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.
--
Earle Martin
http://downlode.org/
http://purl.oclc.org/net/earlemartin/