Google ads

Stephen

When did they start appearing? Just noticed one now advertising bulletin board software. heh.

regi

We're running a trial of them, to see if they work for us. They're only appearing in certain forums for the time being.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

DeVore

Thats what we are trying out... Dadddy Cloud is at play... I'll be under my bed if anyones looking for me.

DeV.

mickeyboymel

Can a firewall be configured to block these? I use Norton and recently had cause to turn it off for a brief period while browsing here, I did not even know there were ads on this site until then!!

nahdoic

mickeyboymel - Many organisations use a web proxy to access the internet, and that web proxy can be set to automatically filters out ads and other such junk for you.

I don't know if adsense will work for boards.

If you could get google to index your content, and have ads relevant to the content on the page. You'd make a fortune. But I don't think this is possible with vbulletin. Maybe in the new version?

adsense pays very well even if the ads aren't completely targetted to that page but it can pick up and understand the overall theme of your website. But I'm not sure if that would work for boards as there is no central theme.

You don't get paid for the charity ads, if you're seeing a lot of charity ads, it isn't working.

DeVore

We are testing it at the moment. We'll see what happens and we are playing with VB3 too to see how they work with that...

DeV.

Moriarty

Would it be possible to have a very plain interface that google and the like can use to look through running alongside the regular vbulletin stuff? Maybe even make any http requests from *.google.com divert to that interface. Probably a lot of work for little overall return I guess

Terminator

You should also consider putting it on the home page too as this page has the most entry point visitors and the third most exit vistors (according to your stats).

Most people I know have had the best results with the Leaderboard and Skyscraper sizes.

See also webmaster world for 1000s of related tips : http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum89/

Dustaz

jesus, ive never had a problem with ads before now, but those google ads are the UGLIEST things ive ever seen.

They really fcuk up the aesthetic. Minor point maybe but ... eww.

dahamsta

Look'n'Feel can be changed but there's hardly much of a point when they're only playing around with them.

The URLs don't really matter, if anything running the ads will coax Googlebot to spider a bit deeper into Boards.

adam

Redshift

I don't think they're that bad, take a look at somewhere like digital spy they have all these animated ads including one for t-mobile advertising a camera phone not only is it distracting but it makes this stupid fncking camera noise every few seconds:rolleyes:
I do think that when the ads are up and running that subscribers shouldn't see them.

robbie1876

Can a firewall be configured to block these?

Kiero Personal Firewall is your best friend.

Aside from this, I think it's a good move by boards to generate revenue without too much work. It really is a shame that the ads are not more aesthetically pleasing though. For me, they remain turned off as a result.

Robbie

Cloud

Just for you Dustaz, I've customised the Google Ads to each theme. They shouldn't look so out of place now with the rest of the site.

BuffyBot

I'm on the minimalist skin and the ads don't look too bad now with the customisation

I'm not too sure about the Public Service ads asking us to "Help Save Canadian Wildlife" though. They look a bit cack :dunno:

Stephen

I think they're far better than any poxy animated ads.

Rabies

Originally posted by Cloud
Just for you Dustaz, I've customised the Google Ads to each theme. They shouldn't look so out of place now with the rest of the site.

Makes a big difference now. Blends right in with the Cloud skin. Doesn't stand out too much.

Yerac

They look fine to me, have been relevant to different threads I've been on too.

The public service announcements can be configured and I presume while still in "testing", it's something to be done later.

Dustaz

Originally posted by Cloud
Just for you Dustaz, I've customised the Google Ads to each theme. They shouldn't look so out of place now with the rest of the site.

\o/

They look ten times better now

Thanks

GoneShootin

anyway of having the google ads tailored PER FORUM ? So technology would generate differents ads etc etc

DeVore

Originally posted by Dustaz
jesus, ive never had a problem with ads before now, but those google ads are the UGLIEST things ive ever seen.

They really fcuk up the aesthetic. Minor point maybe but ... eww.

LOL... yeah cos some of the home drawn MS-Paint jobs we've had before were art deco.... Clouds sorted it I see anyway.

Originally posted by Gone Shootin
anyway of having the google ads tailored PER FORUM ? So technology would generate differents ads etc etc

I think this requires either google to spider us deeper or for VB3 though I would have hoped it would have tailored the ads based on the thread subject links...

DeV.

regi

It works somewhat in reverse actually.

Page X has an add on it. Google has never even heard of this page before. The first time the page is viewed showing Google's ad, Google sees the URL of our page in their log as a referrer and then sends the spider to that exact URL to it in order to tailor the ad.

This is why if someone viewed this thread with an url of http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=$BIG_STUPID_SESSIONID&threadid=155305 it would appear to google as a totally different page as http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=155305. In fact, we could even be penalised for attempting to have 'multiple' pages with the same content.

SantaHoe

Google is the tool of the devil.
Also I take the don't call us; we'll call you approach to shopping and despise marketing and advertising in all its evil forms.
How about a communist theme where adds are replaced by propeganda posters?

JustHalf

Why is there a session ID in the URL anyway? Aren't cookies used anyway?

Goodshape

I'm with SantaHoe on this one,

I don't think it's in my interest for people to know how best to sell me things.

irishgeo

Firefox is your friend.Not one add in sight.

seamus

Originally posted by JustHalf
Why is there a session ID in the URL anyway? Aren't cookies used anyway?

Afaik, sessions help keep track of things which are only short-term and would be wasteful sticking them in the DB. Stuff like turning the icon grey for threads you've recently read, for example.

I could be wrong though.

(Firefox doesn't seem to show Session IDs in the URL in the Address bar, although that could be to do with my settings rather than Firefox.)

DeVore

Originally posted by irishgeo
Firefox is your friend.Not one add in sight.

Jeez... thanks mate... hate to think I might have gotten a pint out of this.

DeV.

mr_angry

How come Puck gets Karate adverts on his journal? Surely I should get adverts for "drink yourself into a mindless depression" or something?

Goodshape

Dev, if I ever meet you in a pub somewhere, I would gladly buy you a pint. In the meantime I'd prefer not to be coaxed into buying sh1te I don't need.

Thankfully, the ratio of 'good stuff' to 'bad stuff' around here is sufficient to keep me around. Hence the feeling that I might owe you a pint sometime.

DeVore

I just got an ad on my journal for wholesale bones for BBQing... not funny

I dont understand peoples objections to these (if indeed there really is an objection).

1. I just perused the Poker forum (I'm poker nuts right now) and got an "ad" for links to books on Poker... which I'm reading voraciously at the moment. Isnt that better then getting ads for shít you just arent interested in?? When does it stop being an ad and start being something you WANTED to see.... when its in someones post???

2. They dont animate, they dont flash, they are in keeping with the styles... they are a lot better then the other ads we've had before!

3. The admins *might* get a thai dinner out EVERY month from these... jeez we wouldnt know ourselves! I mean, we've waited 5 years for this moment... free food once a month! And you never know, perhaps... with time and patience... TWICE a month... no tom, dont tease yourself, such lofty returns would never be allowed...

Turn them on, turn them off whatever, its not the cash that concerns me, its a pittance, its the "we wouldnt even give you the steam off our piss" attitude that annoys me. Thanks... thanks for nothing.

Tom Murphy.

DeVore

Dev, if I ever meet you in a pub somewhere, I would gladly buy you a pint. In the meantime I'd prefer not to be coaxed into buying sh1te I don't need.

Christ I dont know how you survive modern life mate... I mean, dont turn on a tv, a radio... dont look around when you are out for a drive or walk... dont go on the internet... I hate to break this to you but this place that you find so pleasant, it doesnt run itself you know. I just forked out 1000 notes for a server I couldnt afford so that we could have a test server for JH to test new code for the front page etc. God I'm terrible sorry if a google ad intruded on your enjoyment the site... you might have slipped and accidentally clicked on the link and bashed your credit card number into the box along with your address and bought something.

Or you could just scroll down.

Sorry, I'm not it much a good mood these days.

DeV.

uberwolf

I'll be getting a membership with my first paycheque this summer as my show of support. The google adds, are they slowing down the download? Just they seem to be the last thing loading...



*ok, maybe my second

irishgeo

Originally posted by DeVore
Jeez... thanks mate... hate to think I might have gotten a pint out of this.

DeV.

I dont object to ads and i bet the money from ads for a year wont buy a pint. But when i am surfing on 56k line i dont want it slowed down by ads which i wont be clicking on.

I gladly donate you the price of a pint or two for the admins as i never make it to the Boards beer.

I know ads pay for site costs but if it came to the worst and boards went a paid site id glady fork out the money then. if the subscriber package came with a few more features (i.e No ads and other features like competitions with prizes donated from perhaps the commerical people, or other friends of boards and other features which i might use, id buy it.)

seamus

Originally posted by irishgeo
I dont object to ads and i bet the money from ads for a year wont buy a pint. But when i am surfing on 56k line i dont want it slowed down by ads which i wont be clicking on.

I've never noticed any speed problems with boards, ads on or otherwise. The Google ads are all text, and so are literally only a couple of hundred bytes in size, unnoticeable given the size of the whole page. Other ads were what? 5Kb at most?

Either you view an unobstrusive, barely noticeable ad or you don't. Either way you have a gap 468x60 in the top right hand corner, and the page loads just as fast...

mr_angry

Originally posted by DeVore
I just got an ad on my journal for wholesale bones for BBQing... not funny

On the contrary, add some innuendo, and it is very funny!



:eek:

SantaHoe

I propose a new guilt-trip forum.
tbh

irishgeo

Originally posted by seamus
I've never noticed any speed problems with boards, ads on or otherwise. The Google ads are all text, and so are literally only a couple of hundred bytes in size, unnoticeable given the size of the whole page. Other ads were what? 5Kb at most?

Either you view an unobstrusive, barely noticeable ad or you don't. Either way you have a gap 468x60 in the top right hand corner, and the page loads just as fast...

what is it gang up on irishgeo day!

seamus

Originally posted by irishgeo
what is it gang up on irishgeo day!

Heh, that wasn't aimed at you personally, just anyone who blocks ads from boards

irishgeo

ok no problem but i never click on ads on any site so why should i display something i dont use.

Thats all i dont mind supporting boards and ill gladly donate some money to keep it running, alot more than what ever thye would make on ads i mgith have clicked on. they dont get money for displaying ads.

ozt9vdujny3srf

Originally posted by DeVore
I just forked out 1000 notes for a server I couldnt afford so that we could have a test server for JH to test new code for the front page etc..

This is a wee bit OT but will the new front pa ge ne accompanied by vb3 or are they completely seperate projects?

The ads themselves are very unobtrusive especially since cloud blended them into the themes,and as has already been mentioned, if anything the google ads are much better then the old ones. Not only do they have a much higher chance of advertising something you are even vaguely interested in, they aren't flashy or animated.

Lets hope Dev and co. gets a few trips to the chipper .

(on a side note, can we call the new server dictatorship.boards.ie / oppress.boards.ie or fightthepower.boards.ie?)

SantaHoe

Originally posted by Stephen
I think they're far better than any poxy animated ads.

Bring back Punch the monkey imho.

BuffyBot

I can't beleive anyone is objecting to these ads. If they help support the site, even if only by buying the admins some free Thai food [and thus keeping them both alive and in good humour ] then it's worth it People just don't know when they have it good.

ecksor

Originally posted by Truckle
This is a wee bit OT but will the new front pa ge ne accompanied by vb3 or are they completely seperate projects?

Separate. We just need graphics for the other one, and probably a bit of simple coding to compensate for some re-arrangements since it was coded up.

(on a side note, can we call the new server dictatorship.boards.ie / oppress.boards.ie or fightthepower.boards.ie?)

It's actually the old webserver, troll.boards.ie

dahamsta

Originally posted by irishgeo
ok no problem but i never click on ads on any site so why should i display something i dont use.

Never thought of it that way. With regular ads it doesn't make a difference, but of course you get nothing for three in a bed with Google ads. For clicks I mean, sorry, I went all Jim Bowen there for a second.

I used to block ads on Boards up until recently[1] because of the bloody JS menus, but I have the menus blocked separately now so the ads load[2]. But I can't see myself ever clicking on one. I hardly see them, and when I do there's never anything of interest there. And of course we can't click to support Boards, because they'll just get their account pulled.

If there was credit card ordering - or even Paypal - for the subscriptions I'd prolly lash a few quid in though[3]. I guess that's coming with the upgrade to vB3?

adam

[1] TBH I used to block them when I was on dialup too, because I valued my bandwidth. I realise the hypocrisy of this, but I was skint. *shrug*
[2] Netgear users, block the word "mil0nic" to kill the menus. With an 'o' instead of the '0'.
[3] Lazy too.

dahamsta

LOL, when I went to post that I got the big nasty Netgear warning page because I used the word "mil0nic". Now you all know how to stop me reading your posts.

adam

Vader

Not that my opinion counts but....

anything that helps keep the site up is great and sure if the admins get some free Thai out of it what harm.

There no more annoying than the previous ads.

DeVore

Like I said, I'm a bit grumpy at the moment, try not sleep a full night for 4 weeks, constant background pain and crutches to put you in a bad mood.

I think in the future we will tie a credit card process into the subscirbers thing and probably take ads off the subscribers pages. We have 10K active people on this, if each of them gave us 10 euro a year we could employ 2-3 people to make the site even better.

I just get annoyed when people treat me like the enemy, like I'm trying to screw them for cash when all I've wanted to do is see where this rollercoaster can go if we work together on it.

I dunno.. call me a hippy but can you point at many other sites where there isnt a commercial interest behind it pushing their wares or trying to make money for their shareholders... penny arcade is the only one that springs to mind (god bless them!)

Personally I love the google ads, its like a little google "Feeling Lucky" spin every time I open a page.

DeV.

robbie1876

Is it as simple as this: boards get money everytime one of us clicks on an ad, whether we browse the targetted site or not? If that is the case, I have no problem clicking on the ads to support boards. If not, I won't!

ecksor

Originally posted by robbie1876
Is it as simple as this: boards get money everytime one of us clicks on an ad, whether we browse the targetted site or not? If that is the case, I have no problem clicking on the ads to support boards. If not, I won't!

I appreciate the sentiment, but I think people should click on the ads if they find them interesting. Clicking ads over and over purely to help us out is kinda fraudulent and could prompt google to disown us. We certainly don't promote or condone that behaviour!

JustHalf

Originally posted by DeVore
I just forked out 1000 notes for a server I couldnt afford so that we could have a test server for JH to test new code for the front page etc.

Thanks for the pressure there Tom