Advertising between posts?

[MaverickFlyer]

What's with the advertising popping up between the first and second post on every page?

[ov3n]

what do you mean whats with it? there is now advertising on some posts. it is what it is.

[MaverickFlyer]

Well I'm not an I.T. Person so I thought it might be some type of spybot or something. With all this advertising I'm wondering why I paid for a Gold Membership! :crazy:

[ov3n]

because like 5 people buying a gold membership isn't enough to keep the site running ;-)

[MaverickFlyer]

5 people, i don't think so! :rofl:

[FastCougar]

I knew this would come up ... here goes:

1) Advertising on the site isn't just for revenue generation. I decided to go with Google's AdSense because they have their sh!t together and actually provide RELEVANT in-line ads.

2) I have said this since day 1 ... Gold Members are paying for the bandwidth/disk space that they are allowed to use. Banners/Google AdSense will pay for the hosting costs.

3) AdSense ads are not showing up in every thread ... the thread MUST first be 4 or more posts long before the ad is show after the first post on the page. ;)

[Hardrive]

Makes sense to me.

[MaverickFlyer]

That's fine, I just thought it might be some kind of advertising worm or what ever you call it.

[scrupul0us]

i dont see the ads, just an empty slim table... my hosts file is prolly blocking them or the corp network is

[MaverickFlyer]

Actually it say that Gold Membership pays for hosting, not bandwidth/disk space!

Help support the forums! By paying a mere $12/year, you will help the general hosting fund, which goes towards hosting costs as well as forum upgrades. All funds in excess of these requirements will be donated to the CougarFest fund.

[FastCougar]

Yes, that is rather outdated ... remember, after the port from FuseTalk, there where no banners and I had to pay for everything out of pocket. When I first set up Gold Member status, it was going toward paying me back for my out of pocket expenses (hosting essentially). The concept has matured and grown ... I need to update that statement. The reality is that until I start to see revenue from the banner ads, it's true for the time being ... make sense?

Once the site is fully supported by advertising, ALL Gold Member funds will go towards the CougarFest fund.

[MaverickFlyer]

When the issue was brought up about using Banner ads to pay for the hosting you said no. Now that people joined up and paid for gold memberships it's okay to use banner ads? :confused:

[skater]

I doubt the site will never be fully ad supported, unless you want it to look like Ford Trucks Enthusiasts (http://www.ford-trucks.com), where the ads run rampant all over the screen, appear in your PMs, take over all of the links in posts, and highlight random words in posts.

Please consider a "no ads" membership option. I'd jump on that in a heartbeat. I just donated $50 to the Impala club, and the only thing I got in return for that was a virtual platinum award (in other words, no benefits beyond what a non-donating member gets).

[deadlikeoscar]

Using Firefox and the appropriate ad block settings I don't see crap. I didn't even know their was advertising on this site. I opened up IE to check them out, nothing I would be offended by seeing you know. I don't think it is really a big deal.

[Goldie]

I knew this would come up ... here goes:

1) Advertising on the site isn't just for revenue generation. I decided to go with Google's AdSense because they have their sh!t together and actually provide RELEVANT in-line ads.

2) I have said this since day 1 ... Gold Members are paying for the bandwidth/disk space that they are allowed to use. Banners/Google AdSense will pay for the hosting costs.

3) AdSense ads are not showing up in every thread ... the thread MUST first be 4 or more posts long before the ad is show after the first post on the page. ;)

I don't see the relevance of this ad.
http://newcougar.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24991&stc=1&d=1149864065
and Like Mav said, I've been thinking the $ we paid was going to support CF :shrug:

I would be happier if the ad was at the bottom of the screen or very top. Being buried in the middle is really distracting.

[BigBalledOX]

Come on people.

Is it THAT big of a deal? Would you have not donated a measly $12 to NECO if you had known that at some point, there would be a few minor ads that will help pay for the necessary infrastructure to keep this website up and going?

Whats that saying we all throw at people who gripe about how much mods cost . . . "You gotta pay to play." NECO has been free for a long, long time, but then we had all kinds of issues with downtime, etc. I know we still occaisionally encounter those issues, but anyone thats been here for the last year will agree, the new server and hosting is approximately eleventy billions times better.

I would gladly pay more to get a "No Ads" option if that could be worked out. Hell, I would have paid more to be a Gold Member. As many of you know, I am a NECO ****, you put a NECO logo on it and I'll probably buy it or do whatever I can to support it.

If there can't be a no ads option, then so be it. I still don't think its that big of a deal to see an ad here or there considering what NECO has meant to most of us.


EDIT: The word that is censored starts with "sl" and rhymes with "butt". :tongue:

[MaverickFlyer]

I don't mind supporting the board, that's why I paid for the Gold Membership. But it would be nice to get an straight answer for once and stick with it. How about Gold Members have the option to turn off the ads.

[FastCougar]

I don't mind supporting the board, that's why I paid for the Gold Membership. But it would be nice to get an straight answer for once and stick with it. How about Gold Members have the option to turn off the ads.That is the ultimate goal with purchasable item (member upgarde to Gold Member for example) and has been since I thought up the idea, but I haven't announced it. Reason for not announcing an option to pay for banner removal is because I don't know how to do it. I'm a ColdFusion programmer, not a PHP programmer and it's really foreign to me at the moment as well as getting used to the framework of the new forums. I will post up question on one of the VB forums and ask how this can be done.

[scrupul0us]

id def pay a few extra clams over the 12 just b/c this site has given me so much... if you cant stand the banners, block them... its not rocket science...

but in all honesty if you come to this board everyday you should be paying to use it and at that, WANT to pay for it!

trevor pays good loot for us to have a place to hang, learn and have fun, and for the freeloaders that cant afford $1 a month we have to display ads... it's that simple...

if EVERY member paid for a gold membership (or even $1) we wouldnt have to have ad's and CF would have a killer honey pot... look @ the number of members here

i for one say the ONLY people who can complain about banner ad's are the people that are gold status which ::looks through the thread:: is everyone here, but its a small tradeoff for what we all take

[Goldie]

and don't know if any of you have looked at the euro neco site - but they have 90% of their forum sections only available to those that pay (which IIRC was something like 20GBP - so quite a bit more than the Gold Member fee here). Not to say this forum should be shut down to those who don't pay - but just some perspective.
I'd pay - even if it meant there was no extras - just as a little contribution to the group.

[BigBalledOX]

Admit it Goldie, its because you can't stand the thought of life without my witty repartee. ;)

[Goldie]

Admit it Goldie, its because you can't stand the thought of life without my witty repartee. ;)
That's it ;)

[hamill]

There are pros and cons to this type of advertising. One VERY POOR EXAMPLE is immediately following my post on the update of Matts condition in the hostpital, there is a god damn banner ad and the first thing in it is a link to buy Respiratory Ventilators. To me, that is discraceful and pathetic that Matt's mother is printing the threads and taking them to Matt in the hospital. I'm sure that's what he's dying to read. Up my damn membership fee Trevor, I'll help pay for the site, because that is pathetic.

[monogodo]

That is the ultimate goal with purchasable item (member upgarde to Gold Member for example) and has been since I thought up the idea, but I haven't announced it. Reason for not announcing an option to pay for banner removal is because I don't know how to do it. I'm a ColdFusion programmer, not a PHP programmer and it's really foreign to me at the moment as well as getting used to the framework of the new forums. I will post up question on one of the VB forums and ask how this can be done.
BikeForums (http://www.bikeforums.net/) uses the same software we do, and their paid membership option includes no ads. They also insert ads between posts in a thread (they also insert them between threads in a section). You might try to hit up Joe Gardner (bikeforums@yahoo.com) (their admin) for help if you need it.

[ClaymoreWW]

a better host is the solution. there are very reputable options out there for 50GB space, 1 TB bandwidth for $240 FOR FOUR YEARS. CF would actually have funds at that rate.

--george

[azbobbybooshay10]

There are pros and cons to this type of advertising. One VERY POOR EXAMPLE is immediately following my post on the update of Matts condition in the hostpital, there is a god damn banner ad and the first thing in it is a link to buy Respiratory Ventilators. To me, that is discraceful and pathetic that Matt's mother is printing the threads and taking them to Matt in the hospital. I'm sure that's what he's dying to read. Up my damn membership fee Trevor, I'll help pay for the site, because that is pathetic.

I agree, that ad is absolutly disgraceful. One of our good NECO friends is extremely ill in the hospital, and that kind of crap is popping up in the thread about how he's doing? :gtfo:

I don't mind having the Google ads if it helps pay for the forums, but saying that they are "very relevant" is hilarious. I see Google Adsense on a bunch of forums, and I have NEVER seen it give accurate ads. But do we really need to have it BETWEEN posts on the page? Why not have it at the top, or even better, at the bottom of the page? If we need to use the ads, fine. But lets put it in a reasonable place.

EDIT: Looks like as I typed that it got switched to the top, above the posts. That is a placement that I don't mind. Its kinda annoying, yes, but its in a place that isn't super distracting now. Thanks Trevor.

[Frosty]

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:rolleyes:

[FastCougar]

I also agree, this occurance appeared tacky, but keep in mind that the crawl bot returns thread information to the adserver bot about what it finds in the thread ... it has no idea that we are talking about a good friend in the hospital. Then the ad bot looks for relivant links from advertiser (it can't just make up an ad) and serves the ad. I have no control over this and neither does Google ... it has no idea of the context of the words, only the relivance of the words and words around those words. Neither here nor there ... I'm sorry this happened, but there simply no way to control that type of thing from happening.

Back on track. I have changed the placement of the ads to the top and bottom of the threads. The idea here is to click on ads that spark your interest. Impressions pay squat if anything at all ... clicks pay, plain and simple. If you find placement annoying and the majority agree, I'm all for moving it. I don't want you guys to "tune it out" because it's in an annoying location.

The code to NOT display for paying members is very straight forward and should be up shortly. Thanks for listening.

[wadespencer99]

Thanks for listening to us too!

[azbobbybooshay10]

Thanks Trevor, the new placement is perfect now. I just don't get where all the Nissan Sentra stuff is coming from?

[FastCougar]

BOOOYA!

Yet another privilage of being a Gold Member ;)

No banner ads for Gold Members!

[Goldie]

BOOOYA!

Yet another privilage of being a Gold Member ;)

No banner ads for Gold Members!
:bowdown: yeah!!! thank you :biggrin:

[hamill]

Thanks Trevor.

And I understand about the searching for content to fill the link, I was more upset about the fact it was right under the update on his condition. That struck a VERY big nerve and I apologize for any hostility in my post.

I also appreciate the fact there are no more banner ads for gold members. This alone should/could entice others to "join", not to mention help out some of those with 56K connections :)

[Danef150]

Hey trevor i have an idea have you ever visited f150online.com? If so i think they have a pretty good banner add system. Their system creats entire posts between other peoples posts instead of in indevidual threads. Its something you might want to check out or not. I understand you its way too much for us to ask for you to take the financial burdon of this forum on your own.

[LinkMan]

Thanks Trevor! A responsive Website Admin is a wonder to behold :thumbsup:

[skater]

Uh...call me crazy, but I'd actually prefer to have the banner ads - it's nice to know what my options are when I go to buy stuff. :)

By the way, the sponsored links are still showing for me. I only mention it because the header of the box says: 'Sponsored Links: Want to make them go away? Become a "Gold Member" now!'

[jaged]

hes fixing a problem so they will be there for a day or so

[ov3n]

BOOOYA!

Yet another privilage of being a Gold Member ;)

No banner ads for Gold Members!

They still appear for me...

http://www.lolwtf.net/galleries/necoshot1.gif

http://www.lolwtf.net/galleries/necoshot2.gif

[FastCougar]

They still appear for me...That's because you are too dumb to check out the new stickies before posting or simply reading the previous two posts before making a reply :tongue:

http://www.newcougar.org/forums/showthread.php?t=96644

[ov3n]

wow, call people who give you money dumb... great practices, pal.

[FastCougar]

I thought you had a sense of humor? :shrug:

[azbobbybooshay10]

Teh Ov3n-Fuhrer has no emotion. :disgust:

[FastCougar]

Yeah, but you'll also notice that once I finished making my reply, I promptly removed the banners ... testing is complete. I now just need to place the advertising on more sections of the site, like the thread listing area and the category listing area IF it's not a violation of the AdSense ToS (Terms of Service) Agreement:No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages. This includes error, login, registration, "thank you" or welcome pages.I consider thread listing pages to be content because they lead you into the posts, and are always changing.

[diddy]

so now you enabled the ads in between posts again?

[FastCougar]

so now you enabled the ads in between posts again?Yes I have ... I'm allowed by Google to have up to 3 placements of link ads ... one above, one in and one below the thread display in this case. It will follow the 2nd post (being the 3rd) instead of the following the 1st (being the 2nd). If you don't like it, sign up for a Gold Membership ... just one of many perks!

[azbobbybooshay10]

Yes I have ... I'm allowed by Google to have up to 3 placements of link ads ... one above, one in and one below the thread display in this case. It will follow the 2nd post (being the 3rd) instead of the following the 1st (being the 2nd). If you don't like it, sign up for a Gold Membership ... just one of many perks!

I've got a Gold Membership and I'm seeing a Google AdSense ad in between my post about teh Ov3n and Trevors response. :shrug:

[BigBalledOX]

Haha, GoogleAdsense thinks it has more posts than I do, its so cute!

I think Trevor's still working out some things.

[FastCougar]

All worked out ... testing is complete!!!

Now on the agenda (way down on the list) is to allow Gold Members the option to view them based on a profile question.