Advertising on RPTools.net

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Should we allow advertising on the rptools.net site?

Poll ended at Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:07 am

Yes - a little income to pay for the web site is fine
26
100%
No - money makes people weird. The site should be funded by donations
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 26

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RPTroll
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Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by RPTroll »

All,

As you know we're an all volunteer group. We don't sell any of these products. It's all pretty much a labor of love.

That said, we occasionally run into things that need hard/virtual cash. Web site hosting is one of those. Az is paying for that out-of-pocket now. Trevor bore that burden before him.

In the past, we've run the Wall of Features to let folks bid on the functionality to do next. Things got a little pissy during that time so we likely won't return to that model. We also have a donation button but it isn't used.

I'd like to know if anyone has an objection to doing a little advertising on the main site. We're not talking a lot of money, maybe $10 a month based on traffic and people's desire to click through to something like DriveThruRPG. That amount would cover web hosting and hopefully pay for some wordpress plugins to make the main site friendlier - I still have my eye on internationalization and some other niceties. The nice thing about a DriveThruRPG or other vendor link is that it doesn't cost RPTools or our community anything. If you use the vendor now, you donate by buying stuff. A small portion of the price, like 1-2%, is paid as a commission from the referring site.

I'm seeking community feedback as to whether this is a good or bad idea so please vote letting me know your preference.
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Dervish
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by Dervish »

I do not have a problem with advertizing

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RPTroll
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by RPTroll »

Please vote so we'll have a record.
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aliasmask
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by aliasmask »

There are so many advertisements all over the net already that I pretty much just tune them out. Just as long as there are no audio ads... hate those. If the ads are tailored to gaming then who knows, someone may buy something.

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wolph42
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by wolph42 »

aliasmask wrote:There are so many advertisements all over the net already that I pretty much just tune them out. Just as long as there are no audio ads... hate those. If the ads are tailored to gaming then who knows, someone may buy something.
audio, pop ups, persistent overlays, moving overlays, vids, etc. are killing. In terms of content I assume its rptools related, so nothing graphical (is that the correct term?). 'Normal' ads, like banners I have no problem with (vote added).

edit: have you considered a donation banner on top of the website. You know the one that wiki uses (and which I always donate). Set a goal and a donate button and pop it up when you visit this forum.

Netsky
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by Netsky »

heavily depends on the ad-type.
Not against it as long as I can hear my own thoughts over the ad-noise ;)

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Jagged
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by Jagged »

I regularly click through to RPG Drive Through from the External Links forum. If that was an advert and the forum got some pennies for that, I think that would be good.

In general I would be happy with forum appropriate adverts.

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Tanthos
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by Tanthos »

wolph42 wrote: have you considered a donation banner on top of the website. You know the one that wiki uses (and which I always donate). Set a goal and a donate button and pop it up when you visit this forum.
This.

A donation system with a public goal to meet makes a huge difference in whether people feel that their contributions are making a difference.

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Jshock
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by Jshock »

As long as it's game related advertising and non obtrusive, I don't think advertising is a problem.

yshi
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by yshi »

No problem here, and I'll enable scripting on the site the next time I'm on (probably won't make a difference otherwise).

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JML
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by JML »

As most people here, as long as it's game related and simple I don't mind.

The donation banner would be worth a try though.

Jan van Leyden
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Re: Advertising on RPTools.net

Post by Jan van Leyden »

No problem with the typical message board advertisements here. Regarding their game-relatedness: is that possible? I always assumed that some Google analytics provided the contents of the ads on a specific site. Why else would I be treated to Hamamatsu ads at ENWorld or RPG.net?

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---Jan van Leyden

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