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I want to try an experiment on the site for March 2012

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mouser:
I'd like to try running Ads (google?) on the site for one month, for March 2012 -- just to see what results we get and how it feels.

We last experimented with putting ads on the site in 2007, and then talked about it again in 2010.

From our 2007 experiment I decided I really didn't like it at all.  I am very unlikely to have a different opinion this time, so let me make very clear -- I am not suggesting we have ads on the site permanently -- I just think it would be interesting to see:

* how much income the ads generate.
* what kind of ads come up, and how it makes the site feel.

So what I propose is that:

* I enable ads for exactly one month, the month of March 2012, and then remove them.
* All forum members will be able to turn them off in their profile if they want and so never see them.
* I will publicly report exactly how much revenue they generate so we can all learn something about it.

I consider this an experiment.  Personally I really hate the look of ads on sites, and hate the movement towards everything being free and paid for by ads.  And I dislike the idea of advertising someone else's product that we don't recommend.

But I still think it would be nice to experiment for a month and see if there is anything to be learned from it.

What do you say, can I have permission to try it?

jgpaiva:
I think it's worth the try, and honestly I'm also curious about how much revenue DC can generate in ads.

[this is pretty obvious and I'm sure you have already thought about it:]
I think this experiment cannot assert the effect of ads on the long term, though. DC already has a user-base which was created partially by its donation-only model, and I fear it might be lost or changed to something totally different because of this move.

mouser:
and I fear it might be lost or changed to something totally different because of this move.
--- End quote ---

i as well think that the whole feel of the community could be badly disrupted and tainted if we ever moved to trying to run ads on the site permanently.  i think there is a good chance it would make people feel less like donating, leading to less of a community, and less of a sense of participation, etc.  that is why i do not have any intention of continuing it long term.  i just think it's useful to test it out and see what kind of results it has.

i'm just curious about it -- curious to see if the ads bring in less or more revenue then when we tried it in 2007.  Curious to see if it feels as counter-productive and dirty as it did back then.  Curious to see if it changes our position in search engines or search engine analytics. Curious to see what ads are shown.  Just plain curious!

app103:
Give it a try if you want. I don't have a problem with it.

Do it permanently and I still don't have a problem with it.

But if you are going to do experimenting, I would also encourage you to experiment with Project Wonderful, as well. You will get much more control over what ads get displayed, and you might even feel good about them. And with the traffic this site gets, you will likely have rather good bids. Plus the site will make money even if nobody clicks the ads.  ;)

mouser:
Just want to reiterate something:

More and more I have come to believe in the importance and significance of the idea of users directly funding the products they want.

And more and more I have come to view with frustration, suspicion, and trepidation, the move towards making everything cost free and funded by advertising something else.  I think the distortion this does to everything is harmful.  I think the world is a better place when people contribute directly to fund stuff they like.

So.. trying to fund the site using ads instead of donations is really NOT NOT NOT a direction I want to go.

But I'm not opposed to trying short term experiments to see what it's like.

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