So, first off wow I did not expect the response we got when we inquired about running ads on the site. There is a lot more support then we thought there would be with it with the majority of people commenting either giving full support or saying they would not mind. Due to this and after much internal discussion we have decided we will move forward with it.
Here is an overview of what we have planned based on our research so far.
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The server needs some updates so we will install the plugin this weekend when we do our maintenance, likely late this Friday.
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According to the docs we can hide the ads by groups so $5 and up patreons will not see ads
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We plan on running ads for 3 months, during which time we will adjust and tweak the system. After the 3 month trial period we will gather more community feedback and evaluate if we should keep running ads or turn them off
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Ads will only be run of the forums. We feel running them on the main site we detract from the purpose of a storefront.
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We will be opening up a dedicated topic under Forum closer to starting the ads to gather feedback and allow users to report ads they think are intrusive or should be removed
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We will only be running banner ads. No popups and we will be doing our best to ensure video and audio ads are not used.
Our main goals during this process will be transparency and to limit the ads intrusive nature as much as is feasible.
I would like to thank you all for your support on this! I do not know how well this may work out and the main site may make this system redundant eventually, but it will be a good learning experience for us and possibly help us bring in more money that we can reinvest into this community!
If you still have any comments, concerns, or wish to just state some thoughts on the matter feel free to post it on: