RationalWiki talk:Advertising proposal

You should put some links to this in prominent places - I'd suggest not only main/talk, but the main page itself, and perhaps recentchangestext? human  20:11, 7 March 2008 (EST)

Amazon Associates
As mentioned on the forum, we could also look into signing up with Amazon Associates to earn some referral fees. We already have RationalWiki:Recommended Books, and many of our other articles might even benefit from adding links to suggested books and such. -- AKjeldsen Godspeed! 20:23, 7 March 2008 (EST)
 * I likey!-- [[Image:Asclepius staff.png|8px]]-PalMD -- 20:40, 7 March 2008 (EST)
 * We certainly should try to take advantage of any book sales we generate, I agree. human  20:45, 7 March 2008 (EST)

Oh absolutely! Look, I'm sure we're not above building a few, ahem, commercially oriented pages. Recommended Movies anyone? I we make a few pages specifically for the purpose of earning some revenue for the site, I don't have a much of a problem with that. I'd hate to see banners, though. DogP  21:24, 7 March 2008 (EST)
 * Don't forget Recommended Upcoming Pay Per View Events!!! HBO can subsidize us! human  21:26, 7 March 2008 (EST)

Keywords
See Squirrel's "against" google ads comment. We could have articles with a few keywords, and then just say "for example, see the ad to the left"! human  20:33, 7 March 2008 (EST)
 * Well it could work either way - if we click on any and all crank ads it raises money for RW on their dime, right? My 'against' comment isn't a "vote", just sayin' this could be an issue.  If enough people think it's not an issue with a disclaimer then go for it. Secret Squirrel 20:47, 7 March 2008 (EST)

ads don't suck
Everyone has to pay the bills. I don't do it on my blog at this point because having a medical bent, I don't want to appear influenced (but I may do it at some point anyway).-- -PalMD -- 20:39, 7 March 2008 (EST)

So far
At the moment I think the greater consensus is leading towards offering some sort of paid links that we directly control. If I get a chance I will work on coding something up at rationalbeta and get feedback from there. 24.36.229.24 23:35, 7 March 2008 (EST)

Come on folks, pay up a tiny bit
Can you afford three bucks for a month of this site and the fun it brings? $3.14? A lousy cup of coffee (not even, if you like your fritalian from Charbucks). 2 or 3 daily papers. 1/20th of basic cable+internet (US). Less change than is buried in your couch pillows ;) The price of one gallon of regular gasoline, or two liters, depending on location?  Really, how many of us can afford to kick a tiny little bit into the kitty so that 1) Trent isn't stuck paying the bill on his own, and 2) Hey, no silly ads to worry about (although I still like the idea of free links to our potential source material!) human  23:51, 7 March 2008 (EST)


 * And remember: God will bless those who give threefold. Give a little bit now and the LORD will send bags full of money directly to your safe deposit box.  ;) Secret Squirrel 10:56, 8 March 2008 (EST)

SURELY!

 * How much is it we need? $50/month? In CABAL there are 11 admitted members (probably more who haven't admitted)- pi pledge from each of these would give $31+ (if cabal members won't pony up then forget it!). Another 7 would give the required $50. I've unpledged so that means we need another 7 - are you telling me that there aren't 7 more editors out there prepared to give $3.14/month? If that's the case then I really think we ought to pack up & go home! I despair!  Susan  purrrrr  11:51, 8 March 2008 (EST)


 * Well, I just pledged pi. Would have done it before, when I gave 10 pi, but forgot.  So now I'm (or should be) committed, let's get on with it! (pal's a fake doctor, so he should be able to afford 100 pi) --Kels 12:27, 8 March 2008 (EST)

-- Pi Pledge list --

 * SusanG
 * Kels
 * DogP
 * (I've given $3.14/month for the past six months, at least I think so, and I get periodic e-mails telling me about it.)

I repeat...
I'll restate my offer once more. If you really have money troubles with regards the site, I can move it to nice new home on the isle of dogs then you can stop with the begging cash from people or threatening adverts... -- 12:50, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * This sounds like the best offer so far.--Bobbing up 13:40, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Surely does! Susan  purrrrr  13:41, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Isle of Dogs? User:PalMD
 * Woof Woof. pant pant pant pant. 14:04, 8 March 2008 (EST) CЯacke ®
 * It's near the isle of gods. The place where the UK chooses to put basically its entire telecomms infrastructure right in a lovely flood plain, such that we'll all be back to living in the stone age with one carefully placed wave. -- 14:09, 8 March 2008 (EST)


 * Piccy. Susan  purrrrr  14:08, 8 March 2008 (EST)


 * Now with handy infographic for your terrorist convenience! -- 14:19, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Are you not concerned that this might stimulate a cyber attack from CP?--Bobbing up 14:58, 8 March 2008 (EST)


 * Most of the mouth breathers at CP struggle to type a URL in to a browser, what sort of cyber attack were you thinking of? One involving attacking teh tubes with pointy rocks? -- 15:05, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * I spoke in jest as I hope you were aware. :-) --Bobbing up 15:14, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Me too. I don't really think the denizens of CP can fashion pointy rocks. -- 15:18, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * They might find some lying on the ground by chance. I don't think that particular security risk can be entirely discounted. -- AKjeldsen Godspeed! 15:23, 8 March 2008 (EST)

Returning to the point at hand, Jeeves made this kind offer before - why didn't it prosper?--Bobbing up 15:40, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * No clue. It seemed to me there were no insurmountable problems, it's just that the people who are hosting the site now didn't do anything about it. For reassurance, I'm sure I can set you up with the same amount of control over the software that you have now. I'm not going to give you root access to my box or anything, but I can certainly give you all privs on the particular database in question, and put you in all the right groups so you have control over the software.... -- 15:48, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * I have no expertise on any of this, but would there be questions of bandwidth?--Bobbing up 16:19, 8 March 2008 (EST)


 * No, we covered all this last time. This site doesn't use much in the way of bandwidth :D The main thing seemed to be its vast consumption of CPU time, which seemed rather overinflated to me. Probably because mediawiki is a piece of crap. -- 16:29, 8 March 2008 (EST)

Hey Jeeves - is your server part of a properly set up farm, or is this kinda hobby-hosted? Like, is it sellotape holding an old Amiga together in the garden shed with some plastic sheeting on top to keep the pidgeon crap off it. Or is it in something that looks like the Oceans 13 vault, all chromey and circular with blinky LED's and those big map things on the walls, with a bloke in a hat sitting outside big bulletproof glass doors. With a clipboard and a great big machine gun. Eh? DogP  13:28, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
 * Email trent and see what he thinks. I don't know enough about it.-- [[Image:Asclepius staff.png|8px]]-PalMD -- 13:34, 14 March 2008 (EDT)


 * Professional. Very little duct tape involved, and lots of fire suppressants and blinky lights. These guys live downstairs in the same building which should give you some measure of confidence. This is not to say I do a terribly good job of sysadmining though :D -- 16:54, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

If blinky lights are involved, I'm 110% behind this. No news on the gun-wielding security teams, no? Ah well. Trent - let's do this. DogP  21:21, 15 March 2008 (EDT)

Chant-O-Matics
May I suggest we try Chant-O-Matics. See here. I'm sure if we concentrate on chanting the correct incantations we can conjure up enough collective woo to send MILLION$$$$ to the site!

All together now: ALL TO-GETH-ER NOW!!! Sorry :)

How obtrusive are paid links, Amazon Associates, AdSense?
eh?- 14:31, 8 March 2008 (EST)


 * Personally, I find paid links (and equivalent non-functional link detritus, like that wanky site that displays static pictures of sites you link to... bleh, masturbation for the web generation) to be outrageously annoying. They make actually reading the text hard. The others aren't too bad. -- 14:40, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * I don't like em - they remind me of pr0n sites (yes - I have been known to accidentally(!) log on to pr0n) Susan  purrrrr  14:43, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Haha, sure Susan. Accidentally. :D Uchiha KATON! 15:07, 8 March 2008 (EST)

open the books
So is ratiowiki is running low on money? Or does tmtoulouse just want a new BMW? Lets make the records public! See who gave what! TmtamesP 16:28, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Well, I heard Bohdan donated 100 pi, but Trent ate them all. Now he's hungry again. human  17:51, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Yes. Actually, he was so hungry, he had to eat the books as well. :-( -- AKjeldsen Godspeed! 18:08, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * As I recall, it's costing around 90 a month, and donations have been much less (if my behavior is any indication). Given that it's unlikely that 6 of us are always gonna remember or be able to pony up, I think outside funding is reasonable.  Even I, the fabu wealthy TV-ready MD can't always pony up (spouse does the books and hates teh tubes...)-- [[Image:Asclepius staff.png|8px]]-PalMD -- 23:10, 8 March 2008 (EST)
 * Doc! Tell her, it's a cup of coffee a month!  Do you want me to the talk to her? (NO).  human  01:21, 9 March 2008 (EST)