I just applied to have Google ads put on Massassi. I am doing this because I am paying out of pocket for the server and I can think of a zillion things I'd rather spend that money on Plus it would be nice to get something extra. I have no idea how much they pay or how much I will get. I think they will make me sign an agreement stating that I don't disclose how much money I make.

Since we moved to the new server, I have been collecting statistics on our traffic and I was surprised to see that we are still doing almost half a million (500,000) page views per month.

Now, I just wanted to talk about this ahead of time because in the past people have thought they could help us out by clicking the banners a lot. In fact, I would like for you to NOT click the banners unless you are genuinely interested in what the ads are selling. Otherwise, it drives down the value of clicks and thus revenue for everyone running the ads. Also, they can turn off our ads account if they suspect fraud. So please, feel free to click the ads when they come up if you are genuinely interested, but otherwise just ignore them.

Google ads are great, most of the time. Definitely less intrusive than the Adhearus ads on WPYO. Herpes treatment anyone? :p

I have to agree: Google ads are a plus on a site, not a negative. Especially forums, as the topic of a thread is directly related to the ads, thus I am more than likelly going to click if so inclined. Say I click on Cazor's MP3 Player thread and see a great deal for an MP3 Player? That's a nice feature, you ask me.

JediKirby

Are we going to be able to get a matching color scheme instead of that god-awful white against the dark background?

Yeah they let you set your colors.

Nice!

Good. Bright colors cause cancer.

Hehe I have adblock set up to block google ads already... BRING EM ON

LEECHER!

I do too, but I do it site-by-site :p

I'd be all for it if you add them in.

. . . and for once i agree with kirby . . .


/me is confused

If this feels ackward, pretend I'm a catholic priest.

[/S51]

I think Google ads are a good idea. Let's have 'em.

Did I ever mention that you guys rock?

I love google ads. They're always so relevant, and non-intrusive.

no... no you didn't.

Me too.

Yeah, it's a good move Brian. I hope that it helps you out financially.

There they are, I'm still thinking about removing the top one. What do you guys think?

I just noticed them. Me likey.

...

Well it'd be nothing all too new, now would it?


It doesn't bother me to be honest. Popups, WOULD bother me though.

I don't like the color scheme... they're too bright. Maybe something a bit darker?

And I seriously hate it when people disable advertisements, especially when it's something as inobstrusive as a google ad. How do you think websites are operated? Hosting isn't free.

Leechers.

Edit: Also, I don't really like their position on the page... maybe they'd be better at the very top?

I would much prefer them to be on the top/bottom of the page, rather than in between things like they are now.

For example the top one, right now, is between the Massassi Forums banner and the start of the forums, while I'd prefer it be above the banner itself. Also the bottom one is between the end of the Thread list and the helpful "jump to forum" scrolling tool.

B&

I totally don't see anything.

I keep getting ads for star wars costumes.

And I think the colors should be the exact same as the forum's color scheme, so they aren't an eyesore.

Re: Ad Blocking

I don't care, go ahead if that floats your boat. Seriously. The thing is, if you don't like ads, you will never click the ads. Therefore, why bother looking at them?

Because a truly great ad will inspire a click from even the most die-hard of all ad-haters.

Good stuff. They aren't really a problem, IMO.

I still don't see any.

i say lets turn the rest of this thread into a "steer the google ads with our posts thread"

so the other day i was playing Crimson Skies on Xbox Live and i decided i wanted some pizza... so i called Pizza Hut and ordered a small meat lovers and a Mountain Dew... of course the sound of me eating made other people playing Crimson Skies on Xbox Live hungry so they all called various pizza places including Papa John's and Dominos... on guy got the new Dominos Cheeseburger Pizza and a 2 liter of Wild Cherry Pepsi... i told him Mountain Dew is better than Wild Cherry Pepsi but he said he has 8 cases of Mountain Dew and wanted something different... we then got bored with Crimson Skies and agreed to play Halo 2 together

I agree about the top one, but the bottom one doesn't bother me as much.

Should be interesting to see what the Google ads bring up in threads on the ISB

You might wish to advertise this point more just to make sure. Maybe on the register thread, DS's Forum FAQ & rules thread, and whereever else might be convinient.

Speaking of, are you still intending to intergrate some sort of donation page or the like for us random Massassians to contribute to in keeping the site up? Such a thing and the Google ads would probably be an efficient combination to keep you from having to pay for Massassi with your own money, or at least a significant portion of it.

Yeah. These Google ads are really no problem. And I even agree with those who said they can be actually interesting.

Let's hope they will help you a little.

Google ads are the only ones I don't block. The graphic ads are the annoying ones.

Exactly the same here. Google ads are fine by me

Google ads are fine, but pop-ups and the big flashing banners with sound I'm against.

I like the fact that they seem to have some relevancy to the current thread. Good idea.

eh, cool.. But any way you can make the white background black? (or at least green)