So, uh. Google AdSense.
 

Yeah, are we going to do this or what?

It'd be stupid not to. It'd be like saying, "Hey, free money? Fuck off!"

Obviously I didn't expect it by today (the boards have only been up a few hours), but it's something to add.

This is definitely something I will be looking into, but right now my priority is restoring GFF features. :)

So is that a yes or a no?

There's really not that much to look into bobo. Blah's proven already that it works, and works WELL. He says it gives anywhere from 2 to 10 bucks a day, and that was on the relatively low population and activity of GFTF. There really is no reason not to.

Like Jazz said, it's not something you need to implement right away, but it would be nice if we knew sometime soon if the forums would become self sufficient so we don't have another sponsorship run in 6 months.

It's not hard to set up at all. Account registration takes less than 10 minutes, and Google provides you cut and paste code. We should get this out of the way as soon as possible.

Yeah, other than perhaps the journals, I don't really think there is a single thing more important than an actual funding source so GFF doesn't go down in the future.

THe problem with forums is that google's adsense code does not let you do dynamic color values, so while signing up is easy, it takes forever to create an adsense for each of your stylesets :p

It's all good if you have only one styleset though :tpg:

Agreed. We need to ensure another crash doesn't happen again in the near future. Might as well put this on the top of the priority list.

Does bobo have to be the one to do it or can one of the other mods/admins do it? While bobo gets everything up to speed, Blah (for example) can handle the AdSense account.

Yes, any of us could stick the code provided by google onto the forum. But I think it would be best for bobo to set it up since he pays the server bill every month.

Just wondering, would our sheet music collection be in conflict with the TOS of Google AdSense?

My Stuff would probably be a bigger problem than the Concert Hall, but Blah set his up and we had an extremely tiny My Stuff at GFTF, so I dunno if it it's ok or not. I'd imagine it woudln't be a problem though.

I realize this is a huge bullet for Bobo to have to bite, as far as never having allowed ads on Gamingforce.

But from what I understand, it can generate huge revenues. I heard a rumor that SeriousBusiness was making $10 a day with the audience of only a percentage of GFF members.

Imagine what kind of revenue we could create here.

I don't want to see an incident repeat of what happened a few weeks ago. I would strongly advise Bobo to swallow the pride and stick them in. Its pretty clear we'd sacrifice the right to an ad-free GFF in order to financially sercure it.

Google spiders can't see into either of those forums as they're hidden from guests, so I'm not sure how the ads would look in there. I guessing the ads seen in both the Concert Hall and My Stuff forums would be google public service ads, as google will have no content to relate any ads to.

Yeah, what Roph said. I agree that this should be added asap.

I know I wouldn't mind having google ads on the forums, especially since they tend not to be flashy or gaugy like some. Like everyone else said, it would be worth the dent in our pride and history if it meant being safe from a crash because of money.

Polling the masses would tell if this reflects the majority opinion.

Actually bobo, I myself use AdSense on my website to pay off my server costs (which are minimal...but so are my visits). Set up would take you only but 20 or 30 minutes, and would allow you to start earning a few dozen $$ a day... Add it up and you'll easily get 500$ per month. Earlier you set it up, the more money you get to make to pay for your costs.

Setup is really quick

Edit : And roph is right, the spiders can be blocked from those forums.

AdSense is a great idea.

I can't stand commercials, but these are so unobtrusive it's easy not to notice that they're even there.

And sometimes they can be unintentionally funny.

A thread on pianostreet was discussing practicing scales on the piano.

The three ads at the end of the thread were for bathroom scales.

The google spiders are not as smart as they think they are.

jeremy

And bobo, as shareholders, I assume we get to vote on this issue.

Yes?


jeremy

Nyet. Assuming he has incorporated Gamingforce which he hasn't, the maximum amount of $24,500 has been paid out ($50/share x 1,000 shares x 49%) probably not, and assuming that all the shares Bobo intends to issue have been mailed to the shareholders, which he hasn't...

You're not going to be able to overrule him on policy decisions anyway. 49% cannot beat Bobo's 51% share :D

Hey Miles. How about you get on this and do it yourself since bobo's already fucked off and not planning on implementing this (or anything else for that matter)? It'd be nice to not have a chocosponsor to look forward to anytime soon.

Yeah, I didn't want to "invest" in Gamingforce until a contingency plan was set up, and the ads would have worked fine. It's a poor investment opportunity that includes no written agreement or contracts, no real business plan, no continuity plan, and a lot of rather empty promises. I fully support bobo's work, but I won't throw money to the wind.

That having been said, I'm perfectly willing and ready to help out if measures are taken. Like ads. And I'll click. When they're put in. Hint hint.