In an effort to get a bit more advertising dollars, I’ve been in discussion with another ad company and have decided to run a test to see how their ads impact the site. These ads should show up as a window on the bottom of the browser, slightly larger than the standard banner ad (these should be 728x90). If you notice anything odd, let me know. I’ll be monitoring the experiment as well. At this point I’m not sure what kind of content control I will have. We’ll see.
Bob McCown said:
In an effort to get a bit more advertising dollars, I’ve been in discussion with another ad company and have decided to run a test to see how their ads impact the site. These ads should show up as a window on the bottom of the browser, slightly larger than the standard banner ad (these should be 728x90). If you notice anything odd, let me know. I’ll be monitoring the experiment as well. At this point I’m not sure what kind of content control I will have. We’ll see.
Cool.
Let us know how it works out and what we need to do.
fwiw I’m finding those ads to be quite annoying. I’d rather just give you money
OK for the forum, super annoying in the chat, if you are looking for a way to shut it down, this may be the answer !
They are small , not any more irritating than any other website around, if it helps keep the website running, I’m ok with it , but for some grumpy old farts expect back channel e mails , whining and moaning, and foot stamping !
If it is that “infolinks” thing that keeps popping up at the bottom of a screen (no matter how many times you click on the ‘x’), it is very annoying. Just tell me where to send a check and who to make it to (via PM if necessary). I don’t do PayPal (it never was a pal of mine).
Sorry to beef, David Meashey
Edit - Added bold.
Doesn’t really bother me. It’s at the bottom and out of the way of anything.
Bob,
Is there a way to make the banner run vertically along the screen side, like they do in FaceBook and in certain online newspapers?
Eric
I have disabled them for now. Thanks for the feedback.
I am a member of another forum (not train related) and they offer a membership tier to disable the ads. Its a nominal cost, but the membership of the site is larger.
If the site needs revenue to keep running outside of the specific forum sponsorships, the combination of the ads plus a general membership level, with maybe an avatar banner sowing the member is a supporting contributor will be viable? I’ll sign up day-one since I value the site, do not do the Book of Faces, and have not found a better group than this one.
I just checked. It’s $5/month, $20/6 months, $35/year or $60/2 years. I’m down to toss that level of support to the site.
You guys know where to send the money. Checks are fine at least to my understanding?
Appears I’m up for renewal myself this year as well. LSC always has and always WILL rule ! Don’t really care about the rest of the drama. Old guys can still rock even though you guys are older than me !
A side note to all the model RR’s out there…Rod Stewart is scheduled to come VERY close to me in the very near future. If he would be interested in
visiting me I would be more than happy to show him my G-scale Amtrak roster …and honesty some of it is …never mind …
Sum it up !
LSC is and always has ruled …support it or not …cut and dry !
ZZ Top, eh?
Nope, I’m still listening to the Drifters…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
Peter, Paul, & Mary for me. And one of Puff the Magic Dragon’s relatives helps keep at least one locomotive in steam.
Getting back on topic, NO, I really don’t know where to send the check or who to make it to. SOoooooooo, that information would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, David Meashey
Dave, Just below your icon on the home page or try the Subscription button in settings for a start (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
My issue with the ads is not so much the ads as the irrelevant ad content. The first evening the ads were instituted, my ads were for digital bathroom scales and female swimwear, not quite what I am looking for on a model railroad site (not that female swimwear is offensive, just not my primary interest here). I understand the need on your part to generate revenue, and I am good with that.
Some thoughts … During chat the ads covered up the bottom of the chat screen making it difficult to ignore the ad move on. Some actions required the ad to be killed to free up the screen to access the buttons I was after. If the ad window could be moved about the screen to clear required content, that would help.
Another poster suggested a vertical format, like Google Ads. Possibly locate the new ad banner vertically below, or above, the existing Google Ads on the home page. Maybe add the vertical banner ads on the left or right side of thread content. Some will give me a hard time over this, but it will give better opportunity for revenue. Sides allow the full page to be read, albeit slightly narrower. This might also be a solution for the chat window.
I support both ‘pay to play’ options presented. Straight up membership fee option is likely the least popular, and will possibly loose memberships, although I am not sure where they will find a better group of friendly folks and a knowledge base not unequaled anywhere else on the Interweb that I am aware of. The second option, I think is the more practical. Have a premium membership which as suggested will add an icon below the Avatar, and remove the advertising.
Barring none, still the best large scale web site available.
my $.02 though I’ll admit I’m not sure if this works with the current ad networks.
For hobbies (and trains in particular) ads are actually useful content. It is good to know what’s available to buy and where to buy it. It seems to me that advertisers would like to leverage the eyeballs where they are (LSC in this case) and present their ads in a place where the user is actively interested and ready to purchase.
So what makes sense to me is not to have random ads, or even personalized ads based on what I’ve seen elsewhere on the web, but instead to have very focused train ads in a spot where the user knows to find them when interested.
Maybe an ad page associated with each forum where ads associated with that topic are shown (scratchbuilding supplies in the model part of the forum, locomotives in the motive power part, etc.). Advertisers would be able to bid on ads that would show up on an ad-only page and/or on an ad shown on every page within that forum based on keywords, etc. and the revenue would be shared between the ad network and LSC.
This would mean that there would be ads that are actually meaningful to me, based on what part of LSC I’m looking at with an option to go to a page that is all ads of a known type where I can browse suppliers to see what’s new, who’s got promotions going, etc.
Not sure if anybody else agrees but this way it seems to me that the ads would actually be welcome and useful and all 3 participants (users, LSC, and advertisers) would get something out of it.
David Marconi;
Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, that link only supports payment via PayPal. I have been on the “outs” with PayPal ever since I tried to pay my dues to MLS (when still under Shad) and PayPal kicked me out for an invalid password. I never changed the password, so it still should have been valid. I only used the (dis)service once in the prior year (again to pay MLS dues). Checks still work, which is why I prefer them.
Best, David Meashey
Dave Meashey,
If you click on the Donate button, there is an email address posted there. I am sure if you send an email to that address requesting a mailing address and how to make the check I am certain Bob will respond with what you need.
Bob C.
Anyway, this was a good reminder it was time to pull my load and punch that support LSC button! Bob, thanks for all you do to make this site what it is!
Eric