CP Ads - Missing point?
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
I generally agree, however the problem with Ads (and I can only speak for myself) is that I ignore them, they are intrusive and generally do not work. If I am looking for a particular product or service I don't wade through Ads on any site to find such. It is extremely rare that an Ad would catch my eye and be for a product service that I am currently looking for. Ant. I'm hard, yet soft.
I'm coloured, yet clear.
I'm fuity and sweet.
I'm jelly, what am I? Muse on it further, I shall return! - David Williams (Little Britain) -
I generally agree, however the problem with Ads (and I can only speak for myself) is that I ignore them, they are intrusive and generally do not work. If I am looking for a particular product or service I don't wade through Ads on any site to find such. It is extremely rare that an Ad would catch my eye and be for a product service that I am currently looking for. Ant. I'm hard, yet soft.
I'm coloured, yet clear.
I'm fuity and sweet.
I'm jelly, what am I? Muse on it further, I shall return! - David Williams (Little Britain)True, i would tend to agree but obviously not everybody feels the same or the advertisers would not be wasting their money.
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
Rocky Moore wrote: 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group ) And those who live in Brazil don't receive even half the prizes. Yes, even I am blogging now!
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I generally agree, however the problem with Ads (and I can only speak for myself) is that I ignore them, they are intrusive and generally do not work. If I am looking for a particular product or service I don't wade through Ads on any site to find such. It is extremely rare that an Ad would catch my eye and be for a product service that I am currently looking for. Ant. I'm hard, yet soft.
I'm coloured, yet clear.
I'm fuity and sweet.
I'm jelly, what am I? Muse on it further, I shall return! - David Williams (Little Britain)I disagree personally, that is depends on where the ads have been placed in the first place. Placing ads in a prestigious web site will create a good impression of the product to the viewer. (at least compare to spam mails, I will totally ignore it.) Sonork 100.41263:Anthony_Yio
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
Good post Rocky. I'd like to add something here that I found interesting when reading the posts and I cannot stress enough that I don't mean to offend anyone. A few authors said that they were going to remove their articles from CP. I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership :-) Nish
My take on gmail - Is gmail just a fashion statement? My blog on C++/CLI, MFC/Win32, .NET - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
One way to appease some of the article authors who are upset about the google ads would be to offer a bounty from the advertising revenue to the top rated articles each month, or to the competition winners.
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Good post Rocky. I'd like to add something here that I found interesting when reading the posts and I cannot stress enough that I don't mean to offend anyone. A few authors said that they were going to remove their articles from CP. I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership :-) Nish
My take on gmail - Is gmail just a fashion statement? My blog on C++/CLI, MFC/Win32, .NET - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com
Nishant S wrote: I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership You may be surprised that a few at least choose not to believe that and stand by their principles on not helping others make money. I do not mind getting old. It beats all the other options that can think of.
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
You make some good points. The ads don't really bother me, apart from the fact that the google ads look tacky and don't fit in with the colour scheme. There is the also implied endorsement of the products advertised by the writer of the article. This probably be rectified by making the ads look a little more like that rest of the CP ads. And maybe a statement above the box, saying the author of the article in no way endorses the products being advertised. Rocky Moore wrote: The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not matter if their page is 90% ads, if that is what it will take to keep CP going, then great! I don't like the sound of that at all. 90% ads will turn us into CodeGuru. Whilst I certainly have more faith in Chris than I do the bunch of *expeletive deleted* behind CodeGuru, the day there are more ads than content is the day that CodeProject dies. Rocky Moore wrote: People have talked about donations to CP to make sure it continues to grow. Can you consider you time to be a donation to help CP grow? That can be in the form of articles, posting messages, promoting CP or simply browsing around their advertisers and selecting a few that are of interest to you. Do we need a donation button? How about we just donate a little time in one form or another? As somebody who couldn't write a good article to save his life, that avenue is closed to me. Whilst I can be of a little help in the forums, that isn't going to keep CP running. I evanglise CP as much as I can. In job interviews, two of the questions I ask are "Do you have an MSDN subscription and what does your team think of CodeProject" Currently when purchasing from the CP shop, you can get CP supporter status. All I'm asking is that we are given the opportunity to purchase that status as a seperate item. CP is as useful to me as the MSDN library, so I would have no qualms of paying $100 a year to support CP and help keep it running. I'm sure others feel that way too. Donating would also be a great idea, I'd be quiet happy to ocassionally donate some spare cash to the cause of keeping CodeProject running. Michael CP Blog [
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
It has been almost 7 years since I am using internet and I hardly remember wasting time going through the adds. Television adds are blocking adds they block the whole program and one is forced to view (unless one changes the channel), but with web site it is simple 'ignore it and continue with what you are looking for'. As far as site is good I don't mind the adds.
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
Hi Rocky, Nice post. I think it isn't the whole picture though. For me, it is unethical to use my article's content to generate targetted advertisement. This isn't an issue of how much time I've put in writing articles, what I've gotten out of them, or whether CP can pay its bills. For me, it is first a question of ethics. I find the google ads unethical and offensive. If we could approach the problem of funding CP by looking at ethics first, instead of last (or never), I think we could find better solutions, many of which have already been repeatedly suggested over the years. Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog
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Good post Rocky. I'd like to add something here that I found interesting when reading the posts and I cannot stress enough that I don't mean to offend anyone. A few authors said that they were going to remove their articles from CP. I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership :-) Nish
My take on gmail - Is gmail just a fashion statement? My blog on C++/CLI, MFC/Win32, .NET - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com
Nishant S wrote: A few authors said that they were going to remove their articles from CP. I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership You know, there comes a time when what one believes in is more important than any material benefits coming from compromising those beliefs. Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog
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Nishant S wrote: A few authors said that they were going to remove their articles from CP. I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership You know, there comes a time when what one believes in is more important than any material benefits coming from compromising those beliefs. Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog
Marc Clifton wrote: You know, there comes a time when what one believes in is more important than any material benefits coming from compromising those beliefs. Marc As an author I am sure you'll appreciate my view point that however much you enjoy writing an article, there is a huge amount of satisfaction to be obtained from the knowledge that 1000s of people are reading your article. And CP helps authors get readership in a massive way. If an author registers a web site and wrote articles there, how many people do you think would come there? CP gives the author an immediate viewership and what's more important is that most of this viewership are fellow MS-technology developers who will give you the best kind of feedback you can get on the web. And to say that an author will want to remove his articles because he is mentally against putting contextual ads on his article is somehow ungrateful sounding in my opinion. An author gets a lot out of CP, so why can't CP get something back from his/her articles? Nish
My take on gmail - Is gmail just a fashion statement? My blog on C++/CLI, MFC/Win32, .NET - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com
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Nishant S wrote: I seriously doubt if any of those people would dare to do that. If they did so, then they'd lose 99% of their viewership You may be surprised that a few at least choose not to believe that and stand by their principles on not helping others make money. I do not mind getting old. It beats all the other options that can think of.
Michael A. Barnhart wrote: You may be surprised that a few at least choose not to believe that and stand by their principles on not helping others make money. You got it all wrong ;) It has nothing to do with "not want others to make money", its about adds in all the article pages, even adds that adapt to the words in the articles. For me it was just too much, and I think that CP turns into CodeGuru, as one big flashing add :(( And I do totally understand people who have some sort of business, say making software firewalls, that show some of their technologies in some articles and dont want links to the competition there. And yes yes yes, I know that the article is not what they sell, but if they did not have that business, we would not be able to read the articles. - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!" ShotKeeper, my Photo Album / Organizer Application [^]
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Marc Clifton wrote: You know, there comes a time when what one believes in is more important than any material benefits coming from compromising those beliefs. Marc As an author I am sure you'll appreciate my view point that however much you enjoy writing an article, there is a huge amount of satisfaction to be obtained from the knowledge that 1000s of people are reading your article. And CP helps authors get readership in a massive way. If an author registers a web site and wrote articles there, how many people do you think would come there? CP gives the author an immediate viewership and what's more important is that most of this viewership are fellow MS-technology developers who will give you the best kind of feedback you can get on the web. And to say that an author will want to remove his articles because he is mentally against putting contextual ads on his article is somehow ungrateful sounding in my opinion. An author gets a lot out of CP, so why can't CP get something back from his/her articles? Nish
My take on gmail - Is gmail just a fashion statement? My blog on C++/CLI, MFC/Win32, .NET - void Nish(char* szBlog); My MVP tips, tricks and essays web site - www.voidnish.com
Nishant S wrote: And to say that an author will want to remove his articles because he is mentally against putting contextual ads on his article is somehow ungrateful sounding in my opinion. Well, here's one of many possible responses. When I first wrote articles for CP, there were no targetted ads. Now, Chris has made a change that causes me to reconsider whether I want my articles on CP. Ungrateful? I'm incredibly grateful for CP, both as an author and as a user. But I really can't abide with this idea of targetted ads. It crosses the line for me. Some people don't have a problem with it, and that's fine too. Nishant S wrote: An author gets a lot out of CP, so why can't CP get something back from his/her articles? As I've said before, show me the donate button and I'll click on it. And what CP gets back is, by being the #1 coder site for its genre, it attracts ads from people like Microsoft as a result of the quantity and quality of the articles posted there. Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog
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You make some good points. The ads don't really bother me, apart from the fact that the google ads look tacky and don't fit in with the colour scheme. There is the also implied endorsement of the products advertised by the writer of the article. This probably be rectified by making the ads look a little more like that rest of the CP ads. And maybe a statement above the box, saying the author of the article in no way endorses the products being advertised. Rocky Moore wrote: The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not matter if their page is 90% ads, if that is what it will take to keep CP going, then great! I don't like the sound of that at all. 90% ads will turn us into CodeGuru. Whilst I certainly have more faith in Chris than I do the bunch of *expeletive deleted* behind CodeGuru, the day there are more ads than content is the day that CodeProject dies. Rocky Moore wrote: People have talked about donations to CP to make sure it continues to grow. Can you consider you time to be a donation to help CP grow? That can be in the form of articles, posting messages, promoting CP or simply browsing around their advertisers and selecting a few that are of interest to you. Do we need a donation button? How about we just donate a little time in one form or another? As somebody who couldn't write a good article to save his life, that avenue is closed to me. Whilst I can be of a little help in the forums, that isn't going to keep CP running. I evanglise CP as much as I can. In job interviews, two of the questions I ask are "Do you have an MSDN subscription and what does your team think of CodeProject" Currently when purchasing from the CP shop, you can get CP supporter status. All I'm asking is that we are given the opportunity to purchase that status as a seperate item. CP is as useful to me as the MSDN library, so I would have no qualms of paying $100 a year to support CP and help keep it running. I'm sure others feel that way too. Donating would also be a great idea, I'd be quiet happy to ocassionally donate some spare cash to the cause of keeping CodeProject running. Michael CP Blog [
Michael P Butler wrote: Currently when purchasing from the CP shop, you can get CP supporter status. All I'm asking is that we are given the opportunity to purchase that status as a seperate item. I've suggested that on numerous occasions. There are other simple money making methods that could be used as well. Regardz Colin J Davies
*** WARNING *
This could be addictive
**The minion's version of "Catch :bob: "It's a real shame that people as stupid as you can work out how to use a computer. said by Christian Graus in the Soapbox
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Nishant S wrote: And to say that an author will want to remove his articles because he is mentally against putting contextual ads on his article is somehow ungrateful sounding in my opinion. Well, here's one of many possible responses. When I first wrote articles for CP, there were no targetted ads. Now, Chris has made a change that causes me to reconsider whether I want my articles on CP. Ungrateful? I'm incredibly grateful for CP, both as an author and as a user. But I really can't abide with this idea of targetted ads. It crosses the line for me. Some people don't have a problem with it, and that's fine too. Nishant S wrote: An author gets a lot out of CP, so why can't CP get something back from his/her articles? As I've said before, show me the donate button and I'll click on it. And what CP gets back is, by being the #1 coder site for its genre, it attracts ads from people like Microsoft as a result of the quantity and quality of the articles posted there. Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog
Marc Clifton wrote: But I really can't abide with this idea of targetted ads. It crosses the line for me. I've noticed that you've mentioned that you think this whole "targetted ads" thing is unethical in your opinion. Could you make it clearer how exactly it is unethical? [Perhaps you might have done so alreday in some other post that I've missed, if so apologies] Is it CP that's being unethical by putting Google ads on articles? Or is it the Google ads system that you think is unethical? What is unethical about showing an ad that is somehow connected to the core topic of the article that a user is reading? Nish p.s. I am seriously interested in knowing the reasons for so many people getting so angry. I am not even remotely thinking of a debate.
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Michael P Butler wrote: Currently when purchasing from the CP shop, you can get CP supporter status. All I'm asking is that we are given the opportunity to purchase that status as a seperate item. I've suggested that on numerous occasions. There are other simple money making methods that could be used as well. Regardz Colin J Davies
*** WARNING *
This could be addictive
**The minion's version of "Catch :bob: "It's a real shame that people as stupid as you can work out how to use a computer. said by Christian Graus in the Soapbox
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Hi Rocky, Nice post. I think it isn't the whole picture though. For me, it is unethical to use my article's content to generate targetted advertisement. This isn't an issue of how much time I've put in writing articles, what I've gotten out of them, or whether CP can pay its bills. For me, it is first a question of ethics. I find the google ads unethical and offensive. If we could approach the problem of funding CP by looking at ethics first, instead of last (or never), I think we could find better solutions, many of which have already been repeatedly suggested over the years. Marc Microsoft MVP, Visual C# MyXaml MyXaml Blog
Marc, I appreciate you not wanting your articles making money for those companies that you have not personally endorsed. But that money, i believe, comes second to CodeProject getting money to keep the site up and running. The reason why I believe it comes second, is that in effect, CodeProject is allowing you to advertise your work and therefore you profit from the free service they provide you. So explain to me the difference between you benefiting from CodeProject, and CodeProject benefiting from you? Which therefore means you benefit, by keeping the site up. I think it's widely agreed that code and articles written on this site have benefitted many people. Not only people, but companies who have used this knowledge to incorporate into their own commercial products. So here, you articles, code, and ideas are being used for financial benefits behind your back. Is that ok, as long as it is behind your back and you don't see it ?? p.s. I think your articles are great and seriously hope you do not remove them from the site. Jubjub
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I have read through a ton of messages about the new targeted Google ads in articles. There seems to be a missing point, although it was mentioned vaguely in some posts. Some feel that CP is earning from the author's work and they want a piece of the pie and others simply feel that site should be free of ads since they do not like them and even suggest methods to block them. Suggestions have run from making a subscription site to get rid of the ads to allowing authors to pay fees to keep ads off their articles. Another suggestion was to allow donations to offset the ads. Point is that CP requires revenue as it is a business. It is really that simple. Who will run a business if they have to pay to run the business so that everyone can use its services for free? While CP was built by the articles that authors have posted, CP provides a place where those articles can be posted and shared. Beyond that, it provides a community stronger than any other developer site I know. Does it really stop there? Might I suggest that many authors post articles for one of the following reasons: 1) Excited about programming and generally wants to share their work with others 2) Wants the praise and respect of other developers 3) Allows them to showcase their work for possible contract work or job placement 4) To promote their services, products or company in general 5) To have others help them debug and/or improve their code at no cost to them 6) To win prizes from CP contests (that must be a small group :) ) I would imagine there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It is not that CP is making money from you work, it is what benefits does CP provide to you? Think how many people receive benefit by access to articles or the message bases for help. Or how about the general geekdom fellowship? What about all of us that have links in our signatures to promote ourselves or our businesses, CP does not forbid them. The plain simple fact is that almost everyone receives benefit from CP or they would not be here. The question is, does the benefit you receive outweigh the effort you have spent, such as posting articles, helping others, or simply clicking on some ads that are of interest to you? I would say that most people posting articles here have received more benefits in one form or another than they would have received had they sold those articles to a company. The missing point is simply that we all benefit from CP and CP should be a flourishing business. Does not
In some cases, targeted ads can actually help articles as the author is giving free working solution with source for the products that are being advertised. :) //Start of joke Never comment ur code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand !!! //End of joke
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One way to appease some of the article authors who are upset about the google ads would be to offer a bounty from the advertising revenue to the top rated articles each month, or to the competition winners.
I don't think the amount received would make sense at all. How much do you xpect to get in a month? Flipping burgers is probably ten times more economical (plus you meet a lot of fat people and feel better about yourself) My most recent article would be absolutely uneconomical from a commercial standpoint. Getting another $10 for it would mean absolutely no motiviation at all.
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
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