And the issue becomes "how much is the site actually worth"? The operating expenses are between $1000 and $2000 a month, depending on what horrific configuration I've got running dealing with whatever problems. I consider my living expenses to be $2000/mo and I am trying to supplement my income by another $2000/mo so I can actually progress with my plans in life instead of treading water.
We currently have 12,500 users that sign in every day. $2000 is easy - if about 16% of users who sign in every day contribute on average $1 a month (i.e. they buy something that has a $12 margin once a year), then those expenses are paid for and the site can afford itself.
My month-to-month expenses are almost entirely paid for by crypto contributions.
The surplus comes from my podcast. That is something I put towards goals. That's a side hustle for me.
But now you factor in legal expenses. The appeals process + damages is going to cost at least $20,000 between the two litigants. Dealing with them has at least doubled, maybe tripled, the month-to-month operating expenses of the site. So my surplus savings is gone, my margins are being eaten into. There's no chance of recouping those losses because they are worthless people. I will still go after them for damages and I will have to pay a debt collector to wear a GoPro so I can start building a video wall of shame.
Either 1) this plan works, or 2) we have to make enough money to tank this operational overhead forever, which will grow as it proves to be an effective tactic.
Thankfully the pool of candidates who can afford to dedicate their lives to vexatious litigation is very small. People like Ralph and Vordrak can't do it because I can and will go after their assets, which they do have.
So as I said, the question becomes "is the site worth $6000/mo + $4000/mo for my salary? Can I really expect to make a dollar a month off every single daily user?" Probably not. If I tried to grift that hard people would just resent me. People hate me asking for money or running merch as it is.