Alright, so for those of you who don't know, I am Demon. As the left column claims. I throw random ideas at Jackstick all day with full knowledge he is going to say no. This post is partially directed at him, but I would also like to get user input to support or fight my claims - without this being a personal opinion of Jackstick or myself. (YAY democracy) Hopefully most of our remaining members will take the time to respond to this message.

Advertisements. The bane of the internet browser. Most of us use Plugins and other add-ons to prevent and destroy these targetted brands from appearing on our screens. However, there is a strong truth to the validity of their use. Google.

With google's adwords campaigns - generally free - a website has only to include these advertisements on their page and any views or click throughs generate income for the website. This is a two-side coin though. In addition to potential revenue (albeit little) Google is constantly comparing searches and its indexes to find the best results for the end user.

What does this mean for us? We become a more relevant site, because Google is constantly indexing our page to find new content and compare its relevancy to other websites with similar information.

Why would we want advertisements? This is the fun part about using a login service (we login through the forums). For existing users IE registered users (us) we can block these advertisements from appearing. WOO, benefits of being a member. However, Google and any passerby will be hit with these targetted advertisements, increasing our site's value and thus our ranking against other websites in our category.

What is this ranking you speak of? Every website is ranked by Google, Alexa, and a few other lesser known websites. These rankings are based on your output of new content, unique user visits, the length of their stay, and the revenue potential of your websites. These are important because it is a factor in your ranking in results - because it is considered in part of the relevance calculation for searches (in addition to SEO). By having ads, we are linked to an entire network of other websites and constantly critiqued for our content etc. This can, therefore, increase our user through rate as we regain lost exposure since we stopped producing material for RuneScape. Further, it will not effect current users because we can simply not show them if you are logged in.

Thus, the value of this addition should certainly be weighed and can be beneficial if worked into our existing design to maintain its appeal with the addition of advertisements.

Give me some feed back on support. Jackstick will likely say no, as always, but it is always good to hear public opinion.

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and this is me testing fun stuff.

It could work. Right now it sounds like our only views are guides are super obscure games, which has limited potential for growth.

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Thanks Goten for the siggy.
Thanks Viruz for the avvy.

If this goes through, there should be a line above or below the add that says: login to hide add. Or: members are add free.

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This is what I was going to say. Ads make the site look messy and unattractive. If I didn't know that becoming a member would hide the ads, I'd certainly be less inclined to register.

But besides that, I'd definitely like to see our ranking increase and get some more traffic. I love this place to death but it needs more activity!

That's not true. It's how the site incorporates them into the design. Tip.it's ads are unobtrusive and worked into the page.

The real problem is terrible 'webmasters' throwing them all over their website in a vain hope of getting mass revenue from them.

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and this is me testing fun stuff.

This. If the ads are well placed, I'd be okay with it. We should also try and get up some newer servers/groups for games, and decide on how to repurpose the site. Maybe make a guild in GW2? Or in a F2P game like Spiral Knights? Do we still have the vanilla minecraft server? I'd play it a lot more if we could get more people on there.

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Add me on Steam! Click this thingy!
If you're in the Runevillage group, it makes it easier to identify you!

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Kikori wrote:

Topsummoner wrote:

Riptide wrote:

I used to get you and J@n mixed up. Except your funnier. And nicer. Happy 21st bro!

Oh man Jan, you just got zinged by Riptide. How much does THAT suck?

Well, statistically speaking, slightly more than a giant suckusaur. A dire one.

PenguinGuy wrote:

Lets see if I remember how to play...

EX REX IS MAFIA SCUM FOURTHVOTER UNVILLAGE BLAH BLAH BLAH SCUM BLAH WINE IN FRONT OF ME BLAH BLAH META GAME BLAH BLAH BLAH SMELLS OF ELDERBERRIES BLAH

Right?

Sounds good. Ignore Jerkstick .

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Providing that ads only target visitor who are not logged in, and there's a notice near the ads that says they'll be turned off if you join, i'm fully for this idea.

Though I still believe RV as a whole should try to rebrand itself, as 3 out of the top 5 results from Google (or at least for me anyway) still paint us in an unfavourable light.

On another note: Why is Demon not a mod/admin yet? Things like this should be global announcements.

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There is a village, which is hidden in the shadow of a mountain.
Everybody is suffering from a lack of light.
One day, the eldest of this village leaves for the mountain with a teaspoon in his hands.
The others ask him what he intends to do.
He replies that he is going to move the mountain.
"But you will never succeed!" they cry out.
"No, i will never succeed, but somebody has to start."

~~~The Wising Up Song - Misty's Big Adventure

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Kikori wrote:

Runevillage the forum is pretty well much done. Runevillage the group will eventually die, but as long as we're still friends with each other in the end, it's still a pretty big thought in our heads. Runevillage the family is forever, no matter where we settle down. If absolutely nothing else ever comes of Runevillage in the future, that alone is a pretty damn awesome thought.