Q&A - please read in Site Updates

Perhaps this will turn in to the start of my FAQ section!

A new member asks:

I am a little concerned that you are doing this without charge, and that we may be repeating the experience of the other place - someone starting it and growing it and then needing to make a living and moving on, leaving it somewhat abandoned. How can this be avoided this time?

That's certainly a legitimate question and concern. To be perfectly honest, I would be quite surprised if Prosebox was still at the top of my priority list in 10 years, assuming that the site thrives and continues to grow during that time. I completely respect that other guy's choice to move on to new things. Nobody should be tied down to a website if they no longer want to be.

That being said...

When it comes to Prosebox, I'm either all in or all out. That's my promise. Especially if Prosebox moves to a subscription-based model. I'm not going to continue collecting subscriptions and then just set the site adrift. If there's a thriving community and I decide to call it quits (which I reserve the right to do), I will either sell or hand down the site to another interested party. There's no logical reason to abandon a community and not let someone with passion take over to keep the site healthy. If the site turns into a money pit and nobody is interested in taking over the helm, I will be honest with the community about it. I will give fair warning that the site's days are numbered and make sure you have the option to permanently archive your content.

Of course, I'm more optimistic than that. First of all, the web has come a LONG way in 15 years. The advantage I have is that I'm developing Prosebox with modern technology. I'm using open source technology so there's not monstrous licensing costs. I'm using hosts like Amazon and Heroku who are very well established and highly reliable. Their pricing models are quite decent and the architecture is highly scalable, if the site should take off through the roof and end up with thousands (nay, tens, nay hundreds of thousands!) of users. I develop software for a living, so it's not like I'm just a hobbyist. I think I'm reasonably good at it. Of course, if it does grow, I see no reason to keep this as a one man show. Imagine the site continuing to grow and thrive, and new developers (and designers!) with fresh ideas coming into the fold. I'm not overly possessive. Hell, if you want to see my source code, I can tell you where to go look on Github. Let's see... did the other guy ever make an offer like that? ;)

Now, as to profitability....

I'm currently using Google Ads to generate a little revenue while I'm geting started. I've earned approximately enough to buy three lattes at Starbucks so far. Go me!! And no, don't go running off clicking every ad you see to show your support. Google can easily detect fraud and wouldn't be happy about it. It would be robbing someone else to put a few extra cents in my pocket.

I don't think the advertising model works very well unless you're a household name like Facebook, and you have advertisers knocking down your door trying to get their content on the site.

I'm thinking of turning Prosebox into a subscription based model in an effort to alleviate costs and keep the site healthy (and slightly profitable). I wouldn't do so until I feel like I have a completed and polished product. So here's a question for all of you!

How would you feel about a subscription-based version of Prosebox, somewhere around two bucks a month? This would be all the features you have now, as well as Friends only privacy levels. And other cool and innovative stuff on my list. If I'm going to charge money for it, I want it to be a really excellent experience for the users.