- Would it be a good idea or a bad idea to have ads on some of my pages? (I'd probably do the browser code and other code pages, and old (not current) weblog posts.)
- Should I put the script on Dynamic Drive?
- Should I do both?
On I wrote Ads and directories, on the subject of JavaScript and the DOM, Usability, Web, Musings, and Politics.
The most popular thing I've ever written is the JavaScript table sort library, sorttable. Recently, I got into a discussion with the LugRadio chaps about advertising on websites, and whether it's a good idea or not. I've toyed in the past with the idea of adding adverts to this site; it somehow feels a little distasteful to me, but during the discussion it became apparent that I don't actually have any reason to back that up; it's pure prejudice. Somehow it feels less pure to do something if you make money from it: the phrase "filthy lucre" exists for a reason, and the love of money is the root of all evil. On the other hand, I do love money since it lets me buy cool things. So. To ad or not to ad?
On the other hand, I got an email from the Dynamic Drive people asking if they could feature sorttable in their directory of JavaScripts. Now, one of the things that the JavaScript community have discussed (and this came up in this past weekend's JavaScript pub meet -- pics available) is trying to get good, well-coded, modern scripting into these huge galleries of download-and-use plug-n-play scripts. The idea here (and not everyone agrees with me on this, I feel bound to say) is that we are never going to convince some people to actually give a damn about the quality of scripts that they use or write. They're just going to think, "I want some effect, I googled for that effect, and here's a script that does it, so I follow the instructions to drop that script into my site, job done." Since that's going to happen, we should make sure that the scripts that people find are decent ones. That's why I wrote sorttable, for example: to ensure that people have a simple drop-in decently-coded way of doing client-side table sorting. One good way of doing this is to talk to the current big repositories of scripts, like Dynamic Drive, and work with them to try and make sure that their scripts are good ones.
But...if I put the script on Dynamic Drive, then some people will get it there instead of from me (even though there'll be a link to my site) and...that'll hurt my ad revenue, if I have ads.
So, questions therefore, for those of you out there reading this, whether you're a JavaScripter or a website owner or just a consumer:
Eugene
sil
Eugene: the point is, if I really do feel dirty having ads, I'm not going to have them at all. If I decide in favour of having them then I might as well earn as much money from them as I can! If I'm not worried about the money then I'm not going to put the ads up.
Greg
I don't think there's anything wrong with using ads to help cover hosting costs for something useful, but it's really down to you.
Most of the scripts on places like DD and hotscripts do seem to be utter ****, and anything that helps to dilute that can only be a good thing. Could you perhaps include only the 'getting started' docs with the code there, and point people at your site for help with the more complicated usage?
brothercake
Do both, but remember that putting a scripting on Dynamic Drive means effectively letting go of any licensing constraints - you won't be able to specify only non-commercial use, for example.
Though what I've done in the past is fork - give a specific, unrestricted version to DD, while keeping a different, more specifically licensed version on my own site.
sil
brothercake: I'm not too worried about licencing constraints, because all my scripts are MIT licenced anyway...
Thom
Why not donate a certain % of ad revenue to a good cause (e.g a software freedom foundation)? This would sure ease the guilt somewhat :)
Gary Fleming
There's nothing wrong with unobtrusive advertising. Big flash things that cover the content up until you pay attention to them are bad, but simple text ads that are out of the way are fine.
As for DD, at best I'd advise them to have a blurb and link to sorttable. I know I wouldn't want my code reasonably associated with them.
mattl
Why not leave the ads, but offer a cheap support option for people who might have questions? I'd happily give you a fiver if it meant I'd get a response to a question about your script.
Also, put up a tipjar on the download page.
Giacomo
Ads are perfectly fine, text ads especially so. Ads-haters already use Adblock anyway, so you're certainly not alienating anyone, and if it helps pay the bandwidth... On DD, it's entirely your call; that kind of thing used to be more relevant before blogs came around.
Chuck
I think it comes down to what I put in Jono's blog when he asked a similar question.
For your personal site and projects, it's whatever you feel comfortable doing.
For a project site, such as Jokosher, you need to follow the will of the community that supports the project. After all, without them it's not much of a project.
Steve
Lets put the ad revenue into perspective - it pays bar tabs. I put adsense on the Color Palette Creator back in November and its paid my way through several late nights since. I wish I had done it earlier rather than stuggling with the same "but will it make me a whore?" dilemma.
Think about the beer, Stuart. Think about the beer.
sil
Steve: makes me slightly sad that you know how to motivate me so effectively ;)
Matthew Davidson
This article recommends turning off ads for regular visitors, which I thought was an interesting idea. I suppose you could get even more tricksy by only displaying any one ad a certain number of times for any one user, on the assumption that if someone's seen it three or four times and hasn't responded to it, they never will. Advertising become less morally murky if you're polite and considerate about it, and I'm seriously considering something along these lines myself for an upcoming project.
Of course the cognoscenti use Firefox's Adblock and Filterset.G, and someone recently kindly pointed me in the direction of Remove It Permanently which can expunge arbitrary page elements, so even Google ads are a thing of the past for me. But then I'm cheap, so advertising is wasted on me anyway. I need all the money I can get for the precious beer.
Dave Farquhar
I see nothing at all wrong with ads (I have an Adsense block on my site). What's irritating is when they move and blink and otherwise try to distract you from the reason you visited the site. People visit my site because they want information to solve a problem. A tasteful and appropriate ad just might help them solve that problem, in which case, that ad was a good thing. If the ad is irrelevant, I hope it was unobtrusive enough to ignore easily.
I think you should try a block of ads, see how it works out for you, and if you don't like it, you can always end the experiment and turn them back off.
1. It's not a bad idea to have ads, at least it can help pay for the hosting costs. Just make them unobtrusive. Or if they're image ads, make them small and non-animated (Coudal Partners' The Deck ads are elegant in this regard). Relevant ads are a good suggestion. And yes, if you can, put the ads on the older posts since the people who are likely to click on ads are those that find your old pages through web searches.
2. Put the script on code repositories/directories. The more people are using unobtrusive JavaScript, the better. Of course, you should demand credit and enforce licenses.
Huh? I thought you felt "dirty" having ads? So if you don't get increased revenue, does it matter?