What are you offering that’s actually worth paying for?

[Al]

If you strip away ads (pointless), sponsorships (pipe-dream), and affiliate links (spam), you’re left with the direct ask: “pay to support the site.” That only works if you’re offering something people care about. So what’s your value? Is it a tight-knit community, custom content, access to devs, early posts, something else? Let’s be blunt: what are you offering that actually justifies payment?

Monetising a forum is a tough call. Direct support is probably the most effective way. But how do you justify taking the hard earned cash from your users?

 

[CTS]

Trying my best to avoid all of that. Right now I charge FREE for everything and I don't ask for donations and never an ad.

I cant justify it at all. I imagine that if bandwidth needs increase substantially, then I will have to (carefully) figure something out that wont be off putting to my members or guests.