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NOTE: ADS ON THE FORUM (updated 26/10/21)

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    edited October 2021
    Roland said:
    How much does that equate to in a year?
    Not much

    It's about £150/month, which is a bit more than the hosting costs. Of course, I expect it to decrease over time, but we'll see.

    For what it's worth, Google reckons that if I put ads on the whole site - members and lurkers - I'd be pulling in about £100k/year.

    I hope y'all recognise the restraint I'm exercising here - I could pay the modmins and quit my job 
    You’d have to pay us to spend all our time removing the whining comments about adverts for sheds, jewellery, microwaves and the latest iOS games
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  • joeWjoeW Frets: 459
    It’s a good idea indeed.  With all the whining and conspiracy chat, it’s easy to forget the work done behind the scenes.  I certainly appreciate the ad free experience, but you really are being unbelievably generous in not grabbing the cash and selling.  I have enough trouble avoiding the treasures in the current classifieds - if there ads on top of it, I’d be properly broke
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8592
    joeW said:
    ... I have enough trouble avoiding the treasures in the current classifieds - if there ads on top of it, I’d be properly broke
    Judging from this evening’s adverts your money’s safe
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • Roland said:
    How much does that equate to in a year?
    Not much

    It's about £150/month, which is a bit more than the hosting costs. Of course, I expect it to decrease over time, but we'll see.

    For what it's worth, Google reckons that if I put ads on the whole site - members and lurkers - I'd be pulling in about £100k/year.

    I hope y'all recognise the restraint I'm exercising here - I could pay the modmins and quit my job 
    You’d have to pay us to spend all our time removing the whining comments about adverts for sheds, jewellery, microwaves and the latest iOS games
    Honestly? I could live with that ;)
    <space for hire>
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  • MellishMellish Frets: 945
    I've seen no ads, you carry on mate :) 
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  • OK, so...my recent exposure to Google Analytics has revealed a surprisingly large amount of traffic from lurkers/non-users.

    Now, I have absolutely no objection to lurkers - there's a lot of informative content here, and it's not a closed community. However...I do think they should contribute to the running of the site in some way. With that in mind, I've slapped some Google ads on the site.

    This is absolutely not a reversal of the policy we've always had; at least, not in a meaningful way (in my opinion). Members will never see these ads while logged in - the Google code doesn't even get sent to your browser if you're logged in. And, of course, if somebody signs up with an account, they'll never see them after that either.

    Apologies if some of you saw them earlier, that was a copy-paste error on my part; human-induced bug, not a sneaky inclusion ;)

    I shall now brace for opposing arguments.
    So how does that stack up in regard to members who lurk instead of signing in? I ask because I know that I do it a lot and I've not seen any ads, so I'm genuinely curious if Google can tell the difference, not trying to make a point or anything.
    If you must have sex with a frog, wear a condom. If you want the frog to have fun, rib it.
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  • I'd happily turn ads on, I'm well aware I don't really contribute enough to forum costs and don't mind banners.

    If that's an option! 

    I am pretty strongly anti-ad-blockers for some stuff (like this place and other content-creator platforms) but hate intrusive ads elsewhere (Facebook, Instagram, even some shops have ad banners...). I would hate to see my favourite creators disappear so I don't use an ad blocker. Seems an easy way to show a bit of support. 
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  • OK, so...my recent exposure to Google Analytics has revealed a surprisingly large amount of traffic from lurkers/non-users.

    Now, I have absolutely no objection to lurkers - there's a lot of informative content here, and it's not a closed community. However...I do think they should contribute to the running of the site in some way. With that in mind, I've slapped some Google ads on the site.

    This is absolutely not a reversal of the policy we've always had; at least, not in a meaningful way (in my opinion). Members will never see these ads while logged in - the Google code doesn't even get sent to your browser if you're logged in. And, of course, if somebody signs up with an account, they'll never see them after that either.

    Apologies if some of you saw them earlier, that was a copy-paste error on my part; human-induced bug, not a sneaky inclusion ;)

    I shall now brace for opposing arguments.
    So how does that stack up in regard to members who lurk instead of signing in? I ask because I know that I do it a lot and I've not seen any ads, so I'm genuinely curious if Google can tell the difference, not trying to make a point or anything.
    Well, if you're not using an ad blocker of some sort, you should definitely be seeing ads when you're not logged in.
    I'd happily turn ads on, I'm well aware I don't really contribute enough to forum costs and don't mind banners.

    If that's an option! 

    I am pretty strongly anti-ad-blockers for some stuff (like this place and other content-creator platforms) but hate intrusive ads elsewhere (Facebook, Instagram, even some shops have ad banners...). I would hate to see my favourite creators disappear so I don't use an ad blocker. Seems an easy way to show a bit of support. 
    One thing that's worth noting is that if it's ads in a website (ie not YouTube etc), then the creators don't actually get any money unless you click the ads.

    You probably already know that - only mentioning it because it's something not a lot of people realise.
    <space for hire>
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  • Hey if the lurkers can generate enough cash for the forum to allow photo uploads that would be a bonus, could also help bringing in new people. 
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    Seems a reasonable amount, I wouldn't object to this level of ad's whilst signed in





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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23968
    Roland said:
    How much does that equate to in a year?
    Not much

    It's about £150/month, which is a bit more than the hosting costs. Of course, I expect it to decrease over time, but we'll see.

    For what it's worth, Google reckons that if I put ads on the whole site - members and lurkers - I'd be pulling in about £100k/year.

    I hope y'all recognise the restraint I'm exercising here - I could pay the modmins and quit my job 
    Do it then!

    FFS - that's your pension.
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  • Roland said:
    How much does that equate to in a year?
    Not much

    It's about £150/month, which is a bit more than the hosting costs. Of course, I expect it to decrease over time, but we'll see.

    For what it's worth, Google reckons that if I put ads on the whole site - members and lurkers - I'd be pulling in about £100k/year.

    I hope y'all recognise the restraint I'm exercising here - I could pay the modmins and quit my job 
    Do it then!

    FFS - that's your pension.
    LOL...as I was saying to @TTony earlier...my sense of ethics has taking a right battering in the last few days ;)

    However, I always promised that members wouldn't see ads, and I'm sticking to that. The only thing that might change my mind is if I put a poll up and >60% of registered members said they were cool with it. Even then, it would be contingent on keeping an eye on the traffic to make sure it hadn't dropped significantly, and it'd still be a really hard choice to make.

    Even then, it occurs to me that Google's calculator is designed to persuade you to let them stick ads on your site - I doubt it'd get anywhere near £100k - perhaps £40-50k? Dunno.
    <space for hire>
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    digitalscream said:
    The only thing that might change my mind is if I put a poll up and >60% of registered members said they were cool with it.
    do it.  Give examples of how it would look, and make the benefits clear.
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27346
    Ahh, well then, not really worth doing for only £50k /yr.

    :D
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26754
    WezV said:
    digitalscream said:
    The only thing that might change my mind is if I put a poll up and >60% of registered members said they were cool with it.
    do it.  Give examples of how it would look, and make the benefits clear.
    100% this. That example looks fine to me - I'd even be happy to unblock it and sometimes click on them, provided they're relevant ads for actual businesses rather than random clickbait rubbish. 

    What level of control do you get over the ad content? Or is it entirely based on viewers' tracking cookies etc?
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • TTony said:
    Ahh, well then, not really worth doing for only £50k /yr.

    :D
    Well, I suppose I could go part-time... ;)

    Seriously, though, that would likely be the upshot if such a thing went ahead - if I could match half my salary with the proceeds and still have at least £15-20k left over for hosting/events/rainy-day fund and paying the mods, then I'd go part-time with my job. If I could match my whole salary, I'd go full-time. That would include rewriting the software, and actually trying to take this place...places...rather than just maintaining the status quo as I've been doing.

    Obviously, that wouldn't be without significant personal risk, so I'd have to weigh that up.

    WezV said:
    digitalscream said:
    The only thing that might change my mind is if I put a poll up and >60% of registered members said they were cool with it.
    do it.  Give examples of how it would look, and make the benefits clear.
    100% this. That example looks fine to me - I'd even be happy to unblock it and sometimes click on them, provided they're relevant ads for actual businesses rather than random clickbait rubbish. 

    What level of control do you get over the ad content? Or is it entirely based on viewers' tracking cookies etc?
    Interesting.

    At the moment, I have no control at all - the blocking functionality appears to be broken in my AdSense control panel. If it was working, though, I'd be able to block ads specifically, by advertiser, by ad category, by sensitivity and by ad network.
    <space for hire>
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  • poopotpoopot Frets: 9098
    @digitalscream i don’t think anyone would begrudge you making money from ads on this site… if they do than they don’t have to be part of it…

    do it… make the money and quit your nine to five if it lets you…

    there is not one person on this forum that wouldn’t do the same if the role was reversed!..
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  • thumpingrugthumpingrug Frets: 2890
    edited October 2021
    I have no problem with ads if its going to help you maintain the site and make life a bit easier.

    If you want to put up a poll do so to gauge reaction, but ultimately this is your site and those of us that like being here will stay even if there are ads. 

    As as aside, adult daughter used my laptop a couple of weeks ago, and even since my facebook feed is full of ads for period pants.  Anything you can do to change that would be welcome.

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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    edited October 2021
    Silly not to imo. I don't see how ethics come into it. Having said that I am ad block mcgee
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  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22516
    I've got no problem with ads like the ones in Wez's screenshot above.  It's when they start popping up on top of text, or playing videos, that they really start to wind me up.
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