Not trying to be a dick about this issue, but I’m going to be a bit of a dick.
It’d be nice to see BB experimenting a bit to explore any other options for funding. Clearly the BB store is one. I like this site, and have bought stuff there (that I probably could have gotten cheaper from other places) to help support the site. (though I must admit that the "BEWARE THE IOS… Buy IOS items at the BB store! posts do cheese me off a bit).
It’s risky, but there have to be other options than just drowning in ads or sucking the teats of facebook & twitter, or the “private subscription” model which clearly wouldn’t work either. (maybe not, this may just be an amazingly naive thought).
I think there’s a way to do both. Offer an ad free version to subscribers (perhaps with some extra bells and whistles) or a standard site for those that can’t afford it or don’t want the expense. Penny Arcade has been doing that for years and they’ve been successful at it.
Granted Penny Arcade and BB are inherently different so maybe it’d be more difficult for BB to do the same but I personally would not mind giving the site some money if it made it better.
