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476

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 27, 2007, 10:08 AM »

Oops. Fixed...

477

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 27, 2007, 09:22 AM »

What do you call those intervals between TV programming that tout products and services?   

-cranioscopical (December 26, 2007, 11:40 PM)

Apples and oranges.

Just because a website shows ads, imo, doesn't make it a commercial website - Google Ads is just not the same as seeking out corporate sponsors.  Its just now how it works in the web world.  Ads are not seen as selling out, or turning commercial, or in most cases making a profit, they are more widely accepted as part of a website offering suggestions for website that may interest you based on what you are viewing.

Commercial websites are not a black-white thing.

Also, something we should clear up.  I never said DC should run ads to make a profit.  My mention of Ads was so DC would have more capital to put back into growing DC, running contests, supporting development projects and 100's of more things that take capital to do.

I'm pretty confident in saying that if DC had more capital more exciting and new things would be done.  DC's bottleneck (not saying there is a bottleneck but it gets the idea across) is not drive, vision or commitment, its capital.

(no worries about the discussions.  I have no issue with someone else having an opinion opposite of mine)

478

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommendations Destroying Storage Media??

« Last post by Veign on December 27, 2007, 09:02 AM »

For CD destruction I recommend the MailMate Shredder (handles CD's):
http://www.staples.c...ey=StaplesZipCodeAdd

I have had this shredder for a while and it works great.  Unopened junk mail, cd's, papers with staples in it - handles it all.

479

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use a light or a dark background in your editor for programming?

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 07:13 PM »

You should have an Other option: my color is r183 / g190 / b41

How do you like that color?

(by the way, I'm colorblind)

480

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 06:49 PM »

Oh, and sometime I may come across as critical but I am really not.  I am opinionated, but open...

481

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 06:46 PM »

Really quick - I am not trying to persuade and have always respected your views and the way you run DC.  So, I appreciate the explanation of things - this is what makes DC so different is that we see the inner workings of mouser's brain when it comes to DC and its roadmap.

One option that may work and fit into DC is have Ads go after a goal.  Basically you leave ads turned on only long enough to reach a goal.  Like $1000/month to cover server costs and admin costs.  This lets you run ads in a way that it becomes another donating member.  Google changed their TOS so you can talk about how much you make.  You could have a page and say how much is brought in from Ads and where the Ad money is going.  Overage money goes towards the contests and other events you hold where everybody gets something.

I think the future of DC has to be growth beyond the forums and into establishing the DontaionCoder philosophy.  Think of it like Open Source.  Open Source is a concept and philosophy.

Maybe, someday DC could raise enough to buy DonationWare.com and really start pushing the concept into mainstream.

482

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 06:06 PM »

I go by the numbers I see with my Adsense account and how many impressions produces how many clicks.  I monitor my Adsense account to know what domain is doing what and what happens when certain changes to ads are made.  Also, based on the traffic, members, quantity of posts and some general philosophies of ad placement and look, I think DC could do well with the ads.

I respect the views and position Mouser has taken but have always felt that things could be a bit easier for him with the Ads (probably less man hours in managing that over other methods).

The thing I really never understood is why some of the DC members are so dead set against the ads.  I vaguely remember one member saying if the ads were placed on DC they would no longer visit or be a member.  Why?  What am I missing?   I bet you can't visit 10 websites without seeing ads.  If ads are so bad then do you not use Google, which displays their own ads?  What about the top blogs that had been posted here.  I bet you they all have ads and 95% of them have Google Ads.

483

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 05:29 PM »

Far enough about Ads but I will keep trying as I think the revenue from Ads could greatly benefit the DC community 

484

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 05:17 PM »

Actually thinking about #2 - I would also not classify that as making anything commercial.  If you look at the sheer volume of websites posting Google Ads and the classifications and philosophies behind the websites, I'm not sure I could classify a website posting Google Ads as being (or becoming) commercial.

I just don't see it that way and will have to respectively disagree 

485

Living Room / Re: Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 05:08 PM »

Not sure how #1 does that.  Its just a way to expand what we know about the members.  Kinda like how Gothic was mentioned in the newsletter.  Probably a lot more members that are skilled in different areas and it would be nice to know in what way.

486

Living Room / Ideas to make DC even better

« Last post by Veign on December 26, 2007, 03:42 PM »

I had a couple ideas on how to make DC even better and though I would share them and get feedback

1)  Create a Work/Consultant Profile section for members.  This special profile section will contain information like: Company name, Status (if its your own company or you are working for someone else), skill set (not a listing of what you can do but a listing of what you are considered highly qualified in, URLs to sample work, hourly rate range, willing to sign an NDA/non-compete, location and general comments.  These are the things that I look for when spec'ing someone out for work.

What really brought this to light was the mention of Gothic going out on his own.  Knowing that he is highly skilled as a Linux Server Admin means I can use him (and have) if I have a client looking for a server admin.  I found out after I turned down some work earlier in the year and it would have been nice to know.

The hardest part would be a special search feature where someone could locate a member based on the special profile section.

Just a thought and it would be nice to 'keep it in the family'

2) Google Ads and ad sharing revenue.  It seems like a touchy subject on DC but I think DC could greatly benefit from non-intrusive Google ads on the forum.  Placing ads inline with posts are common in forums and help to offset the costs.  Since DC's membership and post counts are up, it may be the time to give them a try again.

How to make the DC members happy about having the Ads?  Let members add their Google Adsense account ID into their profile.  When ads are disiplayed pull a member's id into the ad (do this on a 75/25 split with DC's id showing 75% of the time).  What this does is earn revenue for DC and for its members.  win win...

Of course there has to be some logic that will never use the ID of a member who's viewing the post.  This ensures that a member could never click an Ad with their ID which is against the Adsense TOS and could get them kicked from Adsense.


Just a couple thoughts....

487

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommendations Destroying Storage Media??

« Last post by Veign on December 23, 2007, 03:32 PM »

Might want to check out this post of mine:
http://www.veign.com...stroy-your-hard.html

(I used the first one on a laptop before giving it away)

Another one:
http://www.veign.com...rd-drvie-before.html

488

Living Room / Re: 100,000 users!

« Last post by Veign on December 15, 2007, 09:38 PM »

Congrats to mouser and the DC community.

489

Living Room / Re: Western Themed Arcade Game...What Is It???

« Last post by Veign on December 10, 2007, 09:17 PM »

I saw that, thanx!
(I responded) 

490

Living Room / Re: Western Themed Arcade Game...What Is It???

« Last post by Veign on December 10, 2007, 08:54 PM »

There are so many interesting threads on this forum its hard to keep up, or remember.

491

Living Room / Re: Western Themed Arcade Game...What Is It???

« Last post by Veign on December 10, 2007, 07:17 PM »

If you guys are thinking of games you played when you were younger I would love it if you left comments in a recent blog post of mine:
http://www.veign.com...ed-my-childhood.html

Would be fun to hear about what games you played the most.

492

N.A.N.Y. 2008 / Re: The N.A.N.Y. Programming Challenge for 2008

« Last post by Veign on December 08, 2007, 08:40 PM »

veign -- shame on you for not writing one! i hope you reconsider.

-mouser (December 08, 2007, 08:11 PM)

   Time is just not on my side this time.

493

N.A.N.Y. 2008 / Re: The N.A.N.Y. Programming Challenge for 2008

« Last post by Veign on December 06, 2007, 05:11 PM »

Wish I had time this year.  Its such a cool idea and, IIRC, last years contest was written up in several places so applications got some good exposure.

494

Living Room / Re: The State the Art of 3D Printers

« Last post by Veign on December 06, 2007, 05:05 PM »

I used to do 3D modeling designing industrial fans.  This was all done in 3D and was such a cool job while I did it.  I got a demo of a 3D printer and was able to get a 3D color model (looks like an FEA analysis) of a turbine blade. Pretty amazing for rapid prototyping...

495

Developer's Corner / Re: Nice Blog Essay and Site for Freelancers: 10 Absolute "Nos!" for Freelancers

« Last post by Veign on November 25, 2007, 04:50 PM »

Its something I am on the fence about.  One part of me says share it and another part says clients (or competitors) really shouldn't know what goes into the costing of a project.

I'll give this some serious thought and maybe I could write in a way that helps other freelances without giving away my secrets.

496

General Software Discussion / Re: Find and replace from text file? Or similar?

« Last post by Veign on November 25, 2007, 04:45 PM »

My Seeker application can be driven by a command line and search/replace's can be stored in a file.  So you can recall a file to perform a common search and replace.

Seeker:
http://www.veign.com...cation.php?appid=104

497

Developer's Corner / Re: Nice Blog Essay and Site for Freelancers: 10 Absolute "Nos!" for Freelancers

« Last post by Veign on November 24, 2007, 09:24 PM »

I still evaluate clients who can't, or won't, pay my going rate at how important could this client be for me and my company's image - since I do web development and a lot of my projects are tagged with Veign sometimes a highly visible client could be of benefit to me.

This benefit factor is actually used in the initial calculations of a projects cost.  The more benefit the lower the cost.  A zero benefit client doesn't affect the final cost in anyway, meaning it won't raise the cost.

Maybe I should do a blog post oneday that discuss how to determine the cost of a project.  For me there are a lot of factors beyond my hourly rate.

498

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Get Camtasia Studio v3 for free

« Last post by Veign on November 21, 2007, 04:52 PM »

PS mouser's screencasting review gave two enthusiastic thumbs up to Camtasia 2.

-Darwin (November 21, 2007, 04:33 PM)

and we're one better than that with v3

I have been using SnagIt for years and recently started checking out Camtasia Studio.  Great products and a great company to deal with.

499

General Software Discussion / Re: Programmer Wanted for Project

« Last post by Veign on November 21, 2007, 02:57 PM »

The Word doc format may run you into problems.  The server would need Word installed to be able to use the Word API to look inside to get an accurate word count

Mmmmmmaybe, maybe not.  Third party tools exist that parse, manipulate, and display Word documents without needing Office.  The TX Text component is one I've used with great success, for instance.  But it ain't cheap.

-Ralf Maximus (November 21, 2007, 12:25 PM)

I need to check this out.  I have never seen anything that works on a Linix server for Word documents.

500

General Software Discussion / Re: Programmer Wanted for Project

« Last post by Veign on November 21, 2007, 12:17 PM »

Couple of quick things:
1) You may want to post a budget you have in mind for this project.
2) The Word doc format may run you into problems.  The server would need Word installed to be able to use the Word API to look inside to get an accurate word count - this means a Windows server and you probably won't be able to use a shared server.  May want to put a restriction on the format to just TXT or provide a copy/paste textarea on the website where the user submits the document through that (not sure how big the documents you would be dealing with)
3) Are all words counted or are there stop words (words excluded from count).

The rest is pretty trivial with PHP: from the upload, text document parser, PayPal integration and email/reporting.