CPCWiki forum

Hello guys,

I'd like your opinion on this issue.

About a year and a half ago we run a very successful funding 'campaign' which saw us raising money to cover the server's costs for a year (and then some). For the past half year or so the money have run out, though (damn, it tends to do that).

So I was thinking, what if, instead of doing another campaign and relying on a handful who would donate some money, we added some ads to the forum?

Yes, I know what you're thinking, but hear me out here.

I dislike ads as much as the next guy, but the way I see it it would be really discreet and non-intrusive. We're talking of course about Google Ads, and probably a single row of them underneath the main toolbar, to be shown only on index pages.

Of course we would need to click on them every now and then, and it wouldn't bring in lots of money, but probably a good chunk of operating costs. I also propose, like with our Paypal donations, a transparency scheme - I'd share all the Google statements with you.

Maybe it won't work (technical issues to be considered with Google, or lack of interest), and of course users would have to exclude the Wiki forum from their Ad blocker, but what do you think? Should we try it, or absolutely not?

Cheers
T

PS we'd have to work out a scheme for donors, too - whether they should see ads or not, for what period etc.

Last year, the funding reached something like 150%. (I don't remember exactly, but it was realy more that needed)
Why, those funds don't look to be reported to 2013? May be a reson why peoples don't give money this year? I missed something?
How about the investigations for a cheaper solutions?
Is, Ads will really cover those fees?

I prefer to donate the keep the wiki costs covered, rather than have ads.


I'm not sure they will raise enough money, and I'm tired of ads everywhere.


In fact, we are now 50€ nearer to the 2013 goal.  ;)

Let me answer with a picture:

(http://genophoria.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg)

Personally, I'd rather donate than see ads as I find they get in the way and slow page loading down.

I didn't realise it was a year and a half ago since the last campaign... it doesn't even feel like a year so I hadn't even thought about donating again yet, but checking back that was 14 months ago so I'm certainly happy to do so. Although less keen if we're about to get adverts anyway... ;)

Maybe if the donations page had dates when the server bill was due that'd help with getting people to donating at the required time... "Year 2013 goal" seems like we're on target with about 30% donated after 3 1/2 months of the year. Obviously, if the server bill is imminent then that's not enough to cover your costs.

Right, some interesting points, thanks for the feedback (and keep it coming!) :)

@Tot0: the figures on the Donation page don't tell the entire truth. Total costs for one year is €624, which is about as much as we gathered, actually. I had set €500 as a goal because I figured we'd never hit 100% anyway, so I'd cover the rest myself. We (well, *I* :D ) bought a couple of paid mods for the forum too.
-Also, billing contract beging on October or November (I don't remember exactly), with monthly instalments of €52. So basically I'd say that yes, for this year donations have covered 3 out of 4 or 5 months already (and I thank you, personally and all, so much! I've added you to the Supporters group :) ).
-Yes, there are cheaper solutions. But upon close examination (SLAs and such), not *that* much cheaper, and I quite dread the migration, so I prefered to shoulder some of the cost myself. It will be done at some point in the not-so-far future, though.
-Ads will not cover the fees 100%, as I said, but I guess they'll cover *some* of it.

@Rob: again, thank you so much. I really appreciate it, as I did before, and I never take donations for granted (just got myself a nice expensive cheese with that 50). As I said, there's the possibility of removing ads for donors, so you wouldn't see anything.

@MaV: lol, I'll PM you my address :D

@ralferoo: see @Rob above, you wouldn't see them if you donated. I kinda find it a bit unjust for just a few people to donate for something that benefits hundreds of persons... And, maybe you're right about the dates, but who looks at the donations page anyway? Also see comment for @Tot0 above regarding 2013 coverage :) . Btw, I don't think pages would slow down loading, they're mere HTML snippets.

Let me repeat that this is just a thought for now and, depending on feedback we'd obviously enter a trial phase and see how it went and what problems it'd cause. I'd prefer to pay the whole thing myself than impose something nobody wants! The ads are an alternative to the donations scheme, not something for me to make money from.


Thanks again for the feedback, keep it coming!


Cheers
T

I wasn't a member for the last fundrasing, but would be happy to donate this time round.

Neither was I, and so would I! ...if I have any money by then :/

Like I imagine most people feel, I'd prefer, in an ideal world, to keep ads away from the site and run on donations. However, I acknowledge that it might not be as easy as that.

Maybe push the fundraiser forward and see if you can get enough to keep the site going for the rest of the year. :P Or buying cheese.

@IanS: it would be greatly appreciated, but also I don't want to impose. If you decide to, click on Donations in the top toolbar (third from the right) and you'll see the options. You have the option to do it publicly (which is good for transparency reasons) or privately (in which case your name and donation will not be automatically announced, but I can add an anonymous entry manually).


@db6128: no worries mate :) But yes, I see that my post had the effect of bringing some new donations, which may push the issue down the road, but I feel it's still there.

Dammit, couldn't you wait a few more days? I killed a lot of brain cells over the Paddy's Day bank holiday weekend and not quite coherent enough to read all this! Here, have a tenner! Whatever I put down

Advertisments? How much would that bring?

Can we put a FutureOS logo in the forum (just to bother pentagon) and I pay some money for it? How much would it be?

@beaker: so, the more I type the more donations I'll get? This should bring in some serious monies: http://pastebin.com/JVMZrXUr (http://pastebin.com/JVMZrXUr) (added you to the supporter list, thanks!!! :) )


@TFM: It wouldn't bring much, maybe a few tens of euros per month, but it'd go a long way towards paying for the thing. As for the logo, this is possible, but what if Pentagon pays more and places a bigger banner or something? :D (also: thanks so much. I know I've said 'every little helps' but we're now 65% towards the annual cost!!! Woo-hoo! Added you to the Supporter group, too :) )

A thought....  How would you feel if cpcwiki displayed ads from donors?

Quote from: mr_lou on 21:13, 19 March 13
A thought....  How would you feel if cpcwiki displayed ads from donors?

Technically, it's possible. But it'd still be an ad, and opinion so far seems to be against it, so I'm not sure. But this gives food for thought - we could have a Donors section to promote sites/products or something?

If you don't remember, for 30€/month : Dedibox Classic + - Online.net (http://www.online.net/fr/serveur-dedie/dedibox-classic)

You get a dedicated server with:

Quote
CPU: 1x Xeon quad core @2.66GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR3
HDD: 2x 1TB SATA2 7K2
Datacenter: Redondant power supply bay
Connection: 1Gb/s
Bandwidth: 100Mb/s
Trafic: Unlimited
...

It's the half of the current cost.

...and that's why we'll be switching sooner rather than later; the current box was cheap enough when we got it, but now it looks definitely non-competitive compared to other packages.


Though, the 100Mbps is not that high I think; if you see the bandwidth the wiki consumes, and the peaks it gives, you'll be amazed... But thanks for the reminder, I'm keeping it in my list :)

Oh well... maybe such a SymbOS logo would be even more beautiful, with that dragon and so...

Back to topic... No seriously, no need for my logo there, but if a couple of small ads (here and there) would bring 10-20 bucks a month, this would be cool! I wouldn't mind. And sure I would klick them! With the diabolic plan not to buy :laugh: (.... oh it's so flashy, maybe I should buy *hehehe*)

Supposedly Google checks for such behavior where users are encouraged to click but do not follow through with any transaction. But, as I said, maybe at this size we could go unseen... (mwahahahaha!)

Quote from: Gryzor on 21:30, 19 March 13Though, the 100Mbps is not that high I think; if you see the bandwidth the wiki consumes, and the peaks it gives, you'll be amazed... But thanks for the reminder, I'm keeping it in my list :)

If pics are connections, you get 1Gbps here... Then, the 100Mbps are warranted.
This provider is Iliad, a major Internet provider in France (also know as FREE).
So, the backbones are probably enough to support the "cpc community". :p

May be an effort can be done to optimize the page content to reduce the bandwidth too, if you think that we consumes so much... Sincerely, I'm surprised...

Quote from: Gryzor on 20:49, 19 March 13
If you decide to, click on Donations in the top toolbar (third from the right) and you'll see the options.

I only see "Logout"  after "Donations" (so it's second from right), which option am I missing?

I'm surprised, too, every time I look at the stats; we tend to focus on the community and our use, but the site gets a ton of traffic from lurkers or plain visitors, and that's the greatest part of it. I'm not saying that 100mbps is not enough, really, merely that it may be a limitation.


I've done as much optimisation as I could on the server; short of going plain-text (not many solutions in-between :D ), things are as good as they can get (ok, a couple of things still need doing, like some caching stuff, but this touches other things so it has to be studied beforehand).


Btw, the one you suggested does look cool indeed, I'm wondering if they speak any english at their support; I know french (hey, l' Academie Francaise is where I met my wife! :D ), but not as well as english, especially when it comes down to technical talk.

Quote from: IanS on 21:52, 19 March 13
I only see "Logout"  after "Donations" (so it's second from right), which option am I missing?

Oops, sorry, you're right :D The other option is something I was experimenting with, not open to the public. So yeah, second fro right :)

[Edit] ooh, and thanks, man!!!

French peoples speaking english?
Probably like a spanish cow... XD

I'll take that as I no, then? :D :D

Quote from: Gryzor on 21:58, 19 March 13
I'll take that as I no, then? :D :D

I can ask.
The support is by email or by phone. (not overtaxed calls)

You may try to translate this page:
Niveaux de service - Online.net (http://www.online.net/fr/serveur-dedie/niveaux-de-service)

Oh, that'd be great if you did - no pressure, whenever; if you happen to talk to them some day just ask them casually.


Yes, I've seen the support options, good enough!

Hehe, turns out that we're above target already. :D :D

Quote from: MaV on 23:08, 19 March 13
Hehe, turns out that we're above target already. :D :D

Hahaha... You sold some painting restoration!  ;D

Don't you think it was better if the money can be used for 2 years instead of one? ;)

Quote from: TotO on 23:19, 19 March 13
Hahaha... You sold some painting restoration!  ;D

That never even ocurred to me, but I can try. ;)

Quote
Don't you think it was better if the money can be used for 2 years instead of one? ;)

Well, I promised to donate last year, but couldn't back then. And then I forgot about it, so I tried to make up for it now.

Quote from: Gryzor on 17:41, 19 March 13
Btw, I don't think pages would slow down loading, they're mere HTML snippets.

I am often faced with a blank page and a little message box in the lower left corner that reads "waiting for adserver" (or whatever it's called), it usually adds about 3-10 seconds to the page loading time.  >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( .

A monthly reminder in the news line (where you currently publicise the 16kb rom competition), could keep donations rolling in, and if it doesn't then the mere threat of adverts should do the trick. :D

Could you add a little explanation of the balance shown at the bottom of the donations page please, it currently shows a balance of 905 euros?

Ads don't bother me, they are everywhere these days anyway ... trains, elevators, in the sky, embedded into skype...


If you think it will help the cause, then why not?

It's annoyed me to no end the commercialisation rubbish which is on the Internet eating up my Download which is costing me $50 for 4Gb for 30 days and there are updates on top of that along with video rubbish which always slows my connection down.  >:(


What I cannot figure out is why they don't have commercial rubbish at Gambling venues, so you put you money in a Poker Machine:


(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Pokie_machine_in_New_Zealand.jpg)


press a button, and up comes a big whopping advert you have to watch for 30 seconds before you get to see what the machine will roll & hopefully the money can go into the commercials that way (as well as pay for the lighting bill.) :D

@MaV: yup, we are! Woo-hoo! Who'd have thought...

@Tot0: of course. As I said, we'll be moving sooner rather than later. I've never done a migration under Linux using images (no way I'm installing/setting up everything from scratch again), and I need to see what this entails...

@Steve: you see that message with google ads? Strange, never seen it myself. And googling the error doesn't bring anything up... I think Google Ads are loaded last, so the rest of the page has already appeared when they are fetched.
Also, where do you see that balance? I don't see it? :D

@Border_7: well, true, they're everywhere, but this doesn't mean they're that nice :) Just a good way to provide for the site.

@AMSDOS: ouch, man, that's one huge image!

Border_7 and MaV, thanks so much for your donations, I have added you to the supporters group. Have a great day! :)

---

Now, I really want to thank you all. A year and a half ago, when we run the first campaign I did not in my wildest dreams hope we'd cover the amount, and so fast. This time I tried to find a way to spread the cost and so I just put an idea forward, and instead, money started pouring in!

I'm really touched, and grateful. I was discussing this with my girl last night, and she said (referring to the Cyprus scare) "well, we may perish, but the wiki will live on!". Such a fantastic thing. A few days ago a fellow member sent me something for free (not the first time...) and when I asked to pay he said, in effect, "I've taken so much from this community, I don't mind giving back". And that's the spirit there is, really, people giving again and again, in various forms. I'm humbled.

Thanks again, guys...

---

The ads have obviously no reason to be implemented now, but I still think the idea is valid and fair. So keep the feedback coming in, so that we can revisit it in a year or so!
T

---

If pages loading take times, we can add rasters borders with tape loading sound, to fake that...  :P

Hahaha that'd be fantastic... in fact we could probably do that now, if we touched the theme... :D

As I was donating, I noticed that we'd already hit the target but in a way that's not really fair as Gryzor noted. It's great that people want to donate as much as they do, but potentially seeing such big donations might put people off from donating a small amount. We'd easily be at the same target if all the regulars donated just €5 or €10 each rather than just a handful doing big donations.

I noticed the personal "site balance" after donating... as a thought, maybe we could "charge" €0.25 or similar of "site balance" for classified ads. This is small enough that it shouldn't put anybody out but it means there'd be an extra incentive to donate a small amount. Maybe have the first few adverts free so it's only regular advertisers. Maybe this wouldn't even get close to raising enough money to be worth implementing.

Or maybe adverts for non-subscribers might be the way to go, I'm not sure... but there has been a lot of coverage recently (at least in the gaming blogs) about Destructoid which is the latest to be struggling for revenue now that the majority of visitors use adblockers, e.g. http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PatrickMiller/20130309/188188/Adblock_and_Destructoid.php (http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PatrickMiller/20130309/188188/Adblock_and_Destructoid.php)

[EDIT: I meant to add... They've actually had quite a good response from users when they asked people to turn ads back on for their site, but they've also had a lot of users saying it's all or nothing with their software so they can't...]

		Registry - Income & Expenditure
Item	Number	Total
PayPal IPN	36	905.94
Net Balance		905.94

Quote from: Gryzor on 08:55, 20 March 13

@Steve: you see that message with google ads?

Next time I see it I will post about it.

Strange, never seen it myself. And googling the error doesn't bring anything up... I think Google Ads are loaded last, so the rest of the page has already appeared when they are fetched.
Also, where do you see that balance? I don't see it? :D

It is at the bottom of the donations page.

---

Quote from: ralferoo on 10:20, 20 March 13
As I was donating, I noticed that we'd already hit the target but in a way that's not really fair as Gryzor noted. It's great that people want to donate as much as they do, but potentially seeing such big donations might put people off from donating a small amount. We'd easily be at the same target if all the regulars donated just €5 or €10 each rather than just a handful doing big donations.

I see your point; last time I saw the target was reached so didn't bother donating as it seemed a waste of time at the time. May be the whole thing should be anonymous so no one feels pressured and people give what they are comfortable with?

@ralferoo: yes, I know what you mean; when you see someone donating, say, €100 and you want/can donate a fiver there's the possibility of rethinking it. But, I don't think we'd 'easily be at the same target' - a dozen or 15 people donated now, if it was hard-set at €5, would a hundred donate? Ads are also not that many as to cover the donated sum... assuming you meant ads as they're posted in the forum. If you mean asomething else, please elaborate :)

I thought about using Flattr (though I'm not sure yet how it works or how to incorporate it to the forum) and doing micro-payments. Any thoughts?

Interesting article, about Destructoid. I thought about ad blockers myself, but I thought, we're a close-knit community, surely some members would allow them ads? But yes, it's one of the concerns that we'd hve to try it out and see.

@steve: I still don't see it! :D :D Can you post a screenshot? That's mysterious for sure... yes, I see such a balance in the admin area, and I have no idea what it means. I just did a reconciliation and the net Balance skyrocketed to 1585 euros, so I'm pretty certain it doesn't quite work :D More like €1100 since we started accepting donations.

@beaker (this applies to above comments as well): the point of having the donation registry is to provide as much transparency as possible. People may choose not to announce their donations, as per option, but I still will register them and show them publicly under "anonymous". It seems people do trust me not to take the money and run, so I'm trying to provide as much info as possible... I think removing this would cause more issues than it'd solve. But I'm open to ideas!

I see it too. http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=treasury (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=treasury) :

Quote

		Registry - Income & Expenditure
Item	Number	Total
PayPal IPN	52	1585.41
Net Balance		1585.41

Quote from: Gryzor on 16:38, 20 March 13
@ralferoo: yes, I know what you mean; when you see someone donating, say, €100 and you want/can donate a fiver there's the possibility of rethinking it. But, I don't think we'd 'easily be at the same target' - a dozen or 15 people donated now, if it was hard-set at €5, would a hundred donate? Ads are also not that many as to cover the donated sum... assuming you meant ads as they're posted in the forum. If you mean asomething else, please elaborate :)

Yeah, the classified thing was just an idea, but I said in my own post there probably aren't enough to make it pay for itself. And it probably would put people off who hadn't yet joined the forum from making the effort to post.

Anyway, back to the money... :) Certainly at €10, I'd have thought we'd manage get 50 donations as it feels like we have more active users than that. Of course, I might well be wrong too. It was more that now we're over the year target, there's less reason for others to donate now. My point was just if more people donated a little bit, we wouldn't necessarily need the bigger donations too. Of course, there's no reason why the budget needs to be limited to €500... we can start saving so that we have a year's fees in advance, use extra money for prizes to run more things like the ROM game competition, etc...

Thanks for all the feedback :)


The "Net Balance" probably appears only for normal users, as an admin I see it in a separate area... makes sense (if it worked, but anyway).


Any money over the required amount does go towards the next year or for extras, like mods etc (Downloads, Notifications, Likes...). Of course we could start a sort of fund - say, for the occasional rare ROM that needs to be dumped or, indeed, for the competition (actually there was a call for donations but nobody stepped forward :D ). It's not like I pocket any excess funds ;)


As you said we're set for now, when the money runs out (a long time if we switch servers) maybe we can experiment with fixed, low amounts. If it costs €360 then yes, we can probably cover it that way!

Glad to help out Gryzor!

Hey 7th Border... I'm curious... what's about your avatar? What's the name of the game? Looks interesting.

Quote from: TFM on 17:16, 21 March 13
Hey 7th Border... I'm curious... what's about your avatar? What's the name of the game? Looks interesting.

Sorry I missed your question. My very belated answer: The avatar? Well...let me explain. It's my first game I got / played on the Amstrad and has a special place in my heart. Gryzor's too I believe:


Into Oblivion - CPCWiki (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Into_Oblivion)


:D

Oh yeah baby.


Some day I must sit down and make a map for it.

Yeah I keep thinking the same.... It is too bad (as far as I know) I.O was only released on the Amstrad - so no C64/Speccy users out there could have made maps / offered hints.


I guess it is up to us.

I have actually forgotten even what to do in the game :D But I remember spending many a happy hour just blasting those stupid aliens away.


Maybe after I've finished testing all the ST games on my MiST board I'll give it a try in Winape (guess it's the best way to do the map?)

Quote from: Gryzor on 17:55, 29 September 13
Oh yeah baby.


Some day I must sit down and make a map for it.

Try the JavaCPC Map-Generator, seems to be pretty well done.

Quote from: Gryzor on 08:13, 30 September 13
I have actually forgotten even what to do in the game :D But I remember spending many a happy hour just blasting those stupid aliens away.


Maybe after I've finished testing all the ST games on my MiST board I'll give it a try in Winape (guess it's the best way to do the map?)

I reckon is will require some dedication - 2500 screens! But - if you are using winape, you can save your position - which mean others can continue or attempt to get further... plus we can cheat with infinite lives - which will help too.


Correction to earlier post: Into Oblivion was released on the Spectrum (But I can't find any useful info on it though) and there was a C64 version BUT it was a different game entirely (IO: Into Oblivion 1988).

Great idea! Just tried it for the first time, looks really useful... What's the max grid it supports?

Quote from: Gryzor on 10:19, 01 October 13
Great idea! Just tried it for the first time, looks really useful... What's the max grid it supports?

Depends on memory used.
(No, not the CPC memory)

JavaCPC Map Maker resizes a single PNG image to needed size.
If the PNG gets too large, you surely can run out of Java heap space...
For all games, I tested, I had no problems yet...

Perhaps Cauldron 1 would cause problems, when mapping the world...

Interesting... well, this one is 2.500 screens big (damn!), so I guess it might be a problem?

Hm, just remembered it's got teleporters. This causes a problem - how do you map that? Teleporters lead to 42 different planets. One grid for each?

PS Anyone knows what the 'Safe Planet' looks like?

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:25, 01 October 13
PS Anyone knows what the 'Safe Planet' looks like?

It wouldn't be SAFE anymore if we told you! :)

Bryce.

But I need to take my Psyche units there :(

Hey, where's the chat?  :o

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:25, 01 October 13
Hm, just remembered it's got teleporters. This causes a problem - how do you map that? Teleporters lead to 42 different planets. One grid for each?

PS Anyone knows what the 'Safe Planet' looks like?

That's what makes it so darn difficult, the transporters. Plus there are multiple spaceships that take you to different planets. So you can end up back on the same planet but it can look a bit different (i.e you are on a different part of a planet that you have visited already - so it feels like you are going backwards but you aren't). This seems to be where a lot of special objects and psyche is found. So all the times I've played with renewed enthusiasm - after a few hours and getting lost you sort of end up fatigued and frustrated.

oh and I know we are way off topic on the original thread now...

Somewhere I've got a saved snapshot file (.sna) of me getting quite far - i.e over 50% of the psyche and I think I managed to visit 40 or so planets - I even wrote down all the names of them... I reckon 250 screens would have been plenty though  ;) . Where is Stephen Curtis now? He's left this thorn in my side that I can't get rid of.

and what do you know, found the planet list (no particular order)


SAFRIK
SECRA
KLYVICK
HICKJRY
NONTERRA
QUORRZ
HUWVENLY
RESFGER
JINK
ASASZK
YURIOP
STAVEL
DERWINY
IUOPLY
UHGUHG
GOODLZ
SANZA
COMSANRY
COLTURY
CENTURE
CONTACZ
AKREY
BZINDIVE
ATTENZR
WAYZRE
ELTHAMT
STOUTIGE
CHEYLESIX
WICZWIRE
PALACKRY
MONOLARK
SCAPERZ
ALCLSON
DOMERRI
TRESSERIP
PENTONZ
OLPIUYR
GRAPOS 1
GRAPOS 2
GRAPOS 3
THIRSIK 1
NORAL

#43 SAFE PLANET???

Is Grapos a Greek Word Gryz?

Have just skimmed this post so sorry if I repeat anything which has already been covered.

One idea is if you could register as a non-profit making charity then ebay sellers could donate a percentage of their sales on any given item to the Wiki via the sell for charity section in ebay listings. This way it is possible for a seller to give either a small percentage or the full value of the sale dependant on the percentage they choose. Sellers can feel like they are putting back into the community if they donate there surplus games/systems this way.

Another thought/question was,.... what sort of representation does the Wiki have at any of the retro events which are held annually. I am sure that this could serve the purpose two-fold by firstly raising the profile of the wiki, gaining more supporters, and potentially raising funds to run the site. I haven't been to any of the events myself as yet so forgive me if this has already been covered. Being someone who makes my living from retro gaming ( :o  please don't hate me) I have decide that I must now start to get involved in some of these events and I am happy to look into it as something for the Wiki too if it proves a popular idea

Another thought - if there are any programmers out there who want to write games but are happy with the credit rather than looking to make money, then perhaps we could use this software, publish it properly and donate the proceeds to this noble cause

That's what I do currently. And the "noble cause" is to pay 3" discs, tapes, posters and packaging  ;)

Quote from: TFM on 18:37, 02 October 13
That's what I do currently. And the "noble cause" is to pay 3" discs, tapes, posters and packaging  ;)

And hopefully we'll have Plus carts sorted for you too :D

Thanks to you there is a good chance. And they will be sold also for costs of production.[nb]However I think selling some 'special edition' very expensive at ebay and using the money to finance the other carts, so the regular one will get even cheaper.[/nb]

How about if each was sold on the Wiki with an extra £2-3 on the price of each game and this extra be used to help towards the Wiki running costs. This is a great incentive to buyers to support both the Wiki and FS in one fowl swoop

Of course ebay Limited Editions is always an option as well ;)

Good idea too :)


When thinking how much money some carts did make on ebay [nb]remember the CHQ II[/nb], it could also help.


A Wiki-limited edition that includes a donation for the CPCWiki is also an idea.

@Border_7: no, not all words ending in "os" are Greek :D


@BluesBrothers: well, not sure but I think eBay would have pretty strict standards for accepting charities. Not that easy to set one up! Good idea though!


As for retro events, well, the fact that I'm located in Greece with not much opportunity to travel for pleasure :( But even if we did have a presence, how would we go about monetizing it? Unfortunately CPC games do not sell to the tune of funding the wiki, either. Selling "special editions" would be an good idea indeed, but since most devs have their own sites and costs to cover I doubt it'd be a significant solution...


But, thanks for the great ideas, they're really appreciated!

Quote from: Gryzor on 16:49, 24 October 13
But, thanks for the great ideas, they're really appreciated!

Why does it cost so much to host the site...?

Is it storage size or bandwidth required?

Quote from: Gryzor on 16:49, 24 October 13
@BluesBrothers: well, not sure but I think eBay would have pretty strict standards for accepting charities. Not that easy to set one up! Good idea though!

Yes, I had thought this would not be simple but possible worth a look as you never know.

Quote from: Gryzor on 16:49, 24 October 13
As for retro events, well, the fact that I'm located in Greece with not much opportunity to travel for pleasure :( But even if we did have a presence, how would we go about monetizing it? Unfortunately CPC games do not sell to the tune of funding the wiki, either. Selling "special editions" would be an good idea indeed, but since most devs have their own sites and costs to cover I doubt it'd be a significant solution...

I do know of a site who has some representation at shows and sells and receives donated goods at these events. one event is unlikely to bring in a years running costs but it could contribute a healthy amount to the coffers and has been proven to do so for others. Obviously being in Greece makes this an issue for you personally to do this but it could be possible to get some UK Wiki members involved perhaps. I guess you could to check opinion and see if it is a viable option. Some may particularly like this since it could be seen as an opportunity to meet up.

I myself would be happy to donate some stock to the cause

Quote from: Gryzor on 16:49, 24 October 13
But, thanks for the great ideas, they're really appreciated!

Always happy to let the ideas engine flow and let you guys decide if any of them have merit :D

@Redbox: bandwidth and storage - we are about 60GB by now :D


@Bluesbrothers: others had recommended opening an online store with customised merchandise. This would be nice indeed, but I wonder if it'd make that much of a difference - how many would opt for merchandise instead of donating? Of course that would be fairer - taking in small amounts from lots (?) of people instead of large sums from a few members. Just thinking out loud here.

Quote from: Gryzor on 18:16, 24 October 13
@Bluesbrothers: others had recommended opening an online store with customised merchandise. This would be nice indeed, but I wonder if it'd make that much of a difference - how many would opt for merchandise instead of donating? Of course that would be fairer - taking in small amounts from lots (?) of people instead of large sums from a few members. Just thinking out loud here.

Yeah, the way I figure it is it's gonna be more or less the same usual suspects each year putting their hands in their pockets but many more people enjoy the use of the site. I for one would love to chuck some cash your way but lets face it times are hard and feeding the family has to come first. I can however give up some time or some surplus CPC related items to the cause. I suspect others are in the same position and if it were handled correctly there are ways more people could feel they were contributing.

Quote from: Gryzor on 18:16, 24 October 13
@Redbox: bandwidth and storage - we are about 60GB by now :D

I've got memory sticks that are bigger than that! Admittedly they don't have a highspeed internet connection though, or their own IP address :(

Bryce.

Please let me know when you design such a flash that also upgrades my crappy 1Mb uplink line :D


[ot]Love my 64GB Sandisk USB3 drive...[/ot]

In the Amiga forum that i visit, EAB (http://eab.abime.net), it has been introduced google ads in a not intrusive (down in the page after all the thread posts) and voluntary way, because that practically everybody has accepted, the thread about it, it's this (http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=70555). But the rules are:
---
Welcome to EAB Supporter team !
You have joined the EAB Supporter team (http://eab.abime.net/images/smilies/cool.gif)

What will happened now ?

   
• You should see one banner advertisement displayed at the top of the forum navigation or below any thread display.
• This banner is non-intrusive, it won't slow down your navigation thanks to asynchronous loading.
• If you don't see it, you have to disable your adblock extension for eab.abime.net

Should I click on ads ?

   
• 80% of the advertisements displayed will give money to EAB only if you click on them.
• However, multiple click will ban us from the advertisement network.
• My recommandation is to perform one daily click at maximum, click only on interesting advertisement.
• Try to not click twice on the same ad, and prefer the thread banner instead of the home one.

What about donation ?

   
• You can also support EAB by making one paypal donation
• Any custom amount of euros can be given.

A big thanks for your support, I appreciate it !
---

That is all, very reasonable and i feel that we should have it in the CPCWiki with similar rules, one click/day is enough and knowing is going to help to CPCWiki, i feel it can not hurt and help a lot.

What do you think? :)

Hello SyX, thanks for the nice input.


That's what I was thinking, too. I thought about Google Ads because they're the least intrusive. There are other ad schemes we could implement (rotator banners etc) but I thinkg Google Ads would introduce the least noise by far. Also, placement in the forum is quite versatile - we could fill the forum with ads, or place it only in a couple of specific positions.


That said, look at the poll above - only one in four said they'd click on them, which is very unfortunate. Ad to that the fact that a user would have to turn off their ad blocker... The opt-in option at EAB is surely nice, but of course it needs a volume that maybe EAB has and we don't.


Well, maybe we could just test it?


As an aside, I have been testing a newer host with lower cost for a while now, and, while I loved it, a month back it was well and truly hacked. so I grew weary :(

I wanted to say here, because they are working really well in EAB. They are much less little intrusive that everybody thinks, for example in EAB, there is only one ad in the main page (before the shoutbox) and in each thread only one between the "Quick Reply! and "Similar Topics".

And for the user, the only suggestion is disable the Adblock only for this site (click in the Adblock button and click in disable for cpcwiki) and the day that he enters in the forum, he clicks only in ONE of the ads that appears inside of a thread (not the main page).

Only one click/day, no more, and he can simply click with the middle button to open in other tab and when the icon in the tab signals the page has been loaded, they can close that page without even see the publicity there. And doing that task, you are helping the CPCWiki :)

Quote from: Gryzor on 10:44, 28 October 13Well, maybe we could just test it?

YES!!! :)

As someone who has had problems with Google over AdSense in the past (I had to take them to court when they cancelled my account thanks to a prolonged clickbot attack on my YouTube channel from someone who didn't like what I'd said), I can say this for certain:


If Google finds out you're recommending people click on ads, even if you're saying "only click on one", they will cancel your account, keep any money accrued, and ban you from signing up again.


Google ads are great revenue sources, especially for high-traffic sites, but they will kick your arse to the curb at the slightest provocation, so don't make any reference to clicking on ads if you want to stay on their good side.

Oh, I know. I've worked Adsense extensively (though from the other side, as an advertiser), so there'lll be none of the "please click to keep us alive!" crap. But thanks for bringing it up :)


I've now set the thing up forum-wise, the code is in place and I've submitted an application to Google, when they get back we'll see... :)

Of course, and every advice is welcome. I'm not in "crying mode", neither trying to make an "ad scam"... only trying to explain how easy and painless can be to help a little to the CPCWiki :)

So can I completly avoid to have adds shown on the forum pages, either in front of threads or below?
And how to do that... Because I don't like commercials at all beeing shown! Also I think it's going on a slippery slope having commercials, first they are introduced in a no intrusive way.. And then suddenly there are commercials all over the place!!


Regards,
CPCLER


PS. On EAB advertisment is not limited to the top but also found on the right!? (Approximatly 25-30% of the screen i occupied by ads when the page is opened!)

Quote from: SyX on 15:58, 28 October 13
I wanted to say here, because they are working really well in EAB. They are much less little intrusive that everybody thinks, for example in EAB, there is only one ad in the main page (before the shoutbox) and in each thread only one between the "Quick Reply! and "Similar Topics".

And for the user, the only suggestion is disable the Adblock only for this site (click in the Adblock button and click in disable for cpcwiki) and the day that he enters in the forum, he clicks only in ONE of the ads that appears inside of a thread (not the main page).

Only one click/day, no more, and he can simply click with the middle button to open in other tab and when the icon in the tab signals the page has been loaded, they can close that page without even see the publicity there. And doing that task, you are helping the CPCWiki :)
YES!!! :)

If that blank post is a trial, and the reason why the forum is currently taking around a minute to load each page, then it has failed.

Bryce.

Quote from: CPCLER on 12:27, 29 October 13
PS. On EAB advertisment is not limited to the top but also found on the right!? (Approximatly 25-30% of the screen i occupied by ads when the page is opened!)

I haven't never found that, only top in main and down in thread, any link??? :)

There are a couple of placeholders, yes, but no blank posts. And since those placeholders do not appear on every page then it hasn't failed :p You doomsayer! (and they don't poll any comment anyway).


Yes, there are a few inconsistent performance issues since yesterday, nothing to do with ads.

Well, as you can see, I have implemented ads in the forum. Expect a full update in a couple of days - let's see how it goes.


Oh, and thanks for the support!

I just want to criticize it too much but:

- The vote says "no" (when it would be right done, there are 19 no, 13 neutral and 11 pro votes)
- Do you really think, that you can earn enough money by these ads? What, if nobody clicks them?
- More javascript here in the code than before...
- If you put ads in here, couldn't them be more theme related? (Computer stuff, hardware ads) I don't need any rheumatism pillow, crochet blankets or gratis v-backups.

Why, thanks so much for your positivity! Much appreciated


-The vote actually says 'yes', but it's only a guide anyway.
-Who knows. That's the purpose of TESTING, man.
-Wow, a single small js on Google's servers running on the home page. Wow.
-I'm actually looking into that. I hate all those Latvian Brides ads...

Quote from: Gryzor on 18:29, 31 October 13
-I'm actually looking into that. I hate all those Latvian Brides ads...

Latvian Brides? Where?  :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

For me answer #2 says "yes you can do that, I dont care, because I don't click them" = neutral

In Latvia, I would take it :D

(btw, if we accept that Google is actually tracking us and targetting relevant ads, I'd say... naughty naughty :D :D)

Could they at least include a few Latvian bride pictures with a CPC in the background? :D Or playing with a Joystick ;)

Bryce.

Quote from: Bryce on 21:27, 31 October 13
Could they at least include a few Latvian bride pictures with a CPC in the background? :D Or playing with a Joystick ;)

When you have enough money, they maybe play with your... ehem... joystick :D

Your head is filled with filth! I really meant a joystick ;)

Bryce.

I see... You mean like this?

I've clicked on it 20 times, but nothing happens :D

Bryce.

Bad luck then for you...
For me it works ;)

And no, it's no empty spoiler!

I am pleased to report that the adblocker I installed to watch youtube videos also works with this site as I cannot see any ads, not even spaces where the ads used to be. 8) :laugh:

@Bryce: Unfortunately (?) since I've only allowed text ads and not display (banner/image) ads, the best you could see would be descriptions like "Latvian brides jiggling their JY-2s!" or, "Asian Brides and their analogue joysticks!" (always kinky, those Asians).


Strangely, the only category Adsense lets me block is... "Birth control". Seriously. That's my only choice! So, I don't know, maybe it's related - "get a foreign bride, but be careful-or not". But I can still block them by URL.


@Steve: sure, ad blockers hide the whole element. I had blocked ads in my hosts file, bulletproof! But, I was going to probably implement something so that donors wouldn't see them anyway.

Hi There
Well it's not to bad with that tiny add..
But I agree with Devilmarkus I understand the pool result the same way!!

Nah, absolutely not (No)
 
Why not, but I wouldn't click on them (Neutral)

Sure, and I'll click on them too, every now and then. (Yes)

Why have a pool if not to respect the result!

/CPCLER

Quote from: Devilmarkus on 18:21, 31 October 13
I just want to criticize it too much but:

- The vote says "no" (when it would be right done, there are 19 no, 13 neutral and 11 pro votes)
- Do you really think, that you can earn enough money by these ads? What, if nobody clicks them?
- More javascript here in the code than before...
- If you put ads in here, couldn't them be more theme related? (Computer stuff, hardware ads) I don't need any rheumatism pillow, crochet blankets or gratis v-backups.

Well, the middle option is not actually that neutral, I see it as positive. The reason I put it as an option was to judge the response to the ad presence in terms of revenue.


As I said, the poll it of an advisory nature, not as an election process over the issue; the main reasoning behind it being, someone who doesn't like ads can always disable them. Heck, there's even the possibility of adding users to an opt-out group :)

Oh, and yes, I'm trying to make them ads as small and unobtrusive as possible. You may notice different placements and types of ads as I'm experimenting, but the thing is, I don't like them much myself either, so they have to be small.

Great work Gryzor!!! I have disabled adblock for the forum already and i sincerily i hope that it can be a little help to the maintain of CPCWiki ;)

Of course, I will be good disabling the ads for the fantastic people has donated to the forum :)

Thanks mate :)


Yes, as I said and will explain in detail I plan to disable them for donors... Let's see how it goes for a couple of days and then I'll give you all a report :)

Quote from: SyX on 11:46, 01 November 13
Of course, I will be good disabling the ads for the fantastic people has donated to the forum :)

That's an idea I'd appreciate.

Eh... didn't you read my post from the previous page?

Perhaps I replied, while you replied?  8)

And we clicked simulteanously on "Post" ;)

I had no message that there was a new reply...

No, look a few posts back. But never mind...

I feel like I'm missing out because I don't get the Latvian Brides adverts. I get "free business cards" and "Get started with Google AdSense", plus the occasional advert for Mormonism.  ???

Mormonism? Lol...


Well, for me it appears that it started serving more targeted ads pretty quick, and I'm getting mobile- and computer-related stuff...

How many of us are mormons then?

No idea, do they use CPCs?

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 17:20, 02 November 13
I feel like I'm missing out because I don't get the Latvian Brides adverts. I get "free business cards" and "Get started with Google AdSense", plus the occasional advert for Mormonism.  ???

Quote from: Gryzor on 17:22, 02 November 13
Mormonism? Lol...


Well, for me it appears that it started serving more targeted ads pretty quick, and I'm getting mobile- and computer-related stuff...

Quote from: steve on 04:17, 03 November 13
How many of us are mormons then?

Quote from: Gryzor on 10:17, 03 November 13
No idea, do they use CPCs?

Well, you said we were getting targetted ads, (targetted at mormons), so we must have some mormons amongst us or else google would not target the ads at mormons, but how does google know which of us are mormons? ;D and does that mean that Zoe is a mormon? ;D

Well, Google is supposed to target those ads from both the forum content and each individual's interests. Obviously, it fails at doing it 100%.


On the other hand, those Mormons are surely wasting their money by targeting out site... go figure. Hopefully it will settle, but in the meantime you can actually report the ad URLs to me and I can block those ads, or you can mute them yourself!

btw, Google says:

QuoteWe may show you ads based on many factors, including:

The DoubleClick cookie on your browser
The contents of the website you're viewing, if it's part of the Display Network or a Google partner site
The types of websites you visit, if they're part of the Display Network or a Google partner site
Whether you've previously interacted with any of Google's ads or ad-type features
Your Google profile
We don't do the following:

Link your name or personally identifiable information to your DoubleClick cookie without your consent
Associate your DoubleClick cookie with sensitive topics like race, religion, sexual orientation, or health without your consent

Moving discussion here: ANNOUNCEMENT - Server move, Google Ads (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/cpcwiki-discussion/announcement-server-move-google-ads) :)

Quote from: steve on 21:49, 03 November 13
 

Well, you said we were getting targetted ads, (targetted at mormons), so we must have some mormons amongst us or else google would not target the ads at mormons, but how does google know which of us are mormons? ;D and does that mean that Zoe is a mormon? ;D

No, I'm a Wiccan. It's probably as a result of me hanging around TVTropes a lot, which was targeted by Mormonism and Scientology at different times.

Hm, this is interesting indeed, targeting-wise I mean. You can always mute the ad, or PM me with the URL and I'll add it to the blacklist from my account (I'm really not very partial to having relegion-themed ads...).


On another note, does Crowley say anything about what to do with slow db connections? :D (j/k)

Quote from: Gryzor on 21:47, 05 November 13
On another note, does Crowley say anything about what to do with slow db connections? :D (j/k)

I think they were a little after his time. :)

T

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 22:13, 05 November 13

I think they were a little after his time. :)

True, but then again I think this issue goes against the grain of Cosmic Will, so... :D

Have the adverts earned any money yet?
If they have I would turn off my adblocker to help the site.

I would be interested in that too. Can one really earn money that way? And how much (order or magnitude) could it be?  :)

Hello Steve, TMF,


Glad you brought this topic up.


Got to say, I'm disappointed :( November netted us €31.72. December fell to €10.84. And January, has an estimate of... €2.43.


So it's not working. But I got to ask: why? This is by far the easiest way for people to support the site. Are the ads too much? Are they intrusive or annoying? As I said, I think it's the fairest way by far to support the site, instead of relying on people's huge (in comparison) donations of €10, €20 or €50 at a time...


@Steve: I appreciate your asking. Turning off the ad blocker doesn't do much by itself, since the ads are the pay-per-click kind (maybe you knew that, just playing it safe here).


Let me know what you think people :)
T

Well I just wanted to say that while my site is on Angelfire which is Free and I'm not expecting people to click on the Advertising, my site still seems to be up and running, though perhaps because it's so small, it's not troubling too many servers on account of that, though I don't think anyone would have been clicking on the ads.

For me it's easier to donate 50 bucks per year and have no ads on the forum, simple as that.


Btw, how are things looking this year?

Well, if you can afford it sure, naturally. Supporters shouldn't see any ads anyway...


What do you mean about this year? :)

I mean how much is needed to cover this year's costs  ;D

Ah. I thought I had explained it in this thread, it's probably somewhere else. I think it's either €300 or €420, covering both the main and the backup server. I'm having a black out right now so I'll have to check if it's €25 or €35/month :D

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:05, 14 January 14

@Steve: I appreciate your asking. Turning off the ad blocker doesn't do much by itself, since the ads are the pay-per-click kind (maybe you knew that, just playing it safe here).

Let me know what you think people :)
T

:laugh: :laugh: Yes, I knew that, but I would have to turn off my adblocker to see the adverts before I could click on them, but if, as a supporter,  I won't see the ads, there seems little point in turning off the adblocker, and I am sure my few clicks won't push up the earnings much.

Heh :D Thanks for the offer anyway :)

I expect most people have adblockers and don't even see the adverts.
I was looking at EAB the other day and in several places there was a message saying " Advertisement (no adblock please)" we could have that here, and maybe a banner asking people to click on one ad each visit.

Quote from: Gryzor on 10:54, 14 January 14
Well, if you can afford it sure, naturally. Supporters shouldn't see any ads anyway...

I do see them. So something maybe not working.


EDIT: I clicked at them like hell today! Let's see if it helps.

@Steve: Let me see if I can modify the code to do that... though not sure. You see, I respect people wanting to use an ad blocker. Doing this would mean that even with an ad blocked there'd be some clutter left; though I think I've kept it to the very minimum and it's barely noticeable. When I introduced the ads I sent a system-wide email explaining the whys and hows, and I'd guess that would be enough for those wanting to support the site!


@TFM: thanks, mate :D However, clicking on Google ads more than once won't do much, Google's system is clever enough to see you're just trying to game it ;)   Oh! And yeah, maybe I didn't disable ads for supporters during the test period, will have to check :)


Yesterday, btw, we gathered €4, no doubt because I resurrected this thread. Imagine, just one fourth of that every day could carry the site through...

Ok Lance, let's go for it  :D  Guess if I click at different advertisements it will count it at least once for every company, we'll see how it goes!  :)

No :) Google *knows* when you're clicking on ads just to click on ads. Once per day is enough, and that's why I said it's so easy...


Btw, I remembered why I didn't disable ads for supporters: because during testing I needed to be able to see them :D

Why don't you have a dedicated trade section where people who deal with Amstrad and other retro can advertise/show their wares but they have to pay a small fee for the privilege. Normal private classifieds will still remain the same. At least the ads will then be of some interest to the Wiki users and retro traders will also benefit and I think if handled correctly extra traffic could be generated for the site in the process.

As long as there are other forums where the commercial traders can deal, they're not going to sign up to trade here too. Also, the same discussion / arguments that Amibay has would also happen here: When is a trader commercial and when is it just a private seller with lots of stuff to sell?

Bryce.

Ok, I clicked Google ads now several times every day. Does enough money come in?

Quote from: TFM on 18:35, 29 January 14
Ok, I clicked Google ads now several times every day. Does enough money come in?

Oh yes, thank you very much. Thanks to you, and contrary to what I EXPLICITLY said about NOT DOING this, our Adsense account is now suspended. Again: thank you very much.

I've appealed the suspension, but I have no idea whether they'll reinstate the account. If they don't, and I guess it's their right to, we'll lose all the money accrued up to now, and we won't be able to place any more ads.

Quote from: Gryzor on 17:53, 30 January 14

Oh yes, thank you very much. Thanks to you, and contrary to what I EXPLICITLY said about NOT DOING this, our Adsense account is now suspended. Again: thank you very much.

That's crap. I can access 7 computers here, so if I click at an ad once every day at every computer, how could this be bad. If it got suspended, then you better find out why instead of blaming me.


But the best is obviously to get rid of it, because to me it looks like THEY screw you.

No they didn't screw me... they can easily see someone clicking from several computers close by. And they can see one computer clicking on it every day.


That's why I said, just click once every now and then if you fancy something, don't click purposefully...

Don't blame me for it. How much people do visit this page every day? 500?

It's well known that google take click fraud seriously. They sell advertising at a high price because they are well targeted to the demographic of the page they're served on and so a click is usually from a potential customer. Someone who deliberately clicks on the banner every day is costing their customer money unnecessarily and making google's conversion stats look which is bad for their business. Oh, and google obviously have to pay out for non-genuine clicks.

Gryzor made it quite clear he didn't want people clicking beyond what they'd click on because they were genuinely interested. As a user base, we need to respect those wishes as it's his reputation on the line when someone engages in click fraud. And now we've all seen the consequences of that. I guess we'll have to go back to donations to keep the website running then...

Also, you do realise that google is incredibly good at analytics and data mining? Chances are they already know exactly which computers you use if you've ever used any accounts in common on any sites that they provide analytics for. And even if they don't, it's surprisingly easily to uniquely identify an individual browser even when it's operating in "stealth mode", see for instance Schneier on Security: Tracking your Browser Without Cookies (https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/01/tracking_your_b.html)

@TFM: who knows, maybe it was someone else as well. But it was definitely you, too. About 600 people per day, but the ad clicks were very few. Noble motives, sure, but we got the rap for it.


@ralferoo: thanks mate. Thanks for that link, too, gonna read it with my morning coffee. I can only hope the account is reinstated after I explained to them what happened, who knows, maybe some good will on their part...

Ok, so I click at the adds once per day and per computer. And this is already too much? So how often can you click? Once a week?

Simple: once every time you see something that interests you. Don't you realise that it's sooo easy for Google to see 7 computers next to each other click once every day on the ads? Plus, believe me, those clicks don't bring in money in the first place.

I would of thought that by not clicking on the adverts, it would of serve well as punishment. Not that I've ever seen an advert that appeals.

I thought that if you wanted to hit AdChoices hard, you could do a screen dump of their advertisement and start pasting fake adverts everywhere for example.

Now, the question: What's her eyes colours?

Frankly who cares :P and I'll live without the t-shirt to

hers at least ;D

Frankly, no idea either as to the colour of her eyes or what you mean by mentioning AdChoices :D

Her eyes appear to be a similar shade of blue to her shorts.

Adchoices are the people that power the Advertising, that at least was what I saw on the ads when they were here, and the Image I Posted (above) with the little Blue Triangle on the top right side. I think it would really irritate them if images of their commercials were posted as images, just as I had done it before, because there essentially not real commercials and clicking on them won't do anything.

Interesting though that more people on the Internet are asking others to click on the Advertising for them.

So, basically have static images that will bother users, while the advertisers won't even know it? Nah, I'll pass:D

[UPDATE]
Google has rejected my appeal. This means that all the trouble we went through, and all the support you guys have given it, was for naught. What's more, I'm now personally blacklisted and can't ever open an Adsense account again. So that's that.


The end.

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:06, 03 February 14The end.

So all it takes to suspend an adsense account is a handful of clicks every day for one week from a few computers in the same network? That is ... interesting.

[attachimg=1]

Heh, yes, but it's not that simple; it certainly is feasible to bring down someone you got a grudge against, but Google *does* check whereas any suspicious clicking activity is malevolent...

Sure, but that's an overreaction.


It's not that TFM set up a whole ad-clicking server farm to get millions of dollars out of it. Specially when there are companies out there living of such schemes and are not shot down like us.


On my side the can GFO. Thank you for all the trouble, it was worth at least to try it! When I have a little time, I'll make my yearly contribution for wiki maintenance to keep the CPC Love flowing!


Regards,
Rob

Nah, he didn't, but Google is sensitive and doesn't tolerate ad-clicking schemes, big or small; just consider that their reputation depends on that. After all, if advertisers feel they are paying for schemes, they'll just stop doing it. So I don't blame them, even though I think they could be a bit more lenient after I explained to them my practice.


Presumably you can trick the system, if you have the infrastructure, but it needs to be fairly elaborate.


Yeah, it was worth trying. Too bad it had to end, and doubly bad for me - hope I don't need to run another Adsense scheme in the future!


Thanks mate, really appreciate it :)

It's time to ditch Google analytics and switch to Piwik  ;D
They do not want to support us, why supporting them.

...because GA is better?


Seriously, I did try Piwik a while ago and have been following its progress; it's a very impressive project indeed, but let's face it, not as good as GA :(

Quote from: Gryzor on 12:42, 02 February 14
So, basically have static images that will bother users, while the advertisers won't even know it? Nah, I'll pass:D

Didn't realise a bit of cleavage would bother users.  ;D

Quote from: AMSDOS on 09:55, 04 February 14
Didn't realise a bit of cleavage would bother users.  ;D

Excessive wear on the trousers you see ;)

Quote from: BluesBrothers on 12:38, 04 February 14
Excessive wear on the trousers you see ;)

Am I the only one here who reads the Forum naked??  ???

Bryce.

Quote from: Bryce on 12:46, 04 February 14
Am I the only one here who reads the Forum naked??  ???

Bryce.

We all know you're an advanced user, no need to brag about it.

Quote from: BluesBrothers on 12:38, 04 February 14
Excessive wear on the trousers you see ;)

Oh I see, too much of the British Paints being used.  ;D