This is a multi-reply message.
Roger wrote:
Advertisements mean the site's no longer independent or done as a hobby, but suddenly trying to be a paying concern.
No, they don't. That's completely and absolutely wrong. They mean that the site owner is unemployed, living on benefits, and paying for keeping the server running out of his own pocket. If it helps, I've just written this, and put a link to it under the ads:
http://london.openguides.org/money.html
A donation option would have been entirely acceptable to me...
Good suggestion. I put one of those on the money page. However, given that the audience of london.openguides.org seems to be a regular group of people that can be counted on the fingers of both hands, I doubt that there'll be many donations regularly, as it would make the regulars feel like they had to be paid subscribers to the site. Am I right?
Ivor wrote:
Can Earle please clarify if Lon.OG has entered into some contractual arrangement with Google...
No. See https://www.google.com/adsense/
The alternative is a fork: "The Free guide to London".
It already is free. I don't recall asking anyone to pay to read it. Nor does the site license preclude commercial use (which this isn't, anyway).
Kake wrote:
how much money do you expect the ads to make, and would you take them off if I could raise the same amount from donations?
I haven't got a clue, to be honest, and I probably would. However, I feel that having the PayPal donation button somewhere more prominent is crass (even more so than the adverts), and looks amateurish. Suggestions of layouts, wording, or what-have-you will be gratefully received.
Bob wrote:
a) They arnt displaying properly so it just looks crap.
They look OK to me. Your browser's mileage may vary.
What has annoyed me most about this is that the list was not asked before it was implemented
Sometimes things like poverty force you to set your principles aside. I'm not asking for your sympathy, but nor am I asking for your forgiveness.