24Feb2008
The Site’s Acting Screwy
Sorry about the site acting funky. WordPress, where we do our posting from, is updating soon and our look is going to be out of date and not working. So, we’re going to have to look for a relatively new look (hopefully something similar to this still) that is compatible. If you ever find something fun, be sure to email me, but for now, if the site acts a bit messed up, I apologize. I’m doing all I can.
That’s disappointing. I really liked the look of your site, too.
We just started using wordpress at work and I was tempted to use this as our template, but decided to go with something else. The thing I really like is the post info in the gray box on top of each thread and the little date box. Both are pretty cool.
I decided to go with a basic simple template for the time being. Using wordpress.com on our end (instead of .org), I wasn’t able to make big template changes.
Good luck and I’m sure you’ll get feedback when you re-tool the site. Either way though, the content is what people come for… which is great, by the way!
TT
I’m really really trying to keep this look. Hopefully we can, we’ll see.
Also now I’m running into a major issue that I might need to ask the reader’s opinions on. In here would be perfect actually, lol.
I got an email from a big online advertising firm who said they have clients who want to advertise on the site. I don’t know if you know how much money online advertising is worth, but it’s a lot of money coming into the site, my production company, and to fund some contests and projects around here I’ve always wanted to do.
We have special locations for ads which are out of the way and do not change the look of the site, but I’m really afraid that people will figure I’m selling out, get annoyed by the ads, and turn away. In part it’s a tiny tiny bit selling out, but it’s just so much money. If you had a few thousand dollars a month dangled in your face to just place a tiny banner or two on a site, I think many would. But now I’m worried if you, my loyal readers who put up with me for some reason, are going to get angry about it.
I have no problems with it Alex, as long as you share the proceeds with me… ;)
In any event, if the basic setup of the site is the same, and there won’t be MORE ads then what there are now, I don’t think many ppl would have a problem with it. In the end, an ad is an ad, it doesn’t matter what it is and where it’s from. We know why they are there, and they’ll serve the purpose either way…
Truth be told, I can’t even remember what I said when you had that questionnaire about the ads and the site way back when. But I do know that for that time when the 1 vs. 100 game ads were on the site, I didn’t have too much of a problem with it… kinda. I mean, at this computer that I’m on right now, it’s no problem. But for my home computer (whose tenth birthday is only a week away, hooray!), any sort of banner ad (especially flash) really gums up the works to the point of crashing. Using AdBlockPlus with Firefox at least prevents the ad from showing up, but gums up every process on the computer. Maybe it’s just time I upgraded, ten years later.
That much having been said, I wouldn’t be too opposed to banner ads on the site, there’s a good chance I might not see it anyway, thanks to ABP. And by all means, if it helps out your production company as well as the site, I’m all for it! Good luck, man!
Alex, I wouldn’t care. And you said that some of the money would be going back into the site, so I think it’s very logical. As long as you don’t advertise anything when you’re typing up articles, I say go for it.
I still feel bad, though. I mean I’m seriously not just saying this, but you don’t have any idea how unbelievably grateful I am when readers and essentially commenters such as yourselves keep coming back. I know I always get annoyed with banner ads, at least when they are done horribly, and I just feel like a huge sell out. We’re trying to start a news related online game show here in the summer, plus I have a few ideas which are really far in development and if something positive would happen I want to be ready. I really thank you for your input. However, I did email the company. I’m going to reject them instantly unless they meet every one of my stipulations:
*No high speed flashing color banners
*No overly brightly colored banners
*No sounds
*It has to be in one of the five designated ad spots that we used for the 1 VS 100 games and will use when iToys advertises on here again later
*It has to be a site I endorse and do not feel embarrassed or ashamed about using. I’m not subjecting you all to crap you don’t want to see.
If any of those are a no, I’m not doing it at least. Money doesn’t put a price on the joy I get from doing this and from listening to you all. I have a good job and make good money. I’m not going to be greedy or anything.
Go for it. I would not mind an ad or two on this site. I hate the way they are done on some sites, though. Like Espn.com where they expand at the top automatically or TMZ where they sometimes float out into the text you’re trying to read. I know you have lots of concerns over this, so I know you would never go that far with your ads. So, I have no problems with ads on the site. Hell…It makes you money, and a few extra bucks put into this site(which is awesome by the way) would never be a bad thing.
Alex… I think everybody will understand and will continue to come to the site. Similar to what Julia said, I really don’t like the floating ads or the ones from the top. Those get really annoying and slow things down on my computer. I can’t see you putting those on here, anyway. You really care about this site and are not willing to junk it up, so I know it is in good hands.
This is one of my daily (if not 2, 3, or 4x a day) visits and that’s not going to change with a couple of banners. You have a chance to make some decent money just by placing a picture on a webpage… I think you should do it. And like you said, there’s the possibility of this site getting even better because of it.
Well, I’m done rambling now. Hope that helps!
A few ads here or there won’t bother me, especially if they are placed in the same places as the 1v100 ads.
I have NoScript for Firefox, so I probably won’t be able to see any ads on this site! >;P