Opinions Needed: Advertisements - DIFFERENT OPTION

[fvck 2,223]

1 hour ago, 99centlips said:

 

hey elle! 

 

look at the end of the day this is your site, you may do however you please! clearly there’s a minority of us who oppose the vingette ads, and you don’t have to make everyone happy.

 

you’ve now received feedback that the majority of users don’t mind the vignette ads in two separate polls. it seems a non-issue at this point and it feels like we’re beating a dead horse. do what you want sis, if you needed justification to keep the vignette ads, you got it already. 

 

you can impose ad-block, you can keep the vignette ads, you can put unskippable video ads up, whatever you please really. it’s clear people will still support your site. if the minority decides to not visit anymore or as much, it’s not many people so i don’t think you should be worried about revenue loss. 

 

good luck 

o 

 

 

[TRENCH 15,450]

11 minutes ago, Elle said:

 

I may also try to run my own experiment with more banner ads in-between posts just to see if that makes much of a difference.

 

a lot of forums have this and they have triple the amount of users than this site, so that shouldn't be a problem; albeit too many in one page does ruin the flow of the posts 

[War In My Mind 2,999]

I have to admit I was annoyed at them at first but only because I wasnt warned about them

but now idc it takes 2 seconds to click em off

[Elle 121,172]

11 minutes ago, fvck said:

 

 

I understand what's being said, I was just curious to know what the qualms with our normal banner ads are, since users are suggesting Ad-Bl*ck to get rid of all the ads that help support the site?

With this new proposal regarding the new vignette ads, I've given the option for users to personally request to not see the vignette ads for their account while still seeing our usual banner ads we've always had for free, at no cost to the user.

Then, there's the $2 monthly cost if people want to forgo both the new vignettes as well as our normal banner ads, which is essentially the same as using Ad-Block, but the $2 cost makes up for lost revenue to help pay for the site.

 

So, what I'm curious to know for those who vote no altogether - are there problems with our normal banner ads too? Or what other ways could there to be to help fund support the site rather than ads, both vignette and our normal banner ads?

 

So, I see the opposition, now tell me what I can do as an alternative! Feedback like that is extremely helpful, as again, last night's feedback was what lead me to this new proposal, which seems much more receptive by our users. Feedback and ideas lead to solutions, and I'm listening with an open mind and open ears! Let's brainstorm! x

 

8 minutes ago, TRENCH said:

a lot of forums have this and they have triple the amount of users than this site, so that shouldn't be a problem; albeit too many in one page does ruin the flow of the posts 

 

I was concerned about the flow as well, so I may do something similar to what Google Adsense did automatically with the vignettes, and just set up a manual experiment and see if the results are anything substantial and how users feel about it x

[Vanilla Icy 29,602]

i think the ads between the posts would be most ideal

[Platinum Greenwich 13,845]

13 minutes ago, Elle said:

I was concerned about the flow as well, so I may do something similar to what Google Adsense did automatically with the vignettes, and just set up a manual experiment and see if the results are anything substantial and how users feel about it x

 

would it be possible to have vertical ads running down one/either side of each page, since all forum content is at a fixed width?

 

i think that would be better than having horizontal ads in-between posts, which might make wordier threads harder to read...

 

also, the banner ads on the index page - the two at the top and the one at the bottom - don't seem to appear anywhere else, maybe look into that if nothing else?

[West Coast 45,791]

As far as I'm concerned the pop up ads are really annoying, but I have absolutely no problem with banner typa ads! Also, I would totally be fine with paying 1-5$ per month to support LanaBoards if that meant I could browse pop up ads free. 

[Rorman Nockwell 56,672]

This feels like it's going around in circles. Does this have to even be about ads?

I used to be part of another community and what we did is have a fund, and when the fund was low and money was needed to pay site fees, the owners would make a thread which clearly outlined what the costs were and how much was needed. And then everyone would donate until those costs were met. What if we just do that? If it's not paid for, then we keep the banner ads.

Maybe we need to make this into more of a community effort and less of a "this person pays, this person doesn't" thing. I'm not saying that anyone is making it into the latter on purpose, just that maybe we could make this less about the ads and individual finances (including Elle's, which is no one's business but hers) and more about everyone just chipping in what they can afford.

If I couldn't afford to pay, I wouldn't feel wonderful about having to dm Elle asking to have the ads removed. I'm not sure people are going to do that.

[Make me your Dream Life 87,714]

I'm unsure about the community fund idea. I do like it conceptually, but at the same time, I'm just not sure the forum would be ready for that in particular. at least currently.

there'd have to be a regulation of who donates what and how. the temperance of potential overbearance for those who do. this is a social forum so I know how perception can be ran away with, so the divide is something to always net together. 

what genuinely confuses me from time to time, is why the forum's "not secure" ? I've been here a while, and things have been alright. but I still dk what that means. from a new user's experience, fine the entry process seems to be a bit safeguarded (seeing as to how it took a while for myself to get in those years ago idk about why, and perhaps it's changed but anyway) 
the perception might just be kinda dodgy w the not secure thing AND ads. 

i'm sure a portion of the users have seen my dream box set/ merch thread. I'll link it later. I've got plenty of merch ideas, as well as general ideas already sprinkled all over the forum. I know it'd probably take a lot of time, research, production logistics etc. but I do think we've a stable enough pool of interest for it to be successful. I'm thinking we could start small w stickers, posters/prints, and then build from there. those'd be the least in cost to profit, and bring extra traffic to the site. personally, the merch'd have to be of decent quality, since it'll represent the site, and so it'd deter others from making their own merch (since that's just simple to do)

another thing to talk about is truly the communication between the diff levels of users, those w site authority, the older members, and those new who'd genuinely have valuable input. it'd need to be closely regulated and watched over as this would be business coming to play. a committee would have to be set up. there were times where I'd ask questions about parts of the site not working/ have many suggestions etc. to not been answered until I had to keep asking, so what more those who just entered the forum like a few days ago with possibly some good ideas. I get how a difference of opinions and so on may deter that, but it's really important imo to be able to communicate for the sake of clarity and transparency. I think these type of threads are a start, but I also understand the need of protecting ideas so there'd need to be a possible middle ground. 

also, where would the funds go? it'd need to be secure if that many people would contribute to it. I'm not an artist, but am artistic (if anyone wants to tell me more about commissions  just in general that'd be great btw), but I do have friends who do do this sort of stuff, and mention commissions. so the artist/ those contributing might need to be compensated if even some perks or whatever feels proportionate. and legalities as well as rights of merch. 


I think all of the forum participation would bring a lot of users together, and make it more of an even closer-knit community, but it'd need to be implemented fairly and distributed wholly to everyone. I think I noticed how multiple votes were possible during the lipsters, so that shouldn't be possible, as well as making sure the input is fair and truly representative of all the individuals that make the site. 

someone also mentioned in the other thread as to why the site'd need to pay for it to simply work as it should, which is still a strong valid perspective. I think implementing more forum activities together would compensate for that, perhaps forum house competitions (friendly of course), and if the merch does come along great, have sweepstakes to give back to the very individuals who are the life blood of the forum. 

I'm most usually quite self-aware, and understand that my playfulness might veil the rest of my entirety of self here as a user, that and I snap when I feel it deserves it, whatever perception the site might have of me that's honestly fine, be direct, if not, live with it, but truly as someone who's put effort to contribute to the site here and there, I'd really like to advocate to make sure that everyone is heard and made to feel comfortable to contribute somehow if they wished to (and for balance's sake). 

tl;dr
_ we have to focus on making the user experience seamless and have staying power. 
_ merch might really be a great way of expanding. I have a plethora of ideas, and would be comfortable to advise/refine merch (as someone who just loves to do so) 
_ ^ quality control. legalities. and definitely branding. 
_ ^ that would mean the need for better transparency and overall communication, tight-locked as well. cost, distribution, as well proper safeguarding. 
_ perhaps these growths of success might lead to better incentives for the site's users, and in turn better grow and support the site with less met friction. 

[Sugar Venom 9,658]

Okay just popping in to say after getting used to the vignette ads (these are the ones that happen in between page loads right?) I don’t really mind them. They’re simple and easy and don’t block any content or interrupt the flow of things. HOWEVER the like pop up ones or whatever at the top of the screen that actually cover part of the website and posts and don’t really go away cuz U can still see the little arrow to open it back up are really really frustrating pls dont implement that kind  

[Venice 6,933]

1 hour ago, Diamantes WILD said:

what genuinely confuses me from time to time, is why the forum's "not secure" ? I've been here a while, and things have been alright. but I still dk what that means. from a new user's experience, fine the entry process seems to be a bit safeguarded (seeing as to how it took a while for myself to get in those years ago idk about why, and perhaps it's changed but anyway) 
the perception might just be kinda dodgy w the not secure thing AND ads. 

 

I was concerned about this stuff too earlier but Elle explained it in a helpful way, I'll quote below (I've changed sites to HTTPS before and it can be quite tedious!)

 

Quote

(also, we do have a HTTPS/SSL script installed & running, but because some of the embedded images and site functions are coded in with HTTP rather than HTTPS, the padlock may not show on a page if it is technically "partially insecure" due to the images and tools using HTTP instead of HTTPS, but rest assured that all sensitive information is securely encrypted with our script)

 

[Beautiful Loser 48,754]

@Elle @admin, is there a way to make the ad sizes smaller, I just got one that was so large that I couldn't even close it without having to refresh the page.

Spoiler