did you get a commission deal or so ?
Last I checked a full - dedicated - server is $99 per month at EV1 (it's where I host my stuff), you can run about 50 sites at this level on one such machine.
That being said I'm not ungrateful to the Dans (done my bit of purchasing there already and trust me, it would support this board for quite a while) but I did not notice them putting up any 'Chapter 11' signs and if the board would not be worth it I'm sure they're man enough to ask for a contribution without getting into 'increase sales or you'll lose the board' kind of argument that you are trying to put forth here.
Nobody needs to buy anything to support this board, the discussion here is all the support this board will ever need, by discussing stuff here people will buy product whenever they need, I'm suspecting the preferred supplier will be wondermagnet without you telling them to.
It also attracts outsiders because of the subjects discussed and searches using google, which indirectly leads to more business.