Bread n' Butter: Is Your Site Your Livelihood?

[Digital Jedi]

Something interesting occured to me today. Whenever vBulletin problems arise, I often hear people state how awful the event is for, at least one reason being, livelihoods are involved. Which got me thinking. Do you run, or do you know of a lot of sites which are more than a hobby, or means to generate a little extra revenue? The statement is often made as if to suggest that the vast majority of vBulletin license holders are holders for primarily business reasons. And yet, anecdotally, I can only think of a handful of forums I've run into over the years where it was a primary source of income. Where you would be devastated, rather than inconvenienced, if your forum went offline for too long. Most people I know, or have helped, or have visited run forums either as a supplement to their existing business, or as a hobby. How many people are there actually putting all their eggs into one forum software basket?

Now, I understand that a lot of people invest money in SEO solutions. But I always presumed this was to make their site worth running, successful, rather than making it be the primary support of their financial income.