google banners in thread headers?

When did this start? I know there have been banner ads between posts when logged in forever, but I just noticed the google ads in threads today? They seem to pop in after the thread which caught my eye. Any reason to run google ads for logged in members? People actually click them?

I run my own (much smaller) board, so I know all about covering the boards expenses and generally agree with doing it however you can. I was just curious as to when this happened more than complaining.

Also, why no affiliate links? Is this something that's tough when the owner isn't in the states?

I don't see them... Maybe you need to check and see if you are actually logged in and not in guest mode...

focus.pocus wrote in post #8873851
I don't see them... Maybe you need to check and see if you are actually logged in and not in guest mode...

Maybe you need to check to see if you have an adblocker turned on

Yup, they started this morning. No worries on this end; forums are huge black holes of money.

And I agree, affiliate sales would kick the butt out of the google ads... I'd write a vB plugin that replaces the names of equipment with aff links to Adorama/BH.. at least for guest viewers.

I'm logged in and I see 'em. they've been there for as long as I can remember.

dave

I see it too. I have notified Pekka about it.

snyderman wrote in post #8873879
I'm logged in and I see 'em. they've been there for as long as I can remember.

They usually only show up if you're not logged in.

TheHoff wrote in post #8873869
And I agree, affiliate sales would kick the butt out of the google ads... I'd write a vB plugin that replaces the names of equipment with aff links to Adorama/BH.. at least for guest viewers.

I don't even mean anything that slick. I just have an adorama, B&H and amazon account. I linked them in my forum footer (specifically) added a "affiliates" slug to the header and that takes you to the blog post about it. We also have ONE post about it I bump every so often. Right now with ~800 members (200 active) I made $1500 in 2008, 2009 will be close EVEN THOUGH MY STATE TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME IN JULY!...

With the members here, I can only imagine how well Pekka could do with it!

check out my implementation on my board if you like (not trying to whore it out, just offer some help to making the board some money):
http://www.newschoolof​photography.com/forum

timnosenzo wrote in post #8873905
They usually only show up if you're not logged in.

Yes but something has changed so everybody see them. Its probably a template that was reverted when Pekka updated the software the other day.

I haven't been seeing them - Seamonkey 1.18 and IE6 here.

I just enabled ads for all members, sorry for not notifying beforehand. Ads are there for a purpose, they pay for the servers. I simply figured why should not most active members have them too, it's not a punishment of any kind Only mods do not see them, admins do (for verification purposes).

If you have a real problem having on your screen them let me know and I can remove them individually. But I would like to also hear why.

I just have 2 questions?

1) do you get enough clicks it's worth it? (and see if they go up now that members see them if you can)
2) why no affiliates?

thanks for the explanation though!

oh, one more thing. Would it be less distracting if they were on the boards and index as well, so they didn't just appear when you jump in a thread? Consistency seems to hide things better, but then again, you probably don't want them hidden.

Pekka wrote in post #8874048
I just enabled ads for all members, sorry for not notifying beforehand. Ads are there for a purpose, they pay for the servers. I simply figured why should not most active members have them too, it's not a punishment of any kind Only mods do not see them, admins do (for verification purposes).

If you have a real problem having on your screen them let me know and I can remove them individually. But I would like to also hear why.

I have just noticed them too...was gonna ask why but now I know. I'll have to work hard towards becoming a mod...

I can't see what the problem is.

jacobsen1 wrote in post #8874089
I just have 2 questions?

1) do you get enough clicks it's worth it? (and see if they go up now that members see them if you can)

I have that info but it is and can not be public.

POTN is not a business for me, it's my passion - maybe later with 20 million posts when the need of servers is larger and someone wants desperately to buy it for $5mil but until that I like to keep it simple.

oh, one more thing. Would it be less distracting if they were on the boards and index as well, so they didn't just appear when you jump in a thread? Consistency seems to hide things better, but then again, you probably don't want them hidden.

Again, I do what is needed, I might add some ad blocks later but the main thing is fluent browsing of messages.

Thanks for everything, Pekka!

-js