I (and probably everyone else as well) am very happy that Sciencemadness is still one of the very few forums without ads. But because of that, the
only source of income for Sciencemadness is donations. I propose a solution: mine crypto! Now, let me elaborate. So, when a person
opens Sciencemadness (on a desktop, not mobile), using JavaScript, it automatically starts mining Monero. From a technical perspective, that is not
hard at all to implement, and has been done before numerous times. If needed, I myself will he happy to help with what I can. Also, the
maximum CPU usage allocated to the mining is automatically set to, let's say, 30% as that way neither to fans will spin up, nor will
the "usability" of the device be impacted whatsoever, and the only thing that people will have to "sacrifice" is a few cents in the form of
their electricity bill. Sounds like a small enough price to pay for the knowledge that SM is providing us all with! And nobody will be able to "not
participate", so everyone will contribute at virtually no expense for them.
In terms of profits, based on the average amount of online users, 30% CPU usage, and an "average" laptop, SM should be able to able to get about
~$5-$10 per month. While not much, that is $120 per year. And, we could ask the people to just leave the SM tab open in the
background, and that way the amount of users online simultaneously could grow significantly. That could be dozens or even hundreds of dollars
per month.
So, what do you all think? Not saying that we must do this, its just a thought that crossed my mind, so I want to hear your opinions on that.
Edit: For some reason I only looked at the members online, but there seem to usually be over 300 guests online. This throws off my
calculations by a few dozen times. This means that SM could potentially earn over $300 per
month!
[Edited on 8-5-2024 by 4-Stroke]j_sum1 - 8-5-2024 at 01:54
Polverone may chime in here. Or he may not. We have discussed the board's financial situation before.
Basically what you are proposing is a solution without a problem.bnull - 8-5-2024 at 05:20
You're being too optimistic. I don't think that the majority of members and guests would gladly accept a crypto-miner (Monero, of all
things*) running in the background on their machines, even if the purpose was to support Science Madness, which doesn't seem to be in dire
needs if we take @j_sum1's words for it.
If a source of income were needed, I would suggest a merch shop. Money permitting**, I would buy a mug with one of those utterances made by
@vulture when banishing posts, or something by @Magpie, rest his soul. Maybe even the most prosaic mugs or hoodies or t-shirts with chemical formulas,
reactions, apparatus, or chemists, as the students of the Physics Department of my alma mater used to do with Schrödinger's equation or
astronomical themes.
*: I don't trust crypto operations. Yes, I'm that paranoid. **: Because the government taxes and shipping usually cost more than the product itself--which explains why I rarely import
something.Texium - 8-5-2024 at 05:32
Polverone has made it clear that the site is not expensive to maintain and he doesn’t even accept donations anymore. It isn’t a problem.
Furthermore, I am personally against crypto mining in principle, and would thus strongly oppose this idea myself. And if it was to be implemented, I
would insist on there being a way to opt out. Also, most of the 300+”guests” on the forum are likely sleeper spam bots rather than legitimate
users.Keras - 9-5-2024 at 00:00
