[MaraDNS list] Discussion: Putting ads on the MaraDNS web page

[Mike Sands]

Sam
  Here's the way I see it. I get a great software package for dns services that is significantly easier to deal with than bind or djbdns for free and for that I have to see a few text ads on your site? It's a no-brainer put up the ads and support your work. I don't consider the text only ads to be intrusive enough in bandwidth or in site design to consider them spam.  

-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at maradns.org [mailto:list-bounces at maradns.org] On Behalf Of Sam Trenholme
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 10:15 PM
To: MaraDNS support mailing list
Subject: Re: [MaraDNS list] Discussion: Putting ads on the MaraDNS web page

> I like the idea of PayPal, Payson, and other donate buttons. They may or
> may not bring in much, but they certainly bring it to you instead of
> relying upon the affiliate SPAMming that ads are.

There is, in fact, a donate button on MaraDNS's web page.  I reinstated it
back in May: http://aem2.vk.tj As it turns out, I didn't get a single
donation in all of May nor June, which was one of the things that motivated
me to put text-only ads on MaraDNS' web page.

I will get back to the idea that using ads to support a website is "SPAM"
later on.

> At one time years ago, I had Amazon links for the "DNS and BIND" book,
> and a couple of others which I myself read, used, and recommended. It
> didn't bring in a dime.
[...]
> Perhaps Adsense is a good program, a lot of people do it.

I'm not making much with my Adsense ads, but it is enough to cover hosting
costs, and, if I'm lucky, I might be able to take my wife out to dinner once
a month with the money I am getting.

> There are lots of avenues you can use to have your product available for
> online ordering, so I won't bother to make a dozen recommendations here.

I'm curious what kind of product you would like to see me sell.  Are you
thinking of a CD-R in a jewel case with Nicholas Bamber's MaraDNS logo on
the front?  Perhaps I can sell mugs at cafepress.com with this logo?
 Another possibility is making a book with all of MaraDNS' documentation,
but there would be some labor involved getting the book together--which
would necessitate me making the book non-Free.

> in regards to ad SPAMming

"Spam" is a word that has different meanings to different people.  I define
"spam" as an advertisement that I have to pay for.  Let's compare some
economic models for advertisements:

Economic model              Paid for by        Benefits
--------------------------- ------------------ -----------------
Web ad (unmetered internet) Advertiser         A,W,V
Web ad (metered internet)   Advertiser, viewer A,W,V
Webpage viewed with adblock Webmaster          Viewer
Usenet spam                 Usenet provdider   Advertiser
Email spam                  Email server       Advertiser

A: Advertiser
W: Webmaster
V: Viewer

Here, I consider any economic model where someone besides the advertiser
pays for an ad to be "spam".  In this sense, a webpage ad is spam for
someone viewing the webpage on a metered internet connection.  Which is why
I have absolutely no objection to people on metered internet connections
using an ad-blocker in order to not waste their limited bandwidth.

Web ads are obviously in the webmaster's best interest: They are money in
the bank for me.  Looking at the above chart, from the point of view of a
webmaster, a person using ad-block may as well be a spammer; just like a
spammer, the ad-block user is getting a net benefit at someone else's
expense.

I, in no way, do not want to make the experience of MaraDNS.org unpleasant.
 While I disagree with the morality of using ad-block, I understand that a
person using this tool probably has legitimate reasons for using this tool
(besides saving precious bandwidth on a metered internet connection).
 Indeed, I find advertisements that animate and ads that play sounds
extremely annoying, and, yes, I sometimes do turn on my ad-blocker to block
those ads since otherwise I wouldn't enjoy reading the ad-supported content.

This is why I will only have text ads on my site.  I already have done a
trial with non-text ads on my blog, and they paid me no more than text-only
ads.  There is no point annoying my users more with ads that do not increase
my ad revenue.

I am hoping that ad-block users find other way to compensate me for my
bandwidth and, yes, my labor developing and maintaining MaraDNS.  Coffee
mugs with the MaraDNS logo may be something cool to have, for example.  In
the meantime, people are free to click on the "Paypal donate" button
prominently visible at MaraDNS.org (please don't tell me that adblock blocks
even this).

> 1.) Donate badges

Done.  If your ad-blocker happens to block them, you may also, if you wish,
send a donation to the PayPal email address abiword_bugs at yahoo.com (Note: I
never read email sent to this address; it is *only* for PayPal donations)

> 2.) a mail order, shrink wrapped version of your business product.

I would have to do that via a third party.  I'll probably just make it all
of the MaraDNS 1.4 and 2.0 tarballs, as well as the documentation part of
the webpage in a "live CD" format.

> I hope that helps :)

Thanks for the suggestions.