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

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mahesh2k:
We all know that advertisements that fool the user into thinking they are part of the content, are some of the worst in the world...and they can drive people away from the forums and website they are on
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It depends how you are looking at making money off ads. Annoying ads placement are the one that pays the most. Any other position is usually ignored and the point of CPC becomes useless. In case of CPM ads you can place them anywhere and they're going to earn you money. That is not the case with CPC ads. People are adblind and unless you annoy then it's hard to get click. Nobody clicks on ads in footer but they do in top nav and sidebar. You have to place where they get clicks irrespective of what people think or get annoyed. If it's about money, so have to be played with it's rules. CPC is not about what people like, it's about where and how people click.

One more point that there are some discussions in donationcoder where swear words are used in quotes. Adsense usually don't show on pages with swear words. No matter how mild they are, there are cases where people got booted due to excessive use of swear words.

anandcoral:
Mouser, after all the discussion (we may continue), I think you got green light for the experiment. Only thing 50-50 is type and placement of ads.

While the discussion here was going on, I did a little research and found that we (the geeks, if you allow me to say) are more worried or rather know about the type / placement of the ads, but the general users take it as the norm and not exception or do not care about it.

In my office when I pointed out about the ads slowing down the page load or looking annoyed, most gave me surprised look. On saying that I can hide these ads with some scripts, they did not show any enthusiasm. In fact they put me on dock that if their work is hampered, I will be responsible.

Good Lord. I know, I use many scripts and addons and may not even see the ads on DC pages, and these people just plain accept it.

We know html, so we know ad script and placement. They do not know html but know that their site opens and works ONLY in IE6 and they will use it, period. Forget about security and html5.

BTW, I am not going to poke my nose to them again.

Regards,

Anand

mouser:
Anand,

I'm afraid your experience is typical -- most people do not seem to care much if they are bombarded by ads because it has become our normal way of existing.

40hz:
Just something I've learned and would like to share based on my experiences when conducting 'studies' or 'experiments' for my own purposes, or on behalf of clients:

In any experiment, the test subjects go through it for real.


Sometimes there are consequences and lingering issues left in the aftermath, despite informed consent going in, and awareness that "it's only a test" during.

Therefor, to my mind, any experiment involving people, or a community, should be approached with a fair degree of caution. And for a specific reason. Or with a goal in mind.

And...that's about all the input I have to offer on this. :)

That said, I'll be happy to go along with whatever gets decided. :Thmbsup:

TaoPhoenix:
Same here, fair enough. But non-supporting members may see it differently :-)

How about a small refinement: when someone registers (and you must register to post), they initially don't see ads - maybe for a month. A trial period, as it were. After a month (or whatever length of time), they start seeing ads unless they have donated. That way everyone can experience the ad-less site and make their choice.

That leaves out only unregistered visitors, who require a separate decision.

Potential problem with this solution is people complaining that OMG, DonationCoder has gone evil with ads! after they've been registered a month, just because they didn't read the ad policy when registering. That could be alleviated by injecting a short reminder on their login and posting screens, such as "You registered n days ago. In m days, dc will start showing ads on some of the pages you visit. Click here to learn why."
-tranglos (February 17, 2012, 01:19 PM)
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This is interesting. Make it 91 days. Everyone is hooked on "30 days" because it's a round number. But that's not how the psyche really works. Anyone can get enthused about something for about 3 weeks-ish. In the modern "Sign up, post 30 comments, vanish" mentality, they weren't a quality audience anyway. I'm actually fading myself, having spent my initial spurt of energy.

So making it 91 days (To be cute) you leave the newbies with "It was free but I moved on", a nice feeling. Then the regulars start to think "Yeah, I need a few things coded, I better plan a little donation", but it takes a few weeks to really lock that in. I know I'm screwed either side of Rent Week. So then the 30 day timer is too fast. If they make it to 90 days, they're a member, I'm prob getting close; Then they can decide to deal with ads or "get on with it and Donate, at which point the ads go away".

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