choice and is made clear to the members.

If the member joined knowing that the site produces income then he has no justification in complaining.

Just my two cents worth.

 

And I really do believe this member is just pissed off... actually a banned member.

He was originally banned for selling a ton of items on the forum that he manufactured, so we asked him to be a vendor for a measly $20 a month, he did not want to. Then, did find out he was breaking forum rules and trying to undercut other members who were selling items in marketplace (which you must be a paid member in order to post)....

But yeah, otherwise... it was never inferred that it was non-profit.... just in the past year, it has gotten to be pretty good.

 

Heh, if anyone complained about me making money with my site I would ask them to pay my bills.

Most people understand that you have a business to run. You can do without the ones that have a problem with it. How rude is it for someone to think that you should work for free?

 

I've never had any objections to this sort of thing. Heck, I'm pretty sure most members would want my site to make money, if only so some could be invested back into new features and things.

If someone did complain, I'd just ignore them. They'll shut up about it eventually.

 

If you can make that type of income off of your site good for you.

I'm sure you aren't just putting it all in your pocket. You are maintaining and adding to your site- essentially providing a service.

My site is done for love, but I would love to be able to make enough money to consider quitting my job. If members have a problem with the money you make, too bad for them.

 

Can't quit my job... Well I am self employed. Lol. But it cannot be the sole income for the lifestyle my wife and I want. The cost of living in NJ is way toooooo high. We are looking at Florida, in which case this can be the only income, however I am not going to make more than 100k from the one forum, unless I start acquiring others.

Yes, we do reinvest in new features, and I have been paying my assistant admin, and looking to add perks for moderators.

 

At the end of the day you've got the forum costs to pay for, and you're providing people with a free service; he doesn't really have the right to complain about it. Besides, it's your forum - you can do *whatever* you want with it.

I'm not in that position yet because I'm not making any money (apart from through subscriptions/donations, but that goes towards forum costs only). If I were making money through say Skimlinks, and my income exceeded what I required to pay costs, most of it would go towards the forum anyway.

 

Wow, so the guy was trying to sell stuff and advertise for free on your forum, then complained because you make some money off of it? That's some nerve. I wouldn't worry yourself over someone like that, it's clear they're very selfish.

 

Agree 100%. Obviously they don't realize how much time and money you have invested into the forum. With todays competition, getting a forum to turn successful is no easy feat, and those who think that you should go through all of that hard work without any benefit are out of their mind. It would be one thing if you started up a small niche forum for something you like such as an obscure hobby or something, but if you have invested time and money why shouldn't you reap the benefits of your hard work?

 

Exactly, I agree 100% with you, the forum is like your job, you have to get fruit than plants.
If you investes your money so that people can have a platform to speak / take questions, of course you deserve to have your profit.

 

Wow. I'd probably tell them to mind their own business. If they don't like the way you're running the site then they can find another.

 

What's next? Actors feeling guilty for getting paid for acting, musicians being hated for making a living from playing music, etc? I don't see how it's any different. People are probably just jealous.

 

I don't have a big enough forum to make money, and not a decent enough member base for people to complain. Most people invest money into forums - they want to get some money out as well.

Liam

 

Never apologize for success.

I think it's anyone's business how much you're making from the site. Do they go into their mechanic's shop, doctor, or grocer and ask their income? The only people who balk at you making a little money or call you a sell out are the ones who are either a) jealous or b) already pissed about something else but choose 'he's making money off us' as their argument.

 

I've had only one member object to ads, which right now is my only reliable source of income for my sites. His concerns were entirely unfounded however, my ad placement on my sites are usually out of the way and unnoticeable.

I just let people have their own opinions and leave it at that.

 

I would not bother with this person at all, sounds like he is either jealous of your success or still has a grudge against you for stopping him from breaking the rules and banning him the first time round. If he is causing a nuisance then you could consider Ip banning him so he can't create anymore accounts (unless he uses a proxy but is he really guna do that just to moan some more about you making an income).

Anyway, this guy hasn't a clue how much you pay towards server costs, advertising, staff etc so he has no business getting involved in your business.

 

Sometimes people will try to get under your skin just to get a reaction out of you, members who complain about something are usually the ones breaking the rules in some way or another. At the end of the day you are the one that has to pay for the forum such as web hosting and up keep in general, you are providing a free service to them that if they don't like it can hit the road like Jack was told to do. There are ways to handle people like that in a quiet civil manner and then sometimes you have to take action against them such as banning and whatever else you have to do in order to protect your source of income, if you can make something out of it good for you and you will always have someone trying to rain on your parade, just ignore it and move on.

 

Members agree to the Terms and Conditions set forth in the Terms Of Service and the Privacy Policy and also to any third party terms and conditions as set forth by those sites to which a site may choose to link. Customarily those terms and conditions do not allow members to dictate how the site is owned and operated. If a member doesn't care for the manner in which I operate my site, including but not limited to profiteering from the thousands of hours and thousands of dollars which have been invested into making the site the best it can be for the membership, said member can find another site. It's that simple. Telling me how to run my site is an instant ticket to [****][****][****][****]offsville.