Kind of wanted to bump this topic for a couple of reasons.
I didn't really look at this thread last year when this all happened, but as for blacklisting those big download button ads and such, they can all be blacklisted pretty simply through the Google control panel.
On another note, a better way to moderate what ads would be available on the website, is to not use such operators as Google. Instead, one could simply be more selective by having an internal Ad Panel, where members could pay $X for Y Impressions/Clicks for their banners. These ad accounts would be setup through DC itself and moderated by the DC Gods. You can also then choose how, where, and when these ads appear.
As an example of the above, this is how I would see that happening:
1. A user visits DC for the first time and would see (instead of an ad), a little banner saying something like "Advertise on our website"
2. They then click-through to see what is involved, and they notice that they can choose literal sections for where they are shown, or be allowed to be shown anywhere on the website.
3. They may also see that because the ads shown on DC are very selective and must go through an internal approval process before being shown, they know that their legitimate ads won't be shown against unscrupulous advertisers.
Those 3 steps alone would be a big selling point for most companies.
If you then offered promotions for people to advertise their offerings, such as "Place a link to us on your website and earn $X in impressions" and such things, then this would also improve DCs backlink quality, which obvious improves things such as Page Ranking.
You could give Supporting Members the option to disable ads on their account so they will never be shown, which would then give people more of a reason to donate to get that tag on their account, which would then mean that those who don't want ads, have already donated to the site, so their possible ad revenue from clicking things, would no longer be something to worry about.
Seeing as DC already has an internal currency system, I don't think doing something like this would be too difficult to do as advertisers could use DonationCredits to purchase Advertising Impressions/Clicks around the site...and unlike other advertisers...they don't have to purchase a specific amount of credit...instead they could simply deposit $100 for DonationCredits, and if they don't feel the ads are doing very well after $30 of spending, then they can withdraw the remainder...donate it to other developers....or donate to other people on the website.
