ads in every thread?

[FRIDGE]

i undertsnad that every soite brings in the paper some how but is this permanent? it just seems so weird to me that after the first post thats there now. i guess its better this way to integrate(sp?) it into the thread because not everybody scrolls down to the bottom of the page.i hope theres no rebellion against me for speaking what i see.

 

[ZANDOR]

I don't like it at all Its cheezy and low budget..Its like watching a dvd and a commerical pops up out of no were..Oh well just have to get used to it I guess

 

[NCNitro]

I'm not crazy about it at all either. However with the server costs continuing to rise, as well as other expenses, WoodiE needs to raise revenue somehow to keep the site running. So if it means ads in the threads then so be it.

 

[joneser4u]

I was hoping I hadnt caught something causing the adds to appear, glad its everyone!

 

[ZANDOR]

I was hoping I hadnt caught something causing the adds to appear, glad its everyone!

Or the four of us caught It!!!! :jk:

May be we can get rid of it??? :boxing:

 

[joneser4u]

I've already scanned twice! LOL.

 

[vbgagnon]

I also get a pop up whenever I go and check my pms. And its not only on my home pc its on any other pc that i get on. That just me?

 

[joneser4u]

Mine did it acouple time checking pms, I updated my popup blocker and now I just here a click letting me know it blocked them.

 

[ZANDOR]

Me to yahoo pop up blocker is the poop....

Now 5 of us are infected!!!

 

[fisherman]

Yeah i knoticed it too i wasn't sure if i was imagining it cuz iv been doing a little of this with some evin williams so i whought it was me. LMAO

 

[AC48]

I sent WoodiE a PM, he said that it was a way to raise funds for server costs. He said that he was going to try it for a few days and see how it goes.

I don't know if its just me, but I don't even see an add?? Theres a bar that says Advertisement: but then there isn;t any add???

 

[WoodiE]

I'm sure most of you have noticed the site slowing down little by little, and I'm sure you've noticed RCNT is well over 4,000 members strong as well as more people online at one time. In fact our new record is 389 people online and that was just set not to long ago.

These growing numbers and problems (speed) always raises something, and that something is more times then not cost to keep the site up and running. The site has always been paid primarily by my own funds, and I am fine with that however we're quickly coming up to the point where the site is not going to be something I can afford to keep alive without some source of income. I've tried a number of different things a few worked, most failed. The contributors worked for about 2-3 months, from there it's stopped. Unlike other sites that do things similar to the contributors group, RCNT does not make it a subscribed user group. Thus a one time payment is all that's required, all lot of other sites make it a monthly or yearly payment. While $20 is greatly appreciated it doesn't take long to spend it when the hosting bill alone is about $150 a month. That doesn't include software, upgrades, maintenance or other expenses.

So again I go to the drawing board on what I can do to maybe bring in a buck or two for the site to keep going at it's current pace or maybe even a little better. Now comes the advertisement box - as AC48 already pointed out, the box is a trial to see how well it does in it's current spot. With the ad that's in the box now I can easily tell how many clicks it's getting and the payout for them. If it does good then we'll keep it there, maybe making a few changes here or there. If it's a flop then I'll scrape it just like I've done others in the past.

The fact is RCNT has next to no ads on the site. You've got one banner and a tall google ad on the front page, with one banner at the footer of the forum with now a google ad in the threads. Pending what page you're looking at you've only got one or two ads on your screen at any given time. I've always tried to keep that number down as low as possible, and I don't think one or two ads will kill anyone. There are no annoying pop-ups, pop-unders, or crazy spyware here and I'll keep it that way no matter what. In regards to the pop-up in your PM box the only pop-up that should be coming up is that for a delivery confirmation which is a javascript - that's it.

Anyways I hope you guys can understand the need for such ad's and we'll see how it goes. Nothing is permanent, yet!


-Michael

 

[DarthRacer]

A big word up to Woodie. Yes, RCNT has a low advertising banner usage as compared to other sites IMO. I will not be bothered by the new ad placement as it will definately create a high visibility to the ads. Google ads are very easy on the eyes as it is and integrate with sites nicely so I think all will adjust very quickly.


Woodie - what is the "Team RCNT" about?

 

[lykan]

Woodie , as far as ads go , everyone hates em' just like commericails. But they are a required part of the program for anyone to survive. it's where the real support dollars come from.

After I saw this I thought about how else you could get an ad more visible.

This is by far the best, least obtrusive solution I have seen on any site. It's not in my face, it's not bold. It doesn't install on my computer, and it's easy to scroll past.

What more could you ask for ? If this forum can't handle that little runner there, then it's time for users to come up with suggestions or donations.

Am I a kiss ass? No.

I am a realist, if this site can't at least support 50% of the cost sooner or later it's going to burn a hole so deep in Woodies pockets he's going to have no choice but to shut it down.

We get storage space for pics, a killer PM center, E-mail services, e-mail notifications and some kick ass mods who keep the site clean, but aren't Web nazi's

I am all for this ad unless somone can come up with another idea that gets the ads seen, but keeps em out of the way.. seems like pain in the ass to figure out to me.

 

[msly]

The adds are fairly un ubtrusive (sp?) I would probably be more inclined to click on them also. It would not be a bad Idea to setup where if you dont want the adds you can pay to have them removed. I have noticed alot of sites like that.

For a site that I go on every once in a while I would probably leave the adds. For a site like RCNT where I go to every day multiple times a day I would be glad to pay to have adds removed if it bothered me that much. Just a thought.

sLY

 

[WoodiE]

The adds are fairly un ubtrusive (sp?) I would probably be more inclined to click on them also. It would not be a bad Idea to setup where if you dont want the adds you can pay to have them removed. I have noticed alot of sites like that.

For a site that I go on every once in a while I would probably leave the adds. For a site like RCNT where I go to every day multiple times a day I would be glad to pay to have adds removed if it bothered me that much. Just a thought.

sLY

sly - this is something to think about for sure. In fact I've thought about something like this before where it would be part of the contributors benefits. However we'd go to a subscrition bases program then where a few bucks a month would remove ALL ads from the forum. Again something to think about, thanks!

I know probably nobody wants to hear it, but i think running the RCNT lotto more frequently (and selling out quicker) is key. Considering the money made for each one lately, if we were to have it more frequent, then expenses can be convered a lot easier and more effective than google ads.

The problem with that solution is that I have no control on how quickly a lotto sells or doesn't sell. If the lotto doesn't interest you then more then likely you're not going to purchase a ticket, thus delaying when a lotto wil be sold out. Also for each month the lotto lasts RCNT only makes half of what it was going to if it sold out in one month as now the profit is divided each month. Point is the lotto is no means of actually helping the site from month to month.


-Michael

 

[dougc]

I say if this site is running low on money ... well sell pizza kits and do some fundrasing. lol
umm I dont mind the ads when I first say it I was wondering how it got there I just throught it was some misplaced code

 

[psunitro]

HMMM, maybe we could do a candy bar sale as a fundraiser? LOL.

I dont mind the ads, its not as if the even take up a reply's space. I know how these things cost $$$ my brother runs a site for one of the guys form H.Stern(Bob?) and it is not cheap. Do you have a space on here for donations? With all the new people, maybe having a donation thread would help, maybe have a box on the main page and again on the forums page? As you said you could not count on this to be the main source of income for the site,but it could help. Never know maybe a Gates or a Trump could join and see that and set RCNT for life!

 

[NJRC]

I honestly don't mind the ads since I pretty much breeze right past them or take a quick glance at maybe something that caught my attention. But if you all look and think that the ads can be annoying to look at or possibly slow the page down, you all are forgetting that those long banner signatures members use at the bottom of their post is considered a form of advertisment identifying yourself, tons of smileys in one post can slow things down.....so a few text words in a advertisement box to help the site keep running really can't be that bad. The worse thing that can happen is a pop up ad each time you flip a page, then it would get hardcore annoying pop ups like a porn site....but Woodie did away with the pop ups and kept the ads simple and small.....some much smaller than a few members signatures pretty much like my sig.

 

[mcvickj]

This was a hotly debated topic on another forum I visit. The biggest complaint wasn't the ad's, it was the idea of having the ad in the middle of the thread. In the end a compromise was reached between the admin and the users. If you were logged out and just browsing the site the ads remained in the thread. If you signed up or logged in the ads were placed on the top of the thread in between the recent discussions and the thread. Or in our case they could be placed just below the headder.