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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6250473" data-attributes="member: 37579">There are a few reasons to be a tad wary with those numbers. First, there’s the obvious point that you’re only counted towards the group if you join the community. So we cannot know what percentage join the community. Or if those who take the extra step to join the community are more or less likely to ubsubscribe. So the numbers could be skewed.The number fluctuated when they upgraded their community, going up and down. This suggests not everyone was removed (or added) properly. Which does happen as I was a member of the group for a period some time after I ended my subscription. (I believe it was months but it was some time ago so the memory is hazy.)The numbers have not moved much. While the proportion of posters on the WotC boards with a red icon has dropped dramatically the number hasn’t. During the renewal period in 2010, which fell during the time the tools were not being updated and the release of the online tools, the numbers didn’t drop. This prompted the initial testing.There was the suspicion members were not removed, so this was tested. But the test only proved that the group numbers do sometimes go down and some members are removed, not that they always go down and all lapsed members are removed. It’s not conclusive. For example, there might very well be some coding anomaly where you’re not removed until you log in and it updates your profile. Or there could be a steady influx of long-time subscribers joining the community at a similar rate to people unsubscribing giving the illusion of a subscription increaseThe numbers can no longer just be dismissed outright, but they should still be used with caution and cannot be used as hard evidence of the success of DDI. The big test will be looking at the numbers during the next few months while the magazines are gone and the only benefit are the online tools.Regardless, DDI is not the massive source of profit some people suggest it is. Each issue of Dragon or Dungeon costs thousands of dollars. Freelancers are paid $0.10 a word, which does not sound like much but adds up. Staff writers are likely paid better, art is a huge expense, mappers are in high demand and good ones cost money. And then there is the staff that does the editing, layout, and handles the website. All the time it takes to answer emails and sort through submissions is also done on the clock. They likely need 50,000 DDI subscribers to just cut even on the magazines. Plus the online tools (not cheap) and the web servers for the said tools and the magazines. Plus the cut Digital River likely takes from each sale for handling the money. DDI likely makes money. Good money. Otherwise they would have cancelled it. But it’s a products and is not a replacement for all other products.</blockquote>

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