nothing major, if you scroll through a thread they'll be one or two small ads between posts per page. Clearly they are not doing a very good job if you haven't noticed them !
That was the first approach we wanted to take (though with the likely take up, i doubt we would cover costs at that level).
However, its not as straight forward in effectively splitting the site (ads for some, not for others) as we would have hoped and will take some development work, which we'll look to do some point next year (depending on finances!)
It definitely remains high on the options list though
the ads are a very good idea .. nowadays anything to earn a few bob is well worthwhile, especially to help pay for the cost of running our terrific site .. ME: ? I am just waiting for the Ann Summers or Bondara Christmas lingerie ads ((:>)
The What? This evening, I'm turning on a long overdue feature that allows members to quickly react in different ways to discussions and comments. You'll see a set of buttons under each comment that can be used to highlight interesting discussions, suppress abusive comments, flag abusive members, and create more nuanced reputation profiles.
The Why? We're always looking to create a better experience for our users, with the aim of making the site more pleasant and productive. There are many scenarios where one might find themselves agreeing with a post but unable to reinforce that with support in the form of a comment. Often, good content is met with a nod of the head, but nothing more and this has an effect on the kinds of comments that flourish within the group. This means that more negative and provocative content has the chance to dominate the mood of the Forum. This new feature will mean that members can give feedback to things they "Like" and find interesting etc. without having to actually verbalise their support when that is not possible or desirable. Likewise, members will be able to "Flag" unacceptable behaviour for the attention of moderators (Important Note: this is not to be used for content you simply don't like or agree with, but is reserved for content that violates the terms of service e.g. abusive behaviour)
There are other elements that will be used in combination with these new reactions in the near future as we begin to develop new ways of managing the community and providing a more pleasant and productive experience.
The How As mentioned, you'll now see the active "reactions" under each comment. It's easy: the "Like" button works just as you'd expect based on use of social media platforms like Facebook. When a user's comment receives support they will be rewarded with CL points. These points will help to feed their reputation score and will help us to generate an engine for surfacing the best content (i.e. content with the most points) as decided by members. You'll be able to scroll through content that has earned support from members in the "Best of" gallery, which is to be found in the control panel to the left. Likewise, members will lose points for being "Warned" by admin or having their content "flagged" beyond a certain threshold of users.
Any questions, just ask!
I know you can just use your phone internet but I was thinking the other day what are the chances of getting a app on the app store for this. And if you could maybe it would help with some of the fees as well
I'm ok with a few ads but if you do start charging to come on the site, please don't make it discretionary. There is a huge amount of value here and I don't think anyone could/should baulk at paying an annual fee. Maybe give lurkers a free week or two and then make them pay too so everyone becomes a member.
If a surplus/profit is generated, good for you - or put it into kit sponsorship, the Upbeats, the museum etc.
cheers Davo, though I'd rather we didn't go to far off topic at this stage. There are few different ways of going about it, none will ever be perfect, we've just got to work out between ourselves what's workable etc
I see the "sponsored" bit but nothing else other than a white band. Is that because I have an adblocker installed?
As people have said to you privately, I reckon you might be pleasantly surprised at what people might be prepared to pay
Hi Prague, yes that's down to your adblocker. You can add a rule to your adblocker settings to allow them on this site, but, of course, that's up to you! ;-)
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think it takes a lot of page views for adverts to generate revenue. However, if the adverts are clicked, that's where extra income is generated. (and it's only a small amount, too!)
One of google's rules is that the google adword account holder cannot tell people to click on their adverts, otherwise the account holder could get their friends to earn them lots of money by just clicking on random ads.
So, rather than ignore them, if I like the look of an ad, I'll click on it.. *hint*
Sorry, what is the "Promote" thingy on my Home page ?
Moderators have the ability to promote 'quality content'. This will then be featured on the Best Of, and the user gets awarded additional points. We'll probably use it sparingly at first to see how it goes.
This is an open forum and its everyone's perogative to use it how they see fit. We as moderators though want to try and achieve two things; 1. promoting quality content, whether in subject and in humour, and providing some recognition to those are providing it, and 2. to reduce bad behaviour etc and try and maintain a polite and well moderated forum.
Hopefully some of these things like the Reactions, will help us achieve that. lets see how it goes. Give it a chance for a few weeks and see how you get on. You don't have to do anything at all, but if you see a post that you resonate with, or you think has been set out well, give it a Like, if you made you laugh, give it a LOL. only takes a second.
Re:advertising, I can see some...er...interesting misunderstandings cropping up and leading to much amusement. Just seen a Lanzarote dive shop pop up on the Tom Daly thread...not quite the right thing but close I suppose.
This may require very careful monitoring of the New Bird on Countdown thread :-)
What's with the advertising? No doubt I have missed something and will be the subject of ridicule but there are three adverts on this thread and personally I find that an unwelcome development ( unless of course it is covering the cost of running this site, which may be fair enough).
Sorry, what is the "Promote" thingy on my Home page ?
Moderators have the ability to promote 'quality content'. This will then be featured on the Best Of, and the user gets awarded additional points. We'll probably use it sparingly at first to see how it goes.
This is an open forum and its everyone's perogative to use it how they see fit. We as moderators though want to try and achieve two things; 1. promoting quality content, whether in subject and in humour, and providing some recognition to those are providing it, and 2. to reduce bad behaviour etc and try and maintain a polite and well moderated forum.
Hopefully some of these things like the Reactions, will help us achieve that. lets see how it goes. Give it a chance for a few weeks and see how you get on. You don't have to do anything at all, but if you see a post that you resonate with, or you think has been set out well, give it a Like, if you made you laugh, give it a LOL. only takes a second.
If you click on your own name as well, it provides a breakdown of likes, promote, lol etc if you click on that number it will then list out those specific comments
Sorry AFKA, but I'm finding the 'sponsored' links really annoying. It's probably because I can't stand marketing at the best of times and that we've never had it on here before.
Would definitely support the running costs of this site to prevent them being here. What sort of response did you get with the survey for helping towards the running costs? Fairly sure you would get a good response from the regular (and not so regular) posters and if we send it all to Lookie, it would be tax free.
Sorry to hear that Addickted. As you say, we've held it off for 7 1/2 yrs but have no choice but to approach differently now.
With the ads, its never good to review positively or negatively after one day. We'll monitor and try a couple of different things over the next few weeks and review properly in the new year. Appreciate your feedback mate.
Comments
I see the "sponsored" bit but nothing else other than a white band. Is that because I have an adblocker installed?
As people have said to you privately, I reckon you might be pleasantly surprised at what people might be prepared to pay
If a surplus/profit is generated, good for you - or put it into kit sponsorship, the Upbeats, the museum etc.
thanks for your feedback guys
However, if the adverts are clicked, that's where extra income is generated.
(and it's only a small amount, too!)
One of google's rules is that the google adword account holder cannot tell people to click on their adverts, otherwise the account holder could get their friends to earn them lots of money by just clicking on random ads.
So, rather than ignore them, if I like the look of an ad, I'll click on it.. *hint*
This is an open forum and its everyone's perogative to use it how they see fit. We as moderators though want to try and achieve two things; 1. promoting quality content, whether in subject and in humour, and providing some recognition to those are providing it, and 2. to reduce bad behaviour etc and try and maintain a polite and well moderated forum.
Hopefully some of these things like the Reactions, will help us achieve that. lets see how it goes. Give it a chance for a few weeks and see how you get on. You don't have to do anything at all, but if you see a post that you resonate with, or you think has been set out well, give it a Like, if you made you laugh, give it a LOL. only takes a second.
This may require very careful monitoring of the New Bird on Countdown thread :-)
Re-read page 2 of this thread BK, should cover everything.
*hopefully we can get a Specsavers ad :-)
Points for what ?
(Can I pass mine onto the club please ?)
Would definitely support the running costs of this site to prevent them being here. What sort of response did you get with the survey for helping towards the running costs? Fairly sure you would get a good response from the regular (and not so regular) posters and if we send it all to Lookie, it would be tax free.
With the ads, its never good to review positively or negatively after one day. We'll monitor and try a couple of different things over the next few weeks and review properly in the new year. Appreciate your feedback mate.