Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

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cdnchris
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Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#1 Post by cdnchris » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:21 am

This gets mentioned every so often and I've been admittedly reluctant to try it, but I've decided to look into maybe removing ads and going to a donation-type system, at least for registered users, though I want to experiment at first. I'm still reluctant, because I still hate asking for donations, especially on a monthly basis, but I'm also getting sick of ads.

I will add incentives, though to start things off while the experiment is ongoing, for a $5/month minimum I will disable the ads for the user for the month and for every $5 after I will disable another month. This does not apply to third party apps like Tap-A-Talk, or web browsers that may have built in ads, and so on.

I'll be adding the "Chat" feature sometime soon, and this will be open to users who have donated the $5 minimum. I'll be working on other incentives as well.

And also, for fun, the incentives from the "Site Overhaul" fund raiser can apply here if anyone wants to take up any of them.

It may take 24 to 48 hours to apply any incentives. I will post an announcement when the Chat is enabled.

Please put your user name in the Notes field so I can properly tie everything. At some point, if it seems like this is a viable option, I will probably look at Patreon or something.

Donate here

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#2 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:41 am

How much do I have to pay to get my old custom rank back? Not to sound bitter, but literally no one besides swo has asked me about my visible cat breasts.

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swo17
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#3 Post by swo17 » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:48 am

Your old rank being Don't ask me about my visible cat breasts?

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#4 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:53 am

That would've almost certainly invited more questions, now that I think of it.

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colinr0380
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#5 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:57 am

What is the tier that makes domino watch more Brian De Palma films?

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swo17
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#6 Post by swo17 » Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:01 pm

And comment on them in rhyme

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cdnchris
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#7 Post by cdnchris » Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:10 pm

DarkImbecile wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:41 am
How much do I have to pay to get my old custom rank back? Not to sound bitter, but literally no one besides swo has asked me about my visible cat breasts.
I'm sure we can work something out, but while we're at it, what about your visible cat breasts??
colinr0380 wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:57 am
What is the tier that makes domino watch more Brian De Palma films?
Getting no input at all from him I'm sure he'd be okay with a buck a film, meaning he'd have to repeat-watch them as well. It's easy to make these decisions when they have no impact on me directly.

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domino harvey
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#8 Post by domino harvey » Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:18 pm

Though it feels a bit like a bachelor auction wherein we eat a picnic lunch together if you bid on me... For a $20 contribution to Chris/the site from anyone interested, I will write at least 500 words on any film of your choosing, assuming I'm able to access it

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#9 Post by Mr Sausage » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:13 pm

Hey guys, if we pool our resources, we can get domino to watch the collected works of Jess Franco.

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yoloswegmaster
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#10 Post by yoloswegmaster » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:15 pm

Mr Sausage wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:13 pm
Hey guys, if we pool our resources, we can get domino to watch the collected works of Jess Franco.
Let's make it Neil Breen instead.

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Big Ben
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#11 Post by Big Ben » Wed Oct 16, 2019 3:07 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:15 pm
Mr Sausage wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:13 pm
Hey guys, if we pool our resources, we can get domino to watch the collected works of Jess Franco.
Let's make it Neil Breen instead.
Why not both? Make a big reward tier. Then domino can tell us how he and Neil Breen's next collab will expose the corruption at the heart of society.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#12 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:32 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:18 pm
Though it feels a bit like a bachelor auction wherein we eat a picnic lunch together if you bid on me... For a $20 contribution to Chris/the site from anyone interested, I will write at least 500 words on any film of your choosing, assuming I'm able to access it
I was going to contribute anyways, but I’ve been wanting to read your thoughts on Pierrot Le Fou for long enough to make that my pick, out of sheer curiosity for how you read it considering it’s a mutually shared favorite film (I believe you’ve referred to it as the greatest of all films) and one that affords many diverse academic interpretations for analysis.

Since this shouldn’t be too much of a chore, I’ll also accept any preferred essays or sources in a PM or elsewhere as complementary reading, if there’s any that stand out amongst the others as personal recs!

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domino harvey
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#13 Post by domino harvey » Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:00 pm

So be it! This month is nuts for me, but I'll aim to deliver within two weeks or so in the dedicated thread for the film

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cdnchris
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#14 Post by cdnchris » Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:51 am

Just to update to everyone that has donated, I had some expected things come up and was distracted yesterday but I will be setting up the ad filters for your accounts and getting back to each of you about incentives sometime today. Thanks!

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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#15 Post by cdnchris » Mon Oct 21, 2019 4:40 pm

I disabled ads for those that have donated and I still have to reach out to a handful of people. Please feel free to contact me if I haven't done so yet.

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#16 Post by Lemmy Caution » Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:39 am

Well, I just sort of did my part by turning off my adblocker.
Actually I thought I did that before, but that was probably on another browser.

Plenty of sites pop up a screen saying, Hey can you turn off your adblocker since that's how we fund the site. Some let you continue with or without disabling adblock. Others don't let you continue without disablement. So that's a road you can take. I don't mind getting ads on a site I like to use.
And a friendly reminder that someone is blocking ads may get more folks to allow ads and bring in more revenue.

Edit: I'm in China, so just got a large ad all in Chines for a TOEFL prep course. Amusing.

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cdnchris
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Re: Looking to Experiment in Removing Ads on the Site

#17 Post by cdnchris » Thu Jan 09, 2020 1:13 pm

Eh, I've considered the detecting ad-blocking thing but I don't know if I like it, but I guess if it was done in a "friendly" way it would be ok. But I definitely don't want to block anyone from using the site. I've been looking at all sorts of alternatives because I'm not a fan of the ads at all and I swear Google is making them more obtrusive.

I'm probably going to stop this little experiment. It went ok but I don't see it as a suitable alternative in the long run. I'm going to put donations towards the site revamp. I'm looking at adding the live chat feature as well, after finding one that looks like it will work.

Also, I think I got everyone, but if anybody that donated is still seeing ads please let me know so I can fix that. There was a bug that I had to iron out and I think I got it, but I just want to make sure they're not showing up for the people that donated.

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