Thread: AD's on SRP?

I'd be happy to pay a monthly fee of a few bucks to keep the site running. Even if the really active and dedicated members threw in a couple bucks a month and floated the cost for the lurkers and new/casual members, we could still come up with at least $200 a month or so. I don't know if this would pay for the time and the costs, but we may be able to work something out.

If it comes down to ads, that's fine. I'm a guest here, and a free one at that, so I won't complain about the presence of advertising to offset cost.

My problem is that the ads I'm seeing are for Kamasori razors, or whatever they're called. We've got page after page discussing these razors. Three of our best honemeisters say they aren't worth the price, don't achieve a keen edge and can barely keep the edge the do get.

If the ads are simply selected by googles word association system, we should have a disclaimer that the vendors featured aren't being suggested by SRP, but by a google program. I would hate to have a new guy buy a crappy razor because he thought the link from SRP meant it was somehow suggested or supported by the members here.

BTW, I also see shavemac ads, so while some vendors aren't so hot, others are well respected.

I want to make it clear that I'm not looking for a free ride. As a small vendor, I would happily pay a price to have a small ad on SRP. SMF has small ads on their home page and I think they look just fine. Even ads in the category page would be fine with me. Ads in between the individual posts is a bit of a PITA since I use my cursor pad rather than a mouse and have clicked on a few by accident.

Thanks,

Matt raised another good point. A good number of our respected members are small vendors. These ads cut into their business.
What has me wondering is why we didn't go to the members first, when the expense issue came up. Some of the small vendors would have paid for advertising and regular members would have contributed freely.

Originally Posted by Yourmum90

...oh and can we put a spell checker on here

check out the upper right corner of the text box, just above the smilies. The first time I used it, it directed me to a download site, but after downloading and installing, it works well and unobtrusively.

-whatever

-Lou
-------------------------------------------------------
Politicians are like diapers - both should be changed often, and for the same reason.

hmm, maybe i am blind but all i see on the right hand side of this text box is the smilies and a couple of arrows plus a/A that kinda thing and all that seems to do is "switch Editor mode"?

Originally Posted by Yourmum90

hmm, maybe i am blind but all i see on the right hand side of this text box is the smilies and a couple of arrows plus a/A that kinda thing and all that seems to do is "switch Editor mode"?

AFAIK both Firefox and IE browsers have spell checkers. I can't speak to other browsers... Firestart uses Opera, so he could probably tell you on that one.

Originally Posted by Yourmum90

hmm, maybe i am blind but all i see on the right hand side of this text box is the smilies and a couple of arrows plus a/A that kinda thing and all that seems to do is "switch Editor mode"?

wow, that's really strange - I have the a/A thing, the two arrows and next to them is the check mark with ABC over it, which is my spell checker....

---if I were you, I'd go buy a new computer.


-whatever

-Lou

Originally Posted by scarface

---if I were you, I'd go buy a new computer.


-whatever

-Lou

KIDDING --kidding -- I'm just kidding...

...DON'T go buy a new computer

-whatever

-Lou

I know many forums with dual membership levels one that supports ads, and one that shows now ads for paying members.

I personally do not have a problem with ads, but I have a major issue with ads for products that we have spent countless hours instructing newbies NOT to buy. If we must have ads we have a duty to the forum and our members to block ads from companies which we have specifically by name spoken out against due to quality or customer service reasons. If this cannot be done than the whol ad idea must be rethought.

I also have a big problem with these large companies having ad space without giving our members who own small businesses the same opportunity, it cheapens the idea of the forums and is insulting to those vendors who have put so much time in SRP. Sure we all know who our vendors are, and even with the proposed vendor listing newbies will most likely be drawn to names from a huge reputable company like google before looking at our own small vendors. I would like to see what any new members have to say about this.

As I think I've stated, if someone finds an ad that they have an issue with, give me the URL. So far no one has sent me any links.

I've blocked all that I could find, but I won't get all of them.

Anyone who has a good reputation, and a good product will be able to advertise. We haven't even contacted anyone yet, so I don't see why our panties are in knots.

dw

currently I'm not seeing any ads

for the record I'm a subscriber at a forum called arstechnica, I pay them $25/year, so people do support forums they like (especially if it gives additional posting rights for example)