As a webmaster, Its only far if I say I respect ads. My blog has no ads (it can't have them either) but you have to think about high volume websites which get huge traffic. How do you expect them to survive ?
Raaabo was on IRC the other day and he was discussing about this new server TDF is considering which costs 1000$ (USD) per month to maintain.
Thats Rs. 50,000 per month to you. How do you expect the forum to raise this kind of money ? Do you think money grows on trees ? The only way out for them is ads. And even these ads are often not enough to obtain enough money. They only cover a fraction of the total costs.
As far as digit is concerned, the forum becomes a sort of Public Relations hunting ground and publicity area for 9dot9 Media and the benifits they get out of this is accounted for by the costs involved to maintain a forum. Even then, in these times of recession, the benifits are only minimal.
Now imagine an independant forum run by no company but a group of like minded individuals. Where do they go ? Ads ? Donations ? Paid Reviews ? Even all of these only *just* sustain the forum.
Once you get to the economics, you will see that ads definitely matter. Unless you want TDF to be a paid forum where you need to pay a monthly Rs. 100 to keep membership.
