IT WAS NOT A "LOSS MAKING WEBSITE", the bills got paid, the fics got archived, new fics were still being uploaded and read.
Yes yes yes this... if Adora was not happy with how the bills got paid (not enough donations, and she didn't want to go to the userbase and sound like she was whining, but also not happy paying it herself), then that was a flaw in the process somewhere--but not a LOSS MAKING. It was maybe like, "there's a three-hour delay between posting fic & seeing it up on the archive"--a problem that really needed to be fixed, but not a sign that the site was a failure. It wasn't failing; it just wasn't doing all of what it was supposed to as well as it should have. ("Site host is not feeling resentful and financially strapped" is one of the goals of any fic archive.)
I am pondering sending an email to Keith (because perhaps I am naïve, and perhaps I am a masochist) trying to translate the corporate-ish view of websites into the fannish view of archives. I want to say that it's not *impossible* to run a fic archive profitably--but that to do so for longer than ~6 months (how long it takes fandom to figure out what the new arrangement is), it takes knowing what *fans* want from the archive. And that's not going to neatly fit into the site-flipper financial plan.
I haven't decided if I'll write it, but you've given me an excellent collection of thoughts to bounce around if I do. Thank you.
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IT WAS NOT A "LOSS MAKING WEBSITE", the bills got paid, the fics got archived, new fics were still being uploaded and read.
Yes yes yes this... if Adora was not happy with how the bills got paid (not enough donations, and she didn't want to go to the userbase and sound like she was whining, but also not happy paying it herself), then that was a flaw in the process somewhere--but not a LOSS MAKING. It was maybe like, "there's a three-hour delay between posting fic & seeing it up on the archive"--a problem that really needed to be fixed, but not a sign that the site was a failure. It wasn't failing; it just wasn't doing all of what it was supposed to as well as it should have. ("Site host is not feeling resentful and financially strapped" is one of the goals of any fic archive.)
I am pondering sending an email to Keith (because perhaps I am naïve, and perhaps I am a masochist) trying to translate the corporate-ish view of websites into the fannish view of archives. I want to say that it's not *impossible* to run a fic archive profitably--but that to do so for longer than ~6 months (how long it takes fandom to figure out what the new arrangement is), it takes knowing what *fans* want from the archive. And that's not going to neatly fit into the site-flipper financial plan.
I haven't decided if I'll write it, but you've given me an excellent collection of thoughts to bounce around if I do. Thank you.