Ads???
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Simply put, between paid subscribers and regular donors CC has not come near it's minimum necessary income to cover operating costs thus unfortunately RoboOp has had no other option but to resort to GOOGLE ads to increase revenue. At this point I don't know if subscribers/donors will be able to turn off the ads.
Over the years that I have been on CC on average less than 1% of users have donated and when you think about it with an average of 5,000 active users if everyone gave just $1 a month our minimum would be far exceeded to the point that additional upgrades and paid staffing would be possible.
Over the years that I have been on CC on average less than 1% of users have donated and when you think about it with an average of 5,000 active users if everyone gave just $1 a month our minimum would be far exceeded to the point that additional upgrades and paid staffing would be possible.
Let me apologize for my temper this morning. I am so tired of being so at odds with this world... I beat my head against the wall of it all morning, then come here to find sanctuary and instead find it has infiltrated here too... I blew up and blew it and I apologize for that.
Oh my friend, it has come to this, has it? A sad sad commentary on the art of gifting these days. Here I thought I was actually being a cheapskate with my monthly $25... yet evidently I'm covering the cheap arses of 24 deadbeats. What's up with that people? Ya gotta give to get yet you're taking without paying... Hmmm. Hope I don't say something here that I have to apologize for in yet another post.
I would rather have to pay a membership fee than to be subjected to the world in here. Heck, I'm not sure I wouldn't rather see it shut down than submitting to the world. Yet I have to imagine that a large number of users are transitory, and would move on to one of the other free offerings rather than cough up a measly buck or two. Maybe you could make it so that with a minimum donation you don't get the ads (they'll pay a buck to stop ads on Angry Birds won't they?). Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you banner- ad the top or bottom. At least take it out of people's posts. I can't come here and put my mind on Christ and deal properly with the spiritual issues while I've got this great big worldly eyeball staring at me. I understand why you went there but no this is not the place for it to be.
I wil be praying for a solution - and the loosening of wallets!
People?
Oh my friend, it has come to this, has it? A sad sad commentary on the art of gifting these days. Here I thought I was actually being a cheapskate with my monthly $25... yet evidently I'm covering the cheap arses of 24 deadbeats. What's up with that people? Ya gotta give to get yet you're taking without paying... Hmmm. Hope I don't say something here that I have to apologize for in yet another post.
I would rather have to pay a membership fee than to be subjected to the world in here. Heck, I'm not sure I wouldn't rather see it shut down than submitting to the world. Yet I have to imagine that a large number of users are transitory, and would move on to one of the other free offerings rather than cough up a measly buck or two. Maybe you could make it so that with a minimum donation you don't get the ads (they'll pay a buck to stop ads on Angry Birds won't they?). Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you banner- ad the top or bottom. At least take it out of people's posts. I can't come here and put my mind on Christ and deal properly with the spiritual issues while I've got this great big worldly eyeball staring at me. I understand why you went there but no this is not the place for it to be.
I wil be praying for a solution - and the loosening of wallets!
People?
1
Financial supporters of Christian Chat should be able to disable the ads in settings. Financial supporters unable to disable ads, please contact Roboop, Oncefallen, or me, if you're unable to disable the ads.
In my opinion it's not that heavy of a burden for non-financial supporters of CC to view some ads, considering ads help fund the very work they benefit from and use so much.
In my opinion it's not that heavy of a burden for non-financial supporters of CC to view some ads, considering ads help fund the very work they benefit from and use so much.
That monthly payment as you put it can be as little as $1. If every single ACTIVE member (which there are thousands, though all of them may not use the forums) were to give just $1 a month, we would more than surpass the minimum needed monthly to run the site effectively.
I don't know anyone who can't spare a dollar at least 1 day out of the month for something they consume on a daily basis.
I don't know anyone who can't spare a dollar at least 1 day out of the month for something they consume on a daily basis.
Hey guys, let me make a few statements here:
1. Yes we're trying Google ads, for the third time in the 16 year life of CC. (The first two times we tried we had to stop it pretty quick coz of cult ads and secular dating ads, which we didn't want on our site, but we believe that problem may be solved now, which I'll explain in statement #5 below.)
2. We're trying it coz we currently don't get enough voluntary donations/subscriptions to operate, as in support our expenses and work, so it's really hard, if you know what I mean.
3. ANY SUPPORTER OR SUBSCRIBER can have the ads disabled for EVEN $1/mth -- if you're a supporter/subscriber and ads are showing and you don't want them to show then please kindly send me mail in the forum. (Sorry for any inconvenience, I'm gradually marking supporters please pardon me if it's still showing for you and you don't want them to show. Some people actually prefer ads even if they're a supporter.)
4. This is experimental and we're refining it (ad placement, blocking certain categories of ads, etc.)
5. In the past we couldn't go on running Google ads because of intolerable ads BUT WE THINK IT'S MUCH BETTER NOW. (Now the ads very much depend on your own browsing history, search history, click-history, etc. Furthermore now Google Adsense allows very refined blocking of categories of ads. As of today we've further refined that to block all categories of what may be inappropriate. The main problem we had when we tried Google ads before were cult ads and secular dating ads. Well hopefully that problem is solved because now we're able to block all "religious" ads and all "dating" ads, which we've done, along with many other categories of ads, even things like "plastic surgery".)
6. I totally prefer no commercialization as in no ads on our site but that's pretty hard to do when relying on voluntary donations with a participation rate of 1% (there are different ways to measure this -- the 1% figure comes from dividing the number of users who donate in a given month by the total number of registered users who log in during that month). Even the Bible Gateway couldn't do it -- that's why, years ago, they announced that they were folding, because they're donation revenue didn't match their operation costs, and then they finally sold out to Zondervan, which commericalized it with ads. (In their case, they're big enough to attract their own sponsors or simply advertise their own stuff -- we're not that big so we have to rely on an ad network.)
7. The ads shouldn't be that bad -- some may occasionally even interest you -- and please DON'T TRY TO BLOCK THEM OR TELL OTHERS TO because it's not very considerate to try to block revenue of a site that you use for free for years. Again if you support the site with even a dollar a month and ads are showing and you don't want them to show then send me mail in the forum.
Thanks for your understanding and we do welcome positive constructive feedback from people who support our site/work or even non-supporters who want to help us make the ads more effective and keep the site clean.
1. Yes we're trying Google ads, for the third time in the 16 year life of CC. (The first two times we tried we had to stop it pretty quick coz of cult ads and secular dating ads, which we didn't want on our site, but we believe that problem may be solved now, which I'll explain in statement #5 below.)
2. We're trying it coz we currently don't get enough voluntary donations/subscriptions to operate, as in support our expenses and work, so it's really hard, if you know what I mean.
3. ANY SUPPORTER OR SUBSCRIBER can have the ads disabled for EVEN $1/mth -- if you're a supporter/subscriber and ads are showing and you don't want them to show then please kindly send me mail in the forum. (Sorry for any inconvenience, I'm gradually marking supporters please pardon me if it's still showing for you and you don't want them to show. Some people actually prefer ads even if they're a supporter.)
4. This is experimental and we're refining it (ad placement, blocking certain categories of ads, etc.)
5. In the past we couldn't go on running Google ads because of intolerable ads BUT WE THINK IT'S MUCH BETTER NOW. (Now the ads very much depend on your own browsing history, search history, click-history, etc. Furthermore now Google Adsense allows very refined blocking of categories of ads. As of today we've further refined that to block all categories of what may be inappropriate. The main problem we had when we tried Google ads before were cult ads and secular dating ads. Well hopefully that problem is solved because now we're able to block all "religious" ads and all "dating" ads, which we've done, along with many other categories of ads, even things like "plastic surgery".)
6. I totally prefer no commercialization as in no ads on our site but that's pretty hard to do when relying on voluntary donations with a participation rate of 1% (there are different ways to measure this -- the 1% figure comes from dividing the number of users who donate in a given month by the total number of registered users who log in during that month). Even the Bible Gateway couldn't do it -- that's why, years ago, they announced that they were folding, because they're donation revenue didn't match their operation costs, and then they finally sold out to Zondervan, which commericalized it with ads. (In their case, they're big enough to attract their own sponsors or simply advertise their own stuff -- we're not that big so we have to rely on an ad network.)
7. The ads shouldn't be that bad -- some may occasionally even interest you -- and please DON'T TRY TO BLOCK THEM OR TELL OTHERS TO because it's not very considerate to try to block revenue of a site that you use for free for years. Again if you support the site with even a dollar a month and ads are showing and you don't want them to show then send me mail in the forum.
Thanks for your understanding and we do welcome positive constructive feedback from people who support our site/work or even non-supporters who want to help us make the ads more effective and keep the site clean.
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