Hobby-Site-Turned-MONOLITH, Anyone?
I have been encouraged to start a thread about my site -- I've been told it might be a rare and interesting case to read about on this Forum. I'm sure there are other web-masters and -mistresses out here that that, to be frank, would enjoy more WebProWorld discussion about things beyond G*ogle. So, here's me!
I own a website that was originally intended to be a "hobby-site". Fast forward six years, and the site has grown to the point where we everyday folks, simple staff, can barely keep up with it! We are doing well, all things considered, but it is hard (and sometimes, thankless) work.
It is for lovers of literature for and by adults (no images or video, nor any dating; oftentimes, no "smut" either, though such material is popular and permitted). Some of my website's philosophies include supporting freedom of expression in literature and refusing to take part in any form of elitism therein (which is as prevalent, if not more, in the fiction community's behavior as those of many others; in ours, it is commonly called "quality control"). Our collection ranges from the truly horrible to the truly impressive -- it is, and will always be, for all. Many burgeoning writers get their starts here, where fellowship and "concrit" (constructive criticism) helps them to assume their fullest potential.
Our 'gig' is to archive old -- and welcome new -- stories whose authors, throughout the years, have supported "free use" and freedom in art, speech, and expression, where it will "harm" no one (children, various conservative groups that dislike our material). I suppose there is a bit of a political edge to it, but far more in the exercising of such rights than demanding or conversing about it. It is an inspiring thing for millions of people worldwide.
Our usership is now very, very large -- what started out as a place to spin tales between a few dozen friends has become a haven to 1.1 to 1.5 million monthly unique visitors. Our page views top out at over 100,000,000 a month, and our server hosting costs alone are... well, much higher than one might think those of a "hobby-site" would be. Our traffic is 100% organic, completely home-grown by word-of-mouth. Page rank? Whuzzatt? 
Our coding, for all of our work and popularity, is only a hair north of archaic; the site has always been volunteer- and amateur-operated, including our various, not-always-commenting-out "techs". From what the programmers intimate with our back-end have seen, any attempt to move our archive's hundreds of thousands of stories to another platform would result in data-loss to the Nth degree, which is unacceptable for any content-rich enough site, but for an archive that is an icon of freedom of speech on the Internet, it is out of the question. I have quite a project on my hands! But, it is a labor of love.
Now, I believe the use of our site should be free. That said, I would like to be able to pay for our astronomical server costs (we use well over 4GB of bandwidth a month), the additional software we need, and our present core staff's immense amount of so-far-freely-given time, skill and dedication.
But the membership is a somewhat esoteric one -- I have tried to appease them by running banners that advertise only websites and services that are relevant to their interests, but this is proving insufficient for where the site needs to go in order to survive (legal and business advice, above software etc., is becoming less optional as the months pass and our usership booms).
Another sticky wicket of the thing is that, the site faces the issues of both an adult website and a fan fiction one. I am extremely passionate about not compromising the meaning and spirit of the place, but in a world that runs on money, rather than starlight and dreams, what is a girl to do?
I'm curious; does anyone else have a love-turned-dilemma such as mine, or a website that faces similar issues -- in some outline, if not in specificity?
Thank you for welcoming my little cyber-autobiography to the mix, and taking a read. 
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08-18-2008, 07:58 AM
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