Cheeser - 7:46 pm on Sep 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

I do the money for ad free thing to, how long have yours been running for?

Since about 2003. It's not a replacement for ads by any means... Donations trickle in throughout the year.

So places like ValueClick and DoubleClick specify you can't place their ads on your forum pages? Is it just because the conversion rates are too low?

That's correct. It states right in their TOS that you cannot put ads on forum pages because the CTR is too low.

So here's my next question then - if conversion rates are so low, why is anyone bothering with forums and communities? Are you making money on subscriptions? Or is it just in support of other parts of your site that do make money?

It's an incredibly sticky feature. My site was started on the premise of posting the latest news about my chosen topic but now we have one of the largest and most active forums in our category (over 50,000 registered members). It's just something people want. The ad revenue from the forums pays for hosting and supports the basic service of the site - providing news and information people want to see.