Advertisements - potential solution

[Yosef]

When we started Yosef's Cabin a few years ago, our number one goal was to keep the site completely free for everyone. We did not want money to be a barrier to people being able to participate or see 'premium' content. We installed ads to help offset some of the costs of the servers. Those costs have continued to increase, especially over the last two years as we have seen traffic increase with our transition to FBS. Our philosophy from the start of this site still holds true today, we will never charge for premium content or the ability to participate - at least as long as Glenn and I are involved.

There have been suggestions of moving to a model that allows users to donate money in exchange for removing the advertisements. While I'm against that personally (I would much rather you donate your money to the Yosef Club and let Disney World or your local car dealer pay for the servers), it is functionality that can be accommodated on the forum. The model that I am referring to is very similar to what Delphi had when the MMB was there a few years ago. I think many of us would agree that this forum is a huge step up from Delphi. There was an annual fee to remove ads from the website for a user for a period of a year after they donated. Delphi charged $50, I can promise you we would not charge even half of that, as we don't have anyone to pay and are not in this for a profit. The initial thought is to go one of two ways if you want to install a model similar to Delphi:

1. Charge $20/year, everyone donates the same if they want ads removed
2. Any donation over a certain threshold ($5 for example) gets ads removed for a year, people donate what they want/can. This creates more opportunity for those that can donate more to do so, but those that can't, still are able to participate ad free.

Any shortages would be covered by me and any overages would be put back in to the website, potentially generating more content for everyone to enjoy. After speaking with Glenn, we really want the users to decide how best to proceed. Please vote below and add any comments / questions / concerns you may have as well.

[dubs21]

Are the current ads some sort of pay per click situation?

[APPARJ]

It's hard for me to vote any other way but "no" because I installed adblocker and haven't seen an ad on here in quite a while. Granted, it was the ads that drove me to make that decision because it was getting ridiculous.

People should be careful what they wish for here. The folks that use the forums heavily will be willing to pay a small amount but there will certainly be a significant number of those that will simply drop off from engaging with MMB. Cost won't even be much of a factor. Some will simply to find it worth while to give credit card information to use a site that, at least in their mind, should absolutely be free.

There are pros and cons on each side but I would urge people to go the route that involves as many users as possible. Yosef just mentioned that the traffic for this site is going up with the move to FBS. It would be a shame to reverse that trend bc a handful of people are inconvenienced by ads.

Question for Yosef, could you get a local Boone business to sponsor the message board? If the costs aren't too significant, they'd be getting a lot of eyeballs on their brand for a good price perhaps.

[Yosef]

Are the current ads some sort of pay per click situation?

No - Yosef's Cabin is paid based on impressions. I'm pretty sure no one clicks them, especially given their location at the bottom. Because it is a bad location for advertisers, they also pay much less than if we were to put them up at the top or have pop ups like a lot of websites do. I don't want them to impede on anyone's enjoyment of the forum, and to my knowledge, they aren't bothering anyone with the exception that sometimes the site loads a bit slower than what people desire.

[AppStateNews]

Another option that I have presented multiple times...

I run a web hosting company and will be more than happy to host the cabin for free so there aren't any ads!

[dubs21]

Are the current ads some sort of pay per click situation?

No - Yosef's Cabin is paid based on impressions. I'm pretty sure no one clicks them, especially given their location at the bottom. Because it is a bad location for advertisers, they also pay much less than if we were to put them up at the top or have pop ups like a lot of websites do. I don't want them to impede on anyone's enjoyment of the forum, and to my knowledge, they aren't bothering anyone with the exception that sometimes the site loads a bit slower than what people desire.

So if folks install the ad blocker extension for chrome or whatever browser they are using, and thus see no ads whatsoever, your costs won't be any higher?

If that is the case, then everyone else should install such blockers. I have it and have never seen an ad and the site works great.

[Yosef]

Are the current ads some sort of pay per click situation?

No - Yosef's Cabin is paid based on impressions. I'm pretty sure no one clicks them, especially given their location at the bottom. Because it is a bad location for advertisers, they also pay much less than if we were to put them up at the top or have pop ups like a lot of websites do. I don't want them to impede on anyone's enjoyment of the forum, and to my knowledge, they aren't bothering anyone with the exception that sometimes the site loads a bit slower than what people desire.

So if folks install the ad blocker extension for chrome or whatever browser they are using, and thus see no ads whatsoever, your costs won't be any higher?

If that is the case, then everyone else should install such blockers. I have it and have never seen an ad and the site works great.

I honestly have no idea how many people use the adblocker. The site isn't free to run of course and it's your perogative to use the adblocker if you so desire and it fits in with your moral compass. If we go the local ad route someone suggested, your adblocker won't work.

If everyone installed an adblocker then costs would not increase no, but income from ads would be nil and then I'd eat the cost of the servers myself because that's how much I want the Cabin and MMB to remain free of 'premium' content.

I honestly did not realize ads were such a major problem - they don't bother me and I understand why they are there on other sites. It sounds like a few people have issues with website performance but my understanding based on feedback I've asked for since the upgrade was that the site was running very fast.

[dubs21]

Thats what I was trying to get at. How does the revenue from the ads come in? If its not click based. If it is just based on page views is that negated completely by the blockers? I was under the assumption of the companies paid you to put their ads on the site. If me blocking the ads is causing you to shell out more money from your pocket to keep the site up, then i'll stop. It never came up as a moral compass issue in my mind.

[Yosef]

Thats what I was trying to get at. How does the revenue from the ads come in? If its not click based. If it is just based on page views is that negated completely by the blockers? I was under the assumption of the companies paid you to put their ads on the site. If me blocking the ads is causing you to shell out more money from your pocket to keep the site up, then i'll stop. It never came up as a moral compass issue in my mind.

It's really fine - people can use the adblockers and I'm perfectly ok with it - ESPECIALLY if the ads are degrading performance for you. Certainly didn't mean to imply I was judging you with the moral compass comment. I've spent countless hours trying to improve website performance so that they have as little of an impact on people as they can. If it is still having a meaningful impact on anyone, I ENCOURAGE you to install the adblockers.

We only generate revenue if the ad is displayed. The ads pay VERY little, so you turning off your adblocker would not have a meaningful impact on revenue at all.

[AppinVA]

I just want to be able to view the site on my iPad/iPhone without being shuttled to the app screen every time I click on a link (it happened Saturday, but was better by Sunday). If I can rid that by paying a few bucks, great. If not, I'll have to find other means to view YC. I'm an addict.

[BeauFoster]

I just want to be able to view the site on my iPad/iPhone without being shuttled to the app screen every time I click on a link (it happened Saturday, but was better by Sunday). If I can rid that by paying a few bucks, great. If not, I'll have to find other means to view YC. I'm an addict.

Tapatalk...works great for iOS devices and I never notice any adds. The only drawback I see from Tapatalk, besides the ad revenue piece, is that you cannot "like" a post. Small price to pay...

[AppinVA]

I just want to be able to view the site on my iPad/iPhone without being shuttled to the app screen every time I click on a link (it happened Saturday, but was better by Sunday). If I can rid that by paying a few bucks, great. If not, I'll have to find other means to view YC. I'm an addict.

Tapatalk...works great for iOS devices and I never notice any adds. The only drawback I see from Tapatalk, besides the ad revenue piece, is that you cannot "like" a post. Small price to pay...

I've tried it, but I just can't get used to it. I may wind up being left with no choice.

[NewApp]

Thats what I was trying to get at. How does the revenue from the ads come in? If its not click based. If it is just based on page views is that negated completely by the blockers? I was under the assumption of the companies paid you to put their ads on the site. If me blocking the ads is causing you to shell out more money from your pocket to keep the site up, then i'll stop. It never came up as a moral compass issue in my mind.

It's really fine - people can use the adblockers and I'm perfectly ok with it - ESPECIALLY if the ads are degrading performance for you. Certainly didn't mean to imply I was judging you with the moral compass comment. I've spent countless hours trying to improve website performance so that they have as little of an impact on people as they can. If it is still having a meaningful impact on anyone, I ENCOURAGE you to install the adblockers.

We only generate revenue if the ad is displayed. The ads pay VERY little, so you turning off your adblocker would not have a meaningful impact on revenue at all.

I say leave it alone. If it's not broken, don't fix it. Just ignore the ads.

[appdaze]

I'm sure if you posted the exact cost to host this site that there would be a number of members willing to donate a few bucks and anything over that could be donated to the yosef club if you didn't want to keep it. You could probably start a small account for donations and eventually have enough saved to make the whole thing ad free and pay for itself, and if you wanted to take a bit of it and get your family a nice meal as a thanks for running the site I doubt there would be any complaints.

[strongwxnc]

I think most would have no problem dropping $20 a year on here!
Well, I would have no problem.
Granted, I normally view the Cabin on tapatalk for iPhone.

[BeauFoster]

I donate $40 for grins each year to another site, I'd have no problem putting in some $$$ here. It's worth it just for the recruiting threads alone!

[CVAPP]

I'm sure if you posted the exact cost to host this site that there would be a number of members willing to donate a few bucks and anything over that could be donated to the yosef club if you didn't want to keep it. You could probably start a small account for donations and eventually have enough saved to make the whole thing ad free and pay for itself, and if you wanted to take a bit of it and get your family a nice meal as a thanks for running the site I doubt there would be any complaints.

This post is spot on. If this is a not-for-profit there needs to be some transparency instead of a guessing game.