Yes, we DID put ads in the forums

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
edited April 2004 in Community
Bandwidth is expensive, it's true. This site does not and never has broken even. We pay a lot of money to host it, and now we have to try to recoup some of those costs.

We're not looking for mega profits here, we're looking to pay for the bandwidth that comes out of mine, doug's, and shorty's pockets every month. So, at the very least, please don't complain about the ads. At the very MOST, click on them once in a while ;)

We've tried (and are continuing to tweak) different positions, layouts, etc.. The goal is to make them as unobtrusive as possible (one of the reasons why we went with Google AdSense, because they are text based and very unobnoxious).

Thanks for understanding :)
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Comments

  • mmonninmmonnin
    clicks
     Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    clicks
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    They open in the same window right now if you click on them. Perhaps have them open in a new window so I can click them faster? ;)
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Don't go crazy though... Google has algorithms that check for "abuse" - ie, clicking ads over and over again just to generate revenue
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    I just go through them once or twice a day is all.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Unfortuntately... google set them up so they open in a new page, it's as Prime said.. to stop ad abuse.. ;)

    We are gonna keep them to this, we are only allowed to show one ad per page.. and only on certain pages. That's fine with us. We aren't interested in making a fortune on it.. which is why we are changing over to a less "in your face" ad solution.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    You cant add target="_blank" to the end of it?

    Yeah I could click them all once and close them all quicky intead of going back all the time.
  • DogSoldierDogSoldier The heart of radical Amish country..
    edited January 2004
    :buck: I'd recommend some xxx ads for uber revenue. With an acronym like "S.M." we'd prolly get tons of hits!
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    mmonnin wrote:
    You cant add target="_blank" to the end of it?

    Yeah I could click them all once and close them all quicky intead of going back all the time.

    We can't alter the ads :(
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited January 2004
    Scientology? Sorry but that brings the level down a bit. I hope nobody gets sucked into that. I speak from expieriance.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Firebird = Middle Mouse Button
    IE = Ctrl + Click
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    bothered wrote:
    Scientology? Sorry but that brings the level down a bit. I hope nobody gets sucked into that. I speak from expieriance.

    Well, you'll notice that at first most of the ads are quite irrelevant to our site. As the site gets spidered more and more people click on appropriate ads, they will start to be targeted a bit more intelligently. This is our first day as an adsense-enabled site, so enough data to target appropriate ads hasn't really been collected yet.

    When they see that ads about marriage counseling and scientology aren't performing, but ads about video games and hardware ARE, we'll get more of the right kind :)
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited January 2004
    The ads don't bother me, but even if they did, "so what?!"
    I'm not footing the bill for this place so I really don't have much (any) say in the matter.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2004
    Well said, a2j - a few text ads are a small price to pay for the best damn tech site on the net. :thumbup
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited January 2004
    I quite agree, I did suggest a 'donate' button to help with the costs. Personally I feel I'm bombarded with ads at every opertunity, I hate it. I AM A HUMAN BEING, NOT A CUSTOMER! (The Elephant man). If it helps the guys pay for the site fair enough. I just hope we don't get any for hand guns or designer drugs.
  • NecropolisNecropolis Hawarden, Wales Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I see the google spider is working. This is from my Flag Smilie thread.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    And the first in line ad for this thread is for VB forum software. I am not sure where the scientology and gay ads(order is Vb, Scientology, Scientology, Gay perspective) came from, though.....

    But, I do appreciate not so much distraction and do take a look at plain text ads from time to time if interested in what they say.... Will click a few, but in Opera will right click link and tell it new tab.... Then can just hop back to still-open forum tab....

    Google does track ad clicks with cookie acceptances, though-- in Opera, 3 cookies per ad clickthrough. Oh, well, will accept from a good and relatively unobtrusive revenue thing for a great site.

    John.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2004
    By mentioning the things you do not want to see, you are making it so that they are more likely to appear.

    In other words: Mention only that which you want to see.

    Processors or Video Cards or Chipsets or AMD or ATI or anything else that you fancy.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2004
    a2jfreak wrote:
    ...In other words: Mention only that which you want to see...
    Nekkid pictures! Free beer! Peace on earth!

    ...just doing what I can for the cause... :p
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    a2jfreak wrote:
    By mentioning the things you do not want to see, you are making it so that they are more likely to appear.

    In other words: Mention only that which you want to see.

    Processors or Video Cards or Chipsets or AMD or ATI or anything else that you fancy.

    Well, if I mention "ads" will I get random "ads" until the spiders have crawled enough??? Hope not.... Would be nicer if the spiders crawled mostly topics, and the forum subarea titles.

    Now I hope we do not get ads for spiders from pet stores.... Testing... :D

    John.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Lucccccccccccyyyyyyyyyyy... you's got some explaning to do ;D

    oops.. nice try google ;D
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH...........
    SIMS SIMS SIMS SIMS SIMS SIMS SIMS SIMS...........
    And on Page 1 - Logical Religion and The Zen on Sleep, lol.

    Anyway.... There are 3 types of adverts that I object to:
    Ones that stall the loading of the page or are just big.
    Popups (obviously).
    Ones with sound (i.e. the AMD ones on SMs from page) these piss me off imensely (sp) and if they continue to spread I am just going to remove flash player entirely.

    The Google Ads have to be the most useful as they are small in filesize, they don't stall the page and they aren't bright and obnoxious.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I have a feeling that the reason we are getting religious ads is because I post a lot and I have the word "Buddhism" in my sig a few times...... :D
  • t1rhinot1rhino Toronto
    edited February 2004
    Neato! Click - click...
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2004
    Christianity Christianity Christianity.
    C'mon Gnome, help me out! :D
    primesuspect wrote:
    I have a feeling that the reason we are getting religious ads is because I post a lot and I have the word "Buddhism" in my sig a few times...... :D
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Jesus, Trinity, God. Peace, Joy, Awe.... :D:D

    John D.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Shorty wrote:
    Lucccccccccccyyyyyyyyyyy... you's got some explaning to do ;D

    oops.. nice try google ;D

    Google "teeny-tiny mind". His is not teeny tiny, but he is humble (and subtle and challanging and .... ) sometimes too.... :D

    John D.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak
    can see it now . . .

    In the Red corner, weighing in at 7,865,251,397 pounds: Christianity.
    And in the Blue corner, weighing in at 4,378,281,644 pounds: Buddhism.

    You guys know the rules. No punching below the belt. etc. etc. etc.
    Let's Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2004
    can see it now . . .

    In the Red corner, weighing in at 7,865,251,397 pounds: Christianity.
    And in the Blue corner, weighing in at 4,378,281,644 pounds: Buddhism.

    You guys know the rules. No punching below the belt. etc. etc. etc.
    Let's boxing.gif
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I hate to admit it but I actually learned some stuff about vBulletin by clicking. I just have to remember to open in a new window.
    They aren't too annoying and look to be from OK people, so far.
  • pseudonympseudonym Michigan Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I wish I could remember the ads that were up there the first time I saw them, pretty funny for a tech site.

    The ads are fine guys, you barely even notice them. You could go bigger if need be, I wouldn't care at least.
  • JakeJake Alec Baldwin's Chest Hair
    edited March 2004
    a2jfreak wrote:
    * a2jfreak can see it now . . .


    In the Red corner, weighing in at 7,865,251,397 pounds: Christianity.
    And in the Blue corner, weighing in at 4,378,281,644 pounds: Buddhism.

    You guys know the rules. No punching below the belt.boxing.gif

    I'm fairly sure we don't have to worry about the Buddhists hitting below the belt -- or hitting at all, for that matter -- but I don't think we can rule out the Christians pulling out a sword mid-way through the match... :buck:

    Oh, and just for the record, I am a Christian -- even attend church on a weekly basis -- but I'm very conscious of our bloody, bloody history and, by and large, intolerance of anyone who subscribes to a different system of beliefs.

    Nothing like commenting on an old ass thread....
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