Feedback Needed for New Advertising Option

[Yoda]

Hello again, MoFos.

I have a question to ask of you all. As you all know, I like to keep the community in the loop about site changes, especially as they pertain to advertising, as community regulars will always be the ones most inconvenienced by any ads which may appear. With that in mind, I'd like to ask for your feelings on a new form of advertising.

It, simply put, reads blocks of text, and turns certain words into links. For example: if I were to write a paragraph about The Matrix, the word "Matrix" (or perhaps the whole title) may be turned into a link that, when clicked, took you to a place where you could buy the film on DVD. This program also allows for the links to be styled in various ways, so the links could be (I assume) just like any other link on the site, or they could be made to stand out. I also have the option to limit the number of links that appear per page.

Obviously, having a few unintended links in your posts could be a tad annoying, which is why I'm leaning towards only using this feature on the site's main content areas...news items, box office updates, and perhaps reviews. Things like that. However, if this performs well, placing it on the forums may justify removing the ads that are currently just above this post. In other words, in return for putting up with the links, there'd be more screen space, and less scrolling.

Here's an example of the program in use elsewhere: http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=4564

That's a rough summary of how it would work. Please let me know what you prefer, and why. I'd like to explore this new option without bothering or frustrating anyone, so any and all feedback is very welcome. :)

[Sedai]

I guess it doesn't matter either way to me. I tend to ignore most of the ads anyway, and am not a person who gets distracted by them at all. I would think a limit would be necessary though, so posts don't end up being all links :)

_S

[Golgot]

i think i'd find that kind of annoying in normal discussions, but it should slot in nicely in the news and box office sections.

I've got a feeling it would be annoying in reviews too tho. They're the most prose-like, creative (even visual) areas, and i get the feeling that this system would break up the feel of those pages (i.e. just noticing the highlighted words as you scan the text etc, or even bring up the info by mistake as you scroll)

Still, intriguing...;)

[Yoda]

I was thinking the exact same thing, Gol. The reviews are definitely borderline.

I suspect that, in practice, a link or two in most longer posts wouldn't be as bad as it might sound, but I don't want to spring any sudden annoyances on the community at large. Such a thing, if it ever happens on the boards, would probably be a long way off, unless the site faced some sort of major financial crisis (unlikely).

[Golgot]

I suspect that, in practice, a link or two in most longer posts wouldn't be as bad as it might sound...

Hey, are you planning on taxing my posts or something? :Paranoid-smilie: ;)

[Yoda]

:Paranoid-smilie:Like this?

:suspicious:

[Golgot]

Doh, i thought that was an "M and Ms" advert :rolleyes: ;).

[LordSlaytan]

I like to link titles and various things myself. Would it overwrite things I've already established a link for?

[r3port3r66]

I'm glad you brought up the aspect of un-wanted links popping up inside posts. I have no problem with having links integrated inside my posts, but just as long as they don't route readers/users to dis-tasteful websites. I would hate to think a casual reader, maybe guest, would assume that my review, or position on a topic was any way a ploy to get at something I don't endorse, or have a link open to something I definately don't endorse, i.e. George Bush ;) !

[MyRobotSuit]

Imagine if there were links in the Matrix titles, that would be annoying.

[nebbit]

They don't worry me. :D

Yoda, you really should reconsider taxing Gollygosh's posts, think how much money you wold make if you taxed by the no. of words.
http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/money8.gif

[Zeiken]

Im all for it, Yoda. I think that anything that helps MoFo's is nothing but beneficial to all of us. And personally, i have already learned to zone out any form of advertising from my attention. Rock it up, Yoda.

[Yoda]

I might still give this a try on a select few pages. I'll let you all know if I do.

Regardless, just wanted to update everyone on the latest change; back to text-ads in the header. You'll still see banner images now and then, though the text ads will be the norm. I've switched up the style a bit in hopes of achieving a higher click-thru rate. I've got a few other display options I might try depending on how this one fares.

Technically, this takes up about the same amount of space as the old text ad display...it looks like it takes up more, however, because the ads are now "in" the navigation box along the top of each page. Feedback, positive or negative, is welcome. Depending upon results, I may change the way it looks again quite shortly.

[allthatglitters]

Links
It sounds interesting. Would there be a way to tell the difference between advertising links and real links? Like the advertising links could be red or something like that. And would there be a rule that it couldn't overwrite links?

Banners
I noticed that this morning, doesn't really make a difference to me. I usually look where I am clicking. Although a few times I've accidently clicked on them thinking I was clicking on the forum jump.

[Eyes]

what if you made the ads, such that, to appear in a post, you had to underline the title, or type a ^ at both ends, or better yet, have an button in the UCP that allows someone to disable ads in their posts, then they have to option of not having the ads pop up in their posts, but can put them there if they don't mind

[Garrett]

Not too hot on the advertising being in the navigation box. But do whatever is necessary, it won't keep me from coming here all the time.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

This ad is really irritating: If you happen to mouse over it, it throws up a dropdown box that has to be canceled before you can do anything else. And if you click the X to cancel and don't carefully avoid the ad with your mouse, it happens again. :mad:

[nebbit]

Thanks for the info Sammie I will avoid that one. :p