I've read of how the stack overflow get paid with the jobs related to coding and all that, but how exactly does this site pay for hosting all our answers and questions for free?
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asked Feb 7, 2021 at 16:10
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10$\begingroup$ This question is somewhat similar: Where does the funding for Mathematics - Stack Exchange come from? (Although it was asked before introducing ads on this site.) $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakFeb 7, 2021 at 16:39
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71$\begingroup$ The moderators take turns manually offsetting electricity costs with a hand-cranked generator. The job requires high levels of physical fitness $\endgroup$– Alexander Gruber ModFeb 7, 2021 at 21:41
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6$\begingroup$ I think that is metaphorically true LOL @AlexanderGruber $\endgroup$– tryst with freedomFeb 7, 2021 at 21:47
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41$\begingroup$ In addition to what @Alexander wrote, we also bill users who ask questions, usually meta questions. Your invoice should be in the mail in the next couple of days. $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModFeb 8, 2021 at 2:13
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14$\begingroup$ They make money selling our highly coveted proofs to the highest bidder. Sometimes they deal with governments who want to steal intellectual secrets. Sometimes MSE has the best literature on something, so I'm only assuming. Oh, so that's why your awesome giant post ultimately got deleted... (got sold under an exclusive & pricey license) it's a conspiracy! $\endgroup$– Daniel DonnellyFeb 8, 2021 at 2:52
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19$\begingroup$ Look up what they repeatedly explain in Money.SE. If you are not paying for a product, you are the product. Google has perfected this approach. $\endgroup$– Jyrki LahtonenFeb 8, 2021 at 5:35
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6$\begingroup$ Go here, take the tour, click the various links. They are into advertising, team facilitation, recruitment and career advice, brand building and other miscellaneous activities. Enough to ensure that they can host this site comfortably. You are from India, so I will tell you this : in IT hubs like Bangalore and Pune, more than half the companies(JPMorgan and Oracle for starters) have tied up with Stack for hiring professionals. Knowing the pool in India, you can see how much money they get from just this activity. $\endgroup$– Sarvesh Ravichandran IyerFeb 8, 2021 at 6:43
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$\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen damn but how are math answers and questions the product? I never thought of it being that there is economic value with my answers and questions $\endgroup$– tryst with freedomFeb 9, 2021 at 12:41
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$\begingroup$ @TeresaLisbon that's fine, but that's mostly for programming, as far as my knowledge, I haven't heard someone hired as a mathematician from their math stackexchange account $\endgroup$– tryst with freedomFeb 9, 2021 at 12:41
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3$\begingroup$ @Buraian Yes, that is true. Note that your answers hold "intellectual value" , the common license means that it can't be sold to anybody, it is trule priceless, what we write. Think of it that way, and suddenly you are of far more prominence than you think. Look at the number that tells you how many people connected to you : that is how many people you have helped. It is quite the large number! Servicing that would be morally outrageous, including mathematicians $\endgroup$– Sarvesh Ravichandran IyerFeb 9, 2021 at 15:03
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3$\begingroup$ @Buraian The Q&A are not the product. The people interested in reading them are the product (and to a lesser extent, those interested in writing them). They click ads etc. The site seeks to attract viewers who clicks ads fitting a certain profile of interests. $\endgroup$– Jyrki LahtonenFeb 10, 2021 at 14:19
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3$\begingroup$ The site is NSA recruiting. $\endgroup$– qwrFeb 11, 2021 at 7:35
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3$\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen: If you don't post your comments as an answer, your serious signal will be lost in—well, not noise, exactly, but jokey signal. :-) T.L.'s, too, I guess. $\endgroup$– Brian TungFeb 13, 2021 at 20:00
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3$\begingroup$ There's a blog post from SE about this from 2016 here - and I don't think it's changed much, except for the proportions of the sources of revenue. I'm not exactly sure how the non-technology sites (e.g. this one) fit into this, though - as far as I know, we don't have ads (but I'm very much unsure of that - it was true years ago, but who knows now), so we might just be freeloading off bigger sites in the network. $\endgroup$– Milo BrandtFeb 15, 2021 at 2:47
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2$\begingroup$ I'm starting to think that what @AlexanderGruber said is actually true.. $\endgroup$– Omar ShaabanFeb 18, 2021 at 5:30
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