TL+ Announced - Page 32

On June 22 2013 11:19 datcirclejerk wrote:
I'm starting to wish people took their charitable feelings towards something that actually matters, like people dying and such. Donating to other relatively wealthy people just doesn't seem right.

On June 22 2013 07:52 Liquid`Nazgul wrote:

I created TL in 2002 when thought we could fill a special spot in the BW scene. In the first eight years it was a completely voluntary job for me (first I was an SC progamer, then I supported myself through poker). I think you should know that I worked my ass off the eight years before you created your account, without ever expecting this would one day become a business.

Today TeamLiquid.net has become a monster to manage that can't be ran based on anyone's passion alone. As a website offering so much to its users it is impossible to maintain without monetization. We have about 200 staff members the vast majority of whom are voluntary. However as with any organization we absolutely must have paid quality staff to lead and accommodate such a massive group of people, and to create revenue to pay for all the costs involved with running a website as large as this.

In terms of monetization I believe we have always stuck close to the principles that drove me to do this for eight years as a hobby. We've never considered doing popups, we have never locked popular public content behind paywalls, and we have never put up donation buttons. I think that we do a decent job at creating revenue sources that do not create negatives for those who don't want to spend money. Think of the store, non-instrusive ads, pay-what-you-want models, and TL+, which takes no functionality away from anyone who isn't interested in buying it.