Forum sponsorship

[Joshua Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Io Zeno

You know what Josh, I have a question for you.

Of the two of us, who is continually told to shut up, grow up, back off and in general found extremely irritating by many people?

I will give you some time. No, your opinion of me doesn't count.

Now, maybe the whole world is wrong and you are just right but I kinda doubt it.

You aren't helping Cris by coming into his thread to smack anyone who doesn't speak nicely to him, in regards to a business matter.

Let him mind his own damn business and you take care of yours. From what I've heard you have had almost every profession known to man, you must be very busy.

One, that has nothing to do with the subject of this thread. Again, are you able to respond to me at all without coming in with your preceding bias? I certainly am, until inevitably you treat me like shit and piss me off.

Two, no where, even now, have I "smacked" anyone who spoke not-nicely or otherwise. Winter said she didn't feel that it was worth it to her unless she controlled the banner ads as well. I pointed out that it's cheaper to sponsor the forum and get 100% guaranteed pageviews verses running a high-frequency campaign for 30 days and get only 75 - 80% (or whatever the rate is) of the same.

Did so nicely. Politely. But no, I forgot I'm not allowed to talk about anything.

I don't have to "mind my business." It's a public forum. You're the only person being rude here.

[Io Zeno]

Originally Posted by Joshua Nightshade

The pricing for high-rotation ads is different than it is for just a sponsored link here.

http://www.sluniverse.com/php/index....id=advertising

Thirty days on either rate would net about double+ the cost of thirty days as a sponsored link. I think that when you factor in the cost of Cris' already pretty fair advertising rates with that, it's a bit ridiculous to expect sole ads for a rate less than his most dedicated advertising rate.

Originally Posted by Joshua Nightshade

Well it doesn't look that way to me. It looked like Winter was complaining that if the sponsorship doesn't include full control over the subforum ads then it's not worth it to her. I was pointing out that it's less than the cost of a high-rotation ad for 30 days with the added benefit that at least you're guaranteed to be seen, and more times than at the high-rotation.

Cris said that the ad systems are totally separate and as far as I know not aware of specific subforums. For that to change would involve a lot of work if it's possible at all.

Winter's comment didn't strike me as feedback so much as "If it can't do this, I don't want it."

I would love to see how your business would do if you talked to your potential clients this way, sonny jim.

"Would you be interested in..?"

"I dunno, it doesn't seem worth it to me, can I have this added on? If I had that, it may be something I would be interested in."

"Uh, NO, that would be ridiculous, I'm not giving you complete control over my subform and you sound very demanding as well."

[Io Zeno]

In addition, when you pointed out the cost, I suggested that he could charge more for it.

Your answer was: Or be happy with what you've got.

[Joshua Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Io Zeno

I would love to see how your business would do if you talked to your potential clients this way, sonny jim.

"Would you be interested in..?"

"I dunno, it doesn't seem worth it to me, can I have this added on? If I had that, it may be something I would be interested in."

"Uh, NO, that would be ridiculous, I'm not giving you complete control over my subform and you sound very demanding as well."

It's not about not wanting complete control of the subforum. They're two different systems. The sponsorship plugin is a vbul hack. The ad server is a totally different system running elsewhere. They don't talk to one another. Cris said he didn't know if it would be possible to add at all, much less without extensive changes to vbul itself. And given that the sponsorship offer is already less than high-frequency ad campaign offerings I do think that's silly. Winter's tone to me didn't look like, "Hm I dunno," it looked like, "This is just wasting my time unless you offer this as well."

"Man alive," if anyone other than Io thought I was rude I swear to christ I'll post another cock shot. I seriously don't see it. I only see you being nasty to me for no reason.

Rather, no reason having to do with this thread, that is.

[Cristiano]

Please stop arguing in the thread. Winter is entitled to think something is not worth it, and Josh is entitled to think she is being unreasonable, and both are able to express it. However, this back and forth bickering has to go. Just stop doing it, I'm sick of it. I'm going to remove the posts to their own thread.

[Joshua Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Io Zeno

In addition, when you pointed out the cost, I suggested that he could charge more for it.

Your answer was: Or be happy with what you've got.

That was a joke. Hence the emoticon.

I considered adding at the end of it but thought you'd take that seriously as well.

[Joshua Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Cristiano

Please stop arguing in the thread. Winter is entitled to think something is not worth it, and Josh is entitled to think she is being unreasonable, and both are able ot express it. However, this back and forth bickering has to go. Just stop doing it, I'm sick of it. I'm going to remove the posts to their own thread.

OMG moderation.

[Io Zeno]

Meh, Cris, don't bother, I don't care if you delete all this shit.

[Cristiano]

Is it still overlapping anything?

[Mourna Biziou]

No, it's on the left now

[Cory Edo]

Where can we sign up for this? I want Glorious Nation of Coryzekistan to sponsor Off Topic.

[Cristiano]

Originally Posted by Cory Edo

Where can we sign up for this? I want Glorious Nation of Coryzekistan to sponsor Off Topic.

Ask and yee shall receive - I am going to go live with them on Friday probably - still working out a few kinks with it and adjusting the formatting. Just PM me and let me know what to link it to.

[Cristiano]

Originally Posted by Winter Ventura

I'll say, if you could guarantee that "all the banner ads seen in the sponsored forum" were ones the sponsor dictated, I think you'd get a lot of interest. Without that, I think that this sponsorship deal rings pretty hollow. I mean no offense to you Cris, but "Second Citizen Refugees, brought to you by Eclectic Randomness" isn't really worth that kind of cash, at least not to me. If I can pwn the banners in that forum, then yes, there's an incentive worth some cash to me.

I appreciate the feedback, but there are two separate issues with the idea of blocking out (or being able to "approve" the ads the banner ads that appear). For one thing, sponsorship of an individual forum costs the equivalent of a standard side banner ad on the site. For that price, to expect to be able to block out other paid advertising altogether or have approval is unrealistic.

More importantly, the sponsorship system is separate from the ad system - to make the two interact would be quite difficult and require a lot of programming. That in turn would also cause me to need to raise the price to compensate for the added effort.

This is an experiment in a new type of ad option - there are a variety available if this does not fit your needs,. I have already expanded where the ad is shown to include every thread within the sponsored forum, in two separate places. I am going to continue to look for ways to improve it, while keeping it unobtrusive. That is the reason for ther choice fo text links over banners.

[Joshua Nightshade]

Cris why do you have to be such a Cristiano-fanboy? Sheesh.

[Io Zeno]

Originally Posted by Joshua Nightshade

Cris why do you have to be such a Cristiano-fanboy? Sheesh.

Why must you be such an immature punk that always has the last word?

Clue: Cris responded to her in a respectful and professional manner.

[Joshua Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Io Zeno

Clue: Cris responded to her in a respectful and professional manner.

So did I. Furthermore Cris said exactly the same thing in pretty much the exact same way I said it.

Why must you be such an immature punk that always has the last word?

Still waiting on you to get back to me on where I was either immature or punkish.

Again babes, you, not me, have been the only rude one in this thread.

[Cristiano]

Originally Posted by ZATZAi

Ah ok, would be nice if it showed up in threads in sponsored forums as well. Up top, where the forum hierarchy is. And maybe in newposts search and iSpy when it lists the forum?

I have added it to the threads - at the top of the thread, and also down by the Quick Reply section. It is not possible to add it to New Posts or to iSpy. I may have to hack that one manually, and those two pages would be more expensive.

[Cristiano]

Originally Posted by Io Zeno

This is the thing, Jess. The tag is a direct slurl.

Io, it can be linked to any web site. I actually generally discourage advertisers from using SLURLs since they really don't tell you much without going into SL. I linked mine to one because I was in a hurry.

[Cristiano]

FYI, General, Off-Topic and New Users have all been reserved, and SC Refugees is not available for sponsorship.

[ZATZAi]

Am I too late for this fight? Oh and you're all being watched...

[Huns Valens]

I can write a vB plugin that will do per-forum banners. I know exactly how to do it. Would be very easy to administer, you'd just put the URL to the banner and the link href into a couple of fields I can add to the forum editor screen. Something to think about if people are willing to pay more for the privilege.