Interesting post. This isnt quite the same but wanted to mention i created a project, http://ribbot.com, to let people create their own Hacker News style site on other topics.
THIS is what I've been looking for. It deserves a post of its own. Is the only way to make money by paying the monthly fee and using one's own ads? I am about to begin playing with it..
Awesome, thanks for checking it out. Yes, the only way is ad supported right now if you want to go that route. What else were you thinking - monthly memberships for private forums? It seems odd but I haven't thought about it much.
I'm considering making the project open source as well so technical folks can run their own versions and modify it. Sort of a wordpress model where it's open source but they still make money off the hosted version which is simpler for non-technical people to use. Thoughts?
