For nearly four years, I've run macosxhints.com ad-free, relying on the contributions of visitors to help fund the costs of the site. Most of the time, this has worked out well enough, with contributions running somewhat ahead of costs in most months. But that's OK, as making "a lot of money" with the site was never an objective of mine, as I had a full-time day job.
And, believe it or not, despite the new presence of ads, making a lot of money from the site is still not an objective of mine. My main objective is to continue to make macosxhints.com the single best spot on the web for all sorts of tips and tricks about working in and around OS X. I have a lot of ideas for changes and improvements to the site in pursuit of that goal. However, between the site, my job, and my family, there just isn't enough time (despite my pleas, they continue to insist there can only be 24 hours in each day) to tackle these projects.
What does that have to do with ads? In order to do some of the things that I'd like to do on the site, I have recently moved to a part-time position at work -- so I'll now be spending a couple of days a week on site-related projects. The revenue from the ads is what (hopefully) makes this transition possible ... which is why you're now seeing ads.
Read the rest for a bit more on the change, and my thoughts on the future of the site, the community, etc...
I know some of you won't understand or support this decision, given how long you've been reading macosxhints' ad-free, but all I ask is that you give it a chance. You should also know that I will never consider the "other way" of making money on a site like this -- by restricting areas of the site to subscribers only. The community built this site into what it is today, and (as long as I have any say in the matter), the community-contributed content here will always be freely readable and searchable for everyone.
I want to thank everyone one of you for helping make macosxhints.com what it is today -- with over 45,000 registered users (come on, we can hit 50,000 by year-end!), this site has become one of the best "communities" on the web -- the submitted hints and comments here are some of the best I've seen anywhere in terms of technical knowledge, civility (a big part of why I enjoy working on the site each day!), and genuine desire to add to the OS X knowledge base. So thank you, and please, give the new direction a chance to succeed.
Going forward, I promise you'll continue to get my best efforts with the site. Anything less, and I'd be letting all of you down. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions, comments, or concerns you'd like to voice; I may not be able to answer immediately, but I value your thoughts.
Your humble Chief Hintmeister;
-rob.

