I apologize for the small text; while trying to change the slider at the top I accidentally changed the wrong class in the CSS. It should be back up now. I apologize for the inconvenience!
As I've commented above, I truly believe that open source projects and voluntary work can change so much. I want to create this because writing and education is my passion, not because I want to make a profit. I don't particularly like sites such as DeviantArt, which bombards you with ads and limited features with a free account. And the premium account is out of my poor college student's price range. Perhaps at some point we will need to do this, but at the moment, we're hoping for some more people to submit essays.
We aren't sure how to scale yet, though we've come up with quite a few solutions, such as adding more people to our "staff". We want the absolute best, and sometimes community opinion is not always top notch.
I would like to think that we're different from Scribd by not having any monetary gain. I truly believe that open source projects and voluntary work can change so much. I really hate advertising such as Google Ads, which are there solely for making money. I want to create this because writing and education is my passion, not because I want to make a profit.
We also don't have a desire to because yet another social network.
I don't think that the Pirate Bay has died yet, but I think once the owners begin to charge for their services, users are going to look elsewhere. I know I will.