Post by Paul Doherty on May 1, 2008 12:54:21 GMT
So, we're now officially free of all advertisments. This arrangement will continue for the month of May.
I did it by using the "Click Here To Make This Board Ad-Free" link at the bottom of each page, mostly out of curiosity. That lets anyone pay any amount from 1 to 140 dollars via credit card (using "Google Checkout"). You pay in dollars, but it comes off your card in local currency -- £3.63 in my case.
It works by building up a pot of dollars, and the adminstrator (me) can then apply some of the pot to make the ads go away. Being ad-free for a calendar month costs seven dollars.
The neat thing is that anyone can pay in whatever they like -- so if ten people paid one dollar each, that would keep us ad-free for another month, with a bit left over to be used for another month when some more gets paid in.
The pot can only be used for being ad-free -- I can't convert it into cash (or anything) for me!
There's no way for the adminstrator to tell who has paid what so it's rather a neat way to let community boards stay ad-free if they want to.
Myself, I'm not sure I minded the ads enough to feel it makes much difference, but on the other hand it felt like a small amount of money. Certainly worth it just for the experiment, and I can see I might do it again.
If anyone else wanted to join in of course they'd be welcome, but I don't think anyone should feel any presssure. It's certainly not a condition of joining or using the board (unlike viewing the ads on other boards -- which some people argue is a condition of using the boards, and thus ad-blockers are unethical).
Anyway, it's a murky area, and one that can lead to a lot of heat. But I think it's an interesting experiment, and I'm glad I did it.
I did it by using the "Click Here To Make This Board Ad-Free" link at the bottom of each page, mostly out of curiosity. That lets anyone pay any amount from 1 to 140 dollars via credit card (using "Google Checkout"). You pay in dollars, but it comes off your card in local currency -- £3.63 in my case.
It works by building up a pot of dollars, and the adminstrator (me) can then apply some of the pot to make the ads go away. Being ad-free for a calendar month costs seven dollars.
The neat thing is that anyone can pay in whatever they like -- so if ten people paid one dollar each, that would keep us ad-free for another month, with a bit left over to be used for another month when some more gets paid in.
The pot can only be used for being ad-free -- I can't convert it into cash (or anything) for me!
There's no way for the adminstrator to tell who has paid what so it's rather a neat way to let community boards stay ad-free if they want to.
Myself, I'm not sure I minded the ads enough to feel it makes much difference, but on the other hand it felt like a small amount of money. Certainly worth it just for the experiment, and I can see I might do it again.
If anyone else wanted to join in of course they'd be welcome, but I don't think anyone should feel any presssure. It's certainly not a condition of joining or using the board (unlike viewing the ads on other boards -- which some people argue is a condition of using the boards, and thus ad-blockers are unethical).
Anyway, it's a murky area, and one that can lead to a lot of heat. But I think it's an interesting experiment, and I'm glad I did it.
