CodeWalrus

CodeWalrus Website => Site Discussion => Site News & Announcements => Topic started by: Yuki on October 07, 2016, 10:07:35 PM

Title: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 07, 2016, 10:07:35 PM
Well, we got the suggestion a few days ago, we looked at our options and we delivered. Well, I know what you're thinking, ads are usually annoying and full of viruses (eh, Google AdSense?). Well, we hardly make any profit with CW and we don't look for it either, and we're all Internet users like you with AdBlock on, so we looked for the best we can. And this is the best we found.

Project Wonderful works unlike other ad providers: advertisers bid on a particular ad space, just like on eBay and such. Click here to find out. (https://www.projectwonderful.com/gettingstarted.php?tag=111480) That means that if you have some money to spare, you can get an ad for your project just here in the ad box and we get most of the profits! And yeah, that means we get less third-party advertsers from random places (although they could still find us in Project Wonderful's search engine, but I'll have to approve them), so we get more ads related to us. Isn't that great? Click on the "Your ad here (https://www.projectwonderful.com/advertisehere.php?id=79344&type=5&tag=111480)" link to get started!

Of course, I don't think this could ever cover our server costs, but if it does, good! I do it more for your project's visibility than anything. If you're the first bidder, you don't pay for now, but if there's more than one bidder, that's great! Don't forget that I'll have to approe all ads before they show up on the site.

Of course, since we're not paid per click or anything, we still get paid if you enable AdBlock or not, but it's recommended to disable it for the site to see all the nice ads our users would put there and to help Project Wonderful to get more accurate statistics for our site.

I want to see all the nice things you put there! If you need help to advertise here, or you have some suggestions, please tell us!

EDIT: Congrats to @kotu who graces us with the first ever ad on CodeWalrus. Right now, he gets free advertisement, but If you want to try to outbid him, feel free to do so!
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 07, 2016, 10:23:09 PM
Won't be surprised when I see "the game" in that ad space >_>
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 07, 2016, 10:40:09 PM
Yeah, although I hope Juju won't allow ads with sound/requiring Flash. >.< ANyway we considered using ads for ages in order to cover the hosting bill and potential future contests (including the Yearly CW Project Award in a few months), especially since only two of our staff members have actual income and that in my case, that income is in Canadian dollars. Also unlike three of the four other big calculator forums, we are not affiliated with Casio nor TI for contest prizes >.<
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on October 07, 2016, 10:44:33 PM
Quote from: Juju on October 07, 2016, 10:07:35 PM
EDIT: Congrats to @kotu who graces us with the first ever ad on CodeWalrus. Right now, he gets free advertisement, but If you want to try to outbid him, feel free to do so!

Do NOT outbid me.  :)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 07, 2016, 11:11:06 PM
Problemo:

(http://i.imgur.com/kJ1eU3W.jpg)

Scrollbars D:
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 07, 2016, 11:40:38 PM
Yeah, I know. I'll look at a solution soon.

At least there's only scrollbars on the ads and not everything.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 12:22:39 AM
True, but I don't think it's allowed to hide parts of ads in most ad service TOS and it doesn't really look professional. I sure hope that Project Wonderful at least has features to detect mobile devices and smaller resolutions or scaling down.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: pimathbrainiac on October 08, 2016, 12:23:46 AM
Ad submitted. Let's hope it gets approved :P
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on October 08, 2016, 12:24:51 AM
I hope everyone else's ads get screwed and only mine is displayed.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 12:28:25 AM
Lol kotu. <_< *stabs*

:3=

inb4 Cemetech ad with $1000 bid :P
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 12:33:58 AM
Quote from: pimathbrainiac on October 08, 2016, 12:23:46 AM
Ad submitted. Let's hope it gets approved :P
I lost o.o
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 12:38:59 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 12:22:39 AM
True, but I don't think it's allowed to hide parts of ads in most ad service TOS and it doesn't really look professional. I sure hope that Project Wonderful at least has features to detect mobile devices and smaller resolutions or scaling down.
I doubt they're strict on that.

Also regarding flash/sound/etc: it's against their ToS to have ads play audio without user interaction.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 12:39:41 AM
Ah ok. Still, it would definitively be cool if the ads were responsive. :P After all, we worked hard to make our site theme responsive lol
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 01:19:37 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on October 07, 2016, 11:11:06 PM
Problemo:

(http://i.imgur.com/kJ1eU3W.jpg)

Scrollbars D:
I am against ads above the fold. There is already a lot of scrolling involved to get to the content which is not a good thing.
[spoiler=Responsive web design (above the fold rules)]
(http://i.imgur.com/MxjcCyn.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/DZak3jc.png)
[/spoiler]

Best would really be sidebar ads. Footer ads wouldn't be seen by anyone. Another idea is having ads between posts but that might be annoying.
If all financing fails, just downgrade the site a little. E.g. go for shared hosting, drop unnecessary features that require a VPS. That could already save quite a bit.

On mobile, this is a difficult thing. Maybe ads between the posts there could be a possible solution.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: aetios on October 08, 2016, 01:22:48 AM
We're still discussing where to place the ads. We really don't want to place ads between the posts because we felt it's way too intrusive. Anyway, as said before if the ads annoy you you're free to block them :)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 01:24:51 AM
Quote from: aeTIos on October 08, 2016, 01:22:48 AM
We're still discussing where to place the ads. We really don't want to place ads between the posts because we felt it's way too intrusive. Anyway, as said before if the ads annoy you you're free to block them :)
I have a better idea. Place an anchor where the first post of a page is, so that you can make an extension that jumps to the content automatically. No joke, something like that would be useful.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: aetios on October 08, 2016, 01:26:06 AM
That sounds pretty cool @Juju @Streetwalrus
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 01:50:35 AM
In the future we are planning to replace the entire site theme. However, this might not happen until SMF 2.1 comes out because we don't want to force our members to go through two theme changes in a short period of time (since the new SMF 2.0 theme would most likely not be SMF 2.1 compatible). The new theme will most likely be pre-made and fix most of the space issues at the top, since what we use was kinda hacked together (CW theme is based on SMF Curve 2.0, which was not designed to be mobile-friendly nor have floating navigation)


Also Darkest while your site content is easy to reach and looks nice, it's 100% text and monochrome with no image. We wanted CW to have a minimum of fanciness so it doesn't look too similar to most Wordpress blogs (not to mention we're a forum, not a blog). That said, for the ads, sidebars would not work on mobile and hiding ads on mobile would defeat the point of using ads in the first place. They just need to be tweaked to not be as intrusive (and I think Juju setup the wrong banner size because I recall Google ads being way smaller than that).

Anyway for those who wants the ads gone absolutely, we can always give you the hosting/domain name bill in exchange. $309.80 since October 24th 2014 and it's $13.43 a month in average including the domain name.


EDIT: Your suggestion to downgrade the site and get rid of features in order to lower the hosting bill (switching to shared hosting, for example, would lead to WalrusIRC demise) contradicts your remarks about how you are against feature removal on websites (see the https thread)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 02:25:36 AM
Eh, Google uses a variety of sizes, as well as Project Wonderful (https://www.projectwonderful.com/adtemplates.php). The leaderboard ad seems indicated for our site in desktop mode, we could always create another ad box for mobile, but I'm afraid it would mess up with the system and incorrectly tag it as not showing up.

At least there's scrollbars only on the ad in desktop mode.

I do agree with DarkestEx's concerns it would make the header bigger, but yeah we have yet to figure out the optimal placement.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 03:46:01 AM
Still, I think it's an issue that needs addressing. Otherwise I'll probably just remove the ads outright and create my own Project Wonderful account with them fixed. Or I could check if Project Wonderful TOS allows using CSS to set max width to 100%.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 03:57:18 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 03:46:01 AM
Or I could check if Project Wonderful TOS allows using CSS to set max width to 100%.
That is probably something you can try.

EDIT: I'll look at this soon, tired for now.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Snektron on October 08, 2016, 07:35:56 AM
Would it be possible to hide the ads for the donation group?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 08:54:59 AM
Sure, but as we already said, the ads are mainly space for members. It's also a way to donate and get more back than just thanks, but I don't expect much.

Also the ad should be easy to scale on mobile.
Edit: done. That's not much to scroll through imo.
(https://sr.ht/GUKt.png)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: gbl08ma on October 08, 2016, 10:23:10 AM
About having to scroll too much to get past the ads, this is how it shows up on my Surface (Chrome without bookmarks bar, on Windows 10 with taskbar on the bottom):
(http://s.lowendshare.com/9/1475921341.843.FireShot%20Capture%20021%20-%20CodeWalrus_%20Now%20with%20ads!%20-%20page%202%20-%20Site%20Ne_%20-%20https___codewalr.us_index.php.png)

As you can see, it's not even possible to see the first line of the first post on the page, and my screen is not exactly small - it actually has an aspect ratio with more height than the typical 1366x768 laptop screen or 1080p.

Sure, I can collapse WalrusIRC, but it's nice to see the discussions going on in there. And if one can collapse WalrusIRC, then why not the ads too? :P

I agree that a new theme may help fixing this, as for example there appears to be a lot of whitespace between the codewalr.us logo and the navigation "path". However, white space is also important to make the page not feel too crowded, and so I'm not sure reducing it to make way for ads would be a good idea.
Or perhaps there could be an option to make the logo smaller, after all the usual lurkers could probably tell what site they're on even if the logo was removed.

Since this ad slot appears to be mainly targeted as a way for members to make "donations with benefits", I think it would be easy for members to adjust to less common banner sizes. I don't know off the top of my head what banner sizes Project Wonderful supports, but perhaps it would be interesting to try a smaller or thinner banner, where the current one is or anywhere else. If the banner is thin enough (say, 32 px height) I think it can even fit between posts without too much disruption.

Another idea is to make the banner appear in different places depending on the page. I guess this is not very easy to do with SMF, but here goes anyway. For example, on the topic reply page and maybe on the homepage it could appear where it is now, but on thread reading pages it could appear below all posts - so people wouldn't need to scroll as much to get to the main thread content.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 10:31:36 AM
Quote from: gbl08ma on October 08, 2016, 10:23:10 AM
I agree that a new theme may help fixing this, as for example there appears to be a lot of whitespace between the codewalr.us logo and the navigation "path". However, white space is also important to make the page not feel too crowded, and so I'm not sure reducing it to make way for ads would be a good idea.
I've actually tightened it just now, it looks fine imo.

This is what I see on my 1680x1050 monitor:
(https://sr.ht/IDsK.png)
While we're at it, notice my userstyle which limits the width of the page. I've done this long ago because I find it more comfortable to read this way. An idea would be to make this the default and move the ad(s) to the sides.
It doesn't solve the problem for mobile, but it would improve the situation on a desktop. For what it's worth, swiping it away on a phone is easier than scrolling down with a mouse.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: gbl08ma on October 08, 2016, 10:39:37 AM
Well, this is much better, I can now see the beginning of the first post and the layout, near the top, doesn't look as "spread around" as before.

(http://s.lowendshare.com/9/1475922863.474.FireShot%20Capture%20022%20-%20CodeWalrus_%20Now%20with%20ads!%20-%20page%202%20-%20Site%20Ne_%20-%20https___codewalr.us_index.php.png)

It's not directly related to the ads, but I have one more layout improvement suggestion: since the "Home »CodeWalrus » CodeWalrus Website » (...)" navigation bar is always relative to what comes after WalrusIRC (i.e. the banner and WalrusIRC are a "constant" just like the logo), would it be possible and/or a good idea to move it below WalrusIRC?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 10:40:25 AM
That should be possible.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on October 08, 2016, 10:48:51 AM
My top left corner currently looks a bit scabbed up --->>

(https://s14.postimg.org/7gv22h429/Untitled.png)

this is in firefox, and, yes i have refreshed the cache then reloaded.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 11:27:04 AM
Alright I've done some changes, tell me what you think about it. :)
Mostly moving the navbar below wirc and optimizing some blank areas.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on October 08, 2016, 11:29:43 AM
this text>>


    Hello kotu
    Show latest active topics.
    October 08, 2016, 11:28:04 am


still draws over the ad
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 11:31:15 AM
To be honest, I'd simply remove that thing. I don't know what DJ thinks about it though.
What's your screen resolution ?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on October 08, 2016, 11:32:27 AM
Well, I do use the "Show latest active topics"  link a lot.

*edit*
1920x1080. it does move to the top if i put my cw window really wide
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 11:38:19 AM
It's available in the "forum" menu at the top. The link itself could be moved somewhere else otherwise.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: gbl08ma on October 08, 2016, 11:41:35 AM
It shows up perfectly for me in Chrome and Edge.

EDIT: nope, it's broken for me too, if I resize the window so that the page becomes narrower, the "Hello username" thing will overlap with the ad or the logo.

I would just remove it; perhaps to avoid the loss of the avatar (makes it more personal), put it on the top bar somehow?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on October 08, 2016, 11:48:53 AM
haha now it runs into the CW banner. I'd remove it as you say because the link is available at the top
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 11:51:12 AM
It's because his screen is 1280 pixels wide or smaller, I can reproduce it in chrome. Trying to fix it.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: E37 on October 08, 2016, 02:02:31 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/yztq9Go.png)

Oh no! What have I created!?!
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 04:07:14 PM
Quote from: Streetwalrus on October 08, 2016, 11:31:15 AM
To be honest, I'd simply remove that thing. I don't know what DJ thinks about it though.
What's your screen resolution ?
This text was initially supposed to be directly inside the navigation to the right, just like Facebook and Twitter, with search to the left and the navigation itself in the middle (although for FB the search is in the middle and the avatar to the right). However, I never managed to figure out how to prevent the navigation from overlapping on the search box on smaller resolutions back in the days. Come to think of it, now that I know about Media queries, this is probably something I could achieve. The Go to recent posts link would be removed outright since we already have a New posts link easily reachable and the member approval link could be moved to "Moderate".

Also on mobile the navigation should probably be that one expandable icon you see on most sites, but I don't know how hard it would be to achieve on SMF.

(https://img.ourl.ca/cw1.png)

That said, in the mockup above, using icons for profile/inbox might be preferable, though.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 04:30:29 PM
Well, our operation has been pretty successful so far. We're seeing interesting stuff from our members and at this rate so far, we'll be able to pay half of our hosting bill. I like this :D

Also, Canada and Europe aren't losing the game like the US and the rest of the world are...
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 04:49:27 PM
I still wish that outbidding someone only decreased the chances of his ad being seen rather than nullifying them entirely, though, so that way we would still have some banner rotation. <.<
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: SopaXorzTaker on October 08, 2016, 04:52:31 PM
Yay! Now there's a way to inobtrusively pay for the hosting! :)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 04:53:34 PM
There's 4 regions you can bid separately on. And it depends of your expense limit and when your ad expire. That's the point of bidding: the highest bidder wins, so if you want to see your ad you gotta pay more, and that's how the ads rotate, too, the ads either get outbid or they expire. If there was an actual rotation, that probably wouldn't be as effective, although we can always put up to 5 ad boxes people can separately bid on.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 04:57:46 PM
Do regions get added based on ad bids submission?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 04:59:10 PM
No, it's pretty much the same 4 regions. Canada, US, Europe, and the rest.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 08, 2016, 06:02:58 PM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 04:07:14 PM
(https://img.ourl.ca/cw1.png)
Looks good to me. :)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 06:17:24 PM
Yeah, looks good on desktop, the real problem was on mobile.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 08, 2016, 07:39:51 PM
Looks good on android in chrome. (Although in horizontal view, I have to scroll the ad left to right, but not in vertical)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 08:38:30 PM
Strange, shouldn't the horizontal scrolling have been worse in vertical mode?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 10:03:40 PM
Project wunderful only allows credit card and paypal. That's a problem for some potential advertisers.
I quite like their approach however :)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 10:19:52 PM
Yeah, I totally love their approach, which is why we went with them. Most people can pay with Paypal or credit card, and Paypal supports bank accounts, the only problem I'd see is if you're underage and I think you need to be 18 to advertise.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 10:22:12 PM
Quote from: Juju on October 08, 2016, 10:19:52 PM
Yeah, I totally love their approach, which is why we went with them. Most people can pay with Paypal or credit card, and Paypal supports bank accounts, the only problem I'd see is if you're underage and I think you need to be 18 to advertise.
No that is not the problem but paypal does not work for some people including me
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 10:32:55 PM
Oh. What's the problem exactly?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 11:06:31 PM
Quote from: Juju on October 08, 2016, 10:32:55 PM
Oh. What's the problem exactly?
I am not able to create a Paypal account as it needs personal verification here in Germany which I don't want to do.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 08, 2016, 11:10:41 PM
Quote from: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 11:06:31 PM
Quote from: Juju on October 08, 2016, 10:32:55 PM
Oh. What's the problem exactly?
I am not able to create a Paypal account as it needs personal verification here in Germany which I don't want to do.
Would using an american proxy work?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 08, 2016, 11:15:11 PM
Oh, if it's some German law you deem stupid, not much we can do, other than getting help from someone who have Paypal as a proxy. You still probably can donate to us, depending of what means are available to you and me to send money internationally.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 11:38:24 PM
Quote from: Juju on October 08, 2016, 11:15:11 PM
Oh, if it's some German law you deem stupid, not much we can do, other than getting help from someone who have Paypal as a proxy. You still probably can donate to us, depending of what means are available to you and me to send money internationally.
I can only wire nationally. I would need to use the local Paypal to connect to my account. Maybe in a few years I will get myself a credit card and that should solve the problem with bank accounts.

Quote from: c4ooo on October 08, 2016, 11:10:41 PM
Quote from: DarkestEx on October 08, 2016, 11:06:31 PM
Quote from: Juju on October 08, 2016, 10:32:55 PM
Oh. What's the problem exactly?
I am not able to create a Paypal account as it needs personal verification here in Germany which I don't want to do.
Would using an american proxy work?
Unfortunately not. It's a bank thing not an internet thing :/
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 09, 2016, 12:00:12 AM
Germany became North Korea? O.O

Also should the forum nav be above the recent posts block?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 09, 2016, 12:04:42 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on October 09, 2016, 12:00:12 AM
Germany became North Korea? O.O
This is PayPal's rules not any special laws. They want to prevent fraud.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 09, 2016, 03:37:39 AM
Ah ok. Is it just that they require being 18+ or just that you don't want them to get your personal info?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: novenary on October 09, 2016, 09:39:25 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on October 08, 2016, 08:38:30 PM
Strange, shouldn't the horizontal scrolling have been worse in vertical mode?
It's probably switching to the "tablet" view. I forgot to check that out.

Quote from: DarkestEx on October 09, 2016, 12:04:42 AM
This is PayPal's rules not any special laws. They want to prevent fraud.
Weird, I have two paypal accounts (one in france and one in IL) and I didn't have to confirm anything with them.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: gbl08ma on October 09, 2016, 10:10:00 AM
A bit off-topic but to seal the subject: I know that Germany is quite different from most of the western world when it comes to online payment methods. I've read in multiple Hacker News and Reddit comments that most people there don't have credit cards, only debit cards (or that at least, those who have credit cards don't use them every day to pay for all stuff), that for online payment they tend to use their national solutions, and even things that seem a bit crazy like directly giving their online banking credentials to services so they can perform good old SEPA transfers. That probably makes using PayPal, which AFAIK deals mostly with credit cards, a bit hard to use. DarkestEx can probably confirm or deny what I'm saying but it's not really a PayPal or age thing, it's just the way things are done there.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 09, 2016, 10:27:36 AM
Quote from: gbl08ma on October 09, 2016, 10:10:00 AM
A bit off-topic but to seal the subject: I know that Germany is quite different from most of the western world when it comes to online payment methods. I've read in multiple Hacker News and Reddit comments that most people there don't have credit cards, only debit cards (or that at least, those who have credit cards don't use them every day to pay for all stuff), that for online payment they tend to use their national solutions, and even things that seem a bit crazy like directly giving their online banking credentials to services so they can perform good old SEPA transfers. That probably makes using PayPal, which AFAIK deals mostly with credit cards, a bit hard to use. DarkestEx can probably confirm or deny what I'm saying but it's not really a PayPal or age thing, it's just the way things are done there.
Yes, you are absolutely right. I don't have a credit card but a debit card instead. You can pay anything here in Germany. Nobody needs credit cards here really as we have our own ways of paying that are often a lot more secure.
And I am not going to request a credit card in the next time because I don't see much need for it. But PayPal needs a personal verification in order to use the local payment methods which I am not really wanting to do.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: aetios on October 09, 2016, 02:16:01 PM
Quote from: gbl08ma on October 09, 2016, 10:10:00 AM
A bit off-topic but to seal the subject: I know that Germany is quite different from most of the western world when it comes to online payment methods. I've read in multiple Hacker News and Reddit comments that most people there don't have credit cards, only debit cards (or that at least, those who have credit cards don't use them every day to pay for all stuff), that for online payment they tend to use their national solutions, and even things that seem a bit crazy like directly giving their online banking credentials to services so they can perform good old SEPA transfers. That probably makes using PayPal, which AFAIK deals mostly with credit cards, a bit hard to use. DarkestEx can probably confirm or deny what I'm saying but it's not really a PayPal or age thing, it's just the way things are done there.
Now that we're talking about this anyway, this is also the case in the Netherlands. We can pay almost everything with iDeal, which is pretty much a direct transfer. In fact, on a site like marktplaats.nl (online market place for 2nd hand stuff) trades are often paid via direct bank transfer. Few web shops use Paypal, and even fewer support credit cards. It's kind of a culture thing, really.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 09, 2016, 04:42:35 PM
Ah I see now. In Quebec we use Interac, which is pretty much serves all Canadian banks and credit/debit card services, so we don't really have much of a national, proprietary payment method.

It kinda sucks that Paypal is not supported at all in some European countries, though, because this makes it really difficult to design online shops.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 09, 2016, 05:49:54 PM
Quote from: gbl08ma on October 09, 2016, 10:10:00 AM
A bit off-topic but to seal the subject: I know that Germany is quite different from most of the western world when it comes to online payment methods. I've read in multiple Hacker News and Reddit comments that most people there don't have credit cards, only debit cards (or that at least, those who have credit cards don't use them every day to pay for all stuff), that for online payment they tend to use their national solutions, and even things that seem a bit crazy like directly giving their online banking credentials to services so they can perform good old SEPA transfers. That probably makes using PayPal, which AFAIK deals mostly with credit cards, a bit hard to use. DarkestEx can probably confirm or deny what I'm saying but it's not really a PayPal or age thing, it's just the way things are done there.
yess as DarkestEx already said that'S 100% true. But even for the few families using credit cards for online payments, they often only have one card for the whole family, like using dad's account for everything so they dont all have to give away their data.
In Germany we still write all our direct bank transfers on paper and wait 3-4 days until the money arrives ;D
*Mr. Paranoid likes that!
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 09, 2016, 05:52:54 PM
Isnt the only difference between a credit and a debit that when you pay with a credit card - the bank gives you debt that you then pay of, while when you pay with a debit card you're paying your own money? That's how it seems to be in USA.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 09, 2016, 07:03:10 PM
Pretty much.

Debit: you give your money to the bank and it's accessible from your card

Credit: the bank pays your bills (within a spending limit) and you'll have to pay them back later

Otherwise, here in Quebec, you can give PayPal your bank account number and they can withdraw funds directly from that account. No need of credit cards, although it can help for speeding up the process as it takes a few days to transfer funds from a bank account. It's exactly like if you're writing cheques to PayPal, except it's all done electronically and automatically.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 09, 2016, 07:53:28 PM
So... why cant he transfer money from his debit/bank account to paypal?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 09, 2016, 07:59:23 PM
little offtopic (actually ontopic) question:
How much must I pay for setting up an add for 1 month and will any ad text be accepted? Even stuff like "Cookies are Great, eat more cookies"...? ^^
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 09, 2016, 08:04:47 PM
Quote from: p2 on October 09, 2016, 07:59:23 PM
little offtopic (actually ontopic) question:
How much must I pay for setting up an add for 1 month and will any ad text be accepted? Even stuff like "Cookies are Great, eat more cookies"...? ^^
There is no fixed pricing. You need to bid on the ad on project wunderful. Your ad can be free or it can get more expensive. Just have a look at the explanation on project wunderful's homepage.

Quote from: c4ooo on October 09, 2016, 07:53:28 PM
So... why cant he transfer money from his debit/bank account to paypal?
Well again, personal verification. I don't want to do one.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 09, 2016, 08:13:33 PM
Quote from: p2 on October 09, 2016, 07:59:23 PM
little offtopic (actually ontopic) question:
How much must I pay for setting up an add for 1 month
More than the highest bidder. Could vary wildly within that month, so you might want to check it out often. You can setup your ad to automatically outbid by $0.10 anyone up to a spending limit you set. Check it out here. (https://www.projectwonderful.com/abouttheinfiniteauction.php)

Quote from: p2 on October 09, 2016, 07:59:23 PMand will any ad text be accepted? Even stuff like "Cookies are Great, eat more cookies"...? ^^
Yes, as long as it goes within the safe for work rating (https://www.projectwonderful.com/ratings.php).
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 09, 2016, 08:45:02 PM
Keep in mind that some credit cards cost money to set them up. Also if you don't pay your entire debt after 21 days there are interests and your debt slowly increases
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 09, 2016, 10:00:21 PM
It looks like if strange religious beliefs are fine with their terms... So "The book of Walrus" and stuff will be fine to advertise for ;D
I only wonder if I can tell them only to advertise on CodeWalrus or if they will advertise on multiple sites...   :ninja:
Might get strange when people not knowing CodeW get advertisements for the holy book of Walrus and the Walrus' prophecy... <_<
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: DarkestEx on October 09, 2016, 10:02:28 PM
Quote from: p2 on October 09, 2016, 10:00:21 PM
It looks like if strange religious beliefs are fine with their terms... So "The book of Walrus" and stuff will be fine to advertise for ;D
I only wonder if I can tell them only to advertise on CodeWalrus or if they will advertise on multiple sites...   :ninja:
Might get strange when people not knowing CodeW get advertisements for the holy book of Walrus and the Walrus' prophecy... <_<
I think you don't quite know how this advertising works :P
Have a look at their site. You are only bidding for one or I thin you can even bid on more country. You only bid for one spot on one site and only for as long as you need :P
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 09, 2016, 10:09:51 PM
Yep, bidding is per region of an ad box (or for the whole world, but that would make 4 bids). So you can advertise only on CW, although you can make campaigns and place your ad on many sites at once, like this MMORPG yesterday, although they easily got outbid and their ad never showed up.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 10, 2016, 05:18:01 AM
I don't think Book of Walrus would really be against their rules. That said, if members are gonna pay/bid for advertising space, then I think they should at least make the most out of it and advertise their own stuff ;)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 10, 2016, 12:09:09 PM
@kotu or whoever created that YOU LOST THE GAME ad:
[spoiler="SPOILER DO NOT READ"]the video is blocked in germany... maybe you should chose a less known reupload the next time ^^ But still nice to have a rickroll there, thx xD[/spoiler]
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 10, 2016, 05:23:06 PM
That's @pimathbrainiac for you.

Fun thing, I recieved 12 new bids from random webcomics this morning, but they all get outbid by pimath. I feel so sorry for them... At least they drive the price up.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 10, 2016, 05:26:45 PM
Quote from: p2 on October 10, 2016, 12:09:09 PM
@kotu or whoever created that YOU LOST THE GAME ad:
[spoiler="SPOILER DO NOT READ"]the video is blocked in germany... maybe you should chose a less known reupload the next time ^^ But still nice to have a rickroll there, thx xD[/spoiler]
Why is Europe slowly turning into the North Korea? >_>
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 10, 2016, 06:48:42 PM
actually it's just Germany... We're like the worst country in whole Europe iirc... there was a statistic about that once...
here it is:
(http://img.pr0gramm.com/2016/09/27/77b2ff0abec1cc51.png)
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 10, 2016, 06:55:39 PM
Eh, kinda like here in Québec, with this law barring us from many international contests, but that's pretty much our only cty law. That and this law about gambling websites. Yeah, our government really takes gambling and lottery to heart.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 10, 2016, 07:11:27 PM
what I'm using lately is http://playit.pk/ it's a pakistani version of youtube that doesnt give a c about gema and copyright and stuff  :love: (just replace the dmain and it works).
It also enables you to browse youtube without ever accepting their stupid licence agreements and stuff ^^
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dudeman313 on October 14, 2016, 01:26:51 AM
Oh, we have ads now? Sorry, haven't whitelisted the domain from Microsoft Edge's new extension abilities.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 14, 2016, 05:36:35 PM
you dont seriously use Edge, do you...? <_<
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on October 15, 2016, 05:02:37 AM
YEah the issue with Germany is apparently about some copyright laws which are screwed up. Also thanks for the link p2.

As for Edge browser I can't make an opinion about it by myself, as I never even launched it once ever since I switched to Windows 10. I use Opera.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 16, 2016, 07:48:45 PM
yess, german copyright stuff really sucks... :P

About edge:
As I'm working on a website, I added the following:
A parallax scrolling effect for background pictures (scroling at 50% speed) as well as a smooth scrolling when clicking a menu bar item (both using javascript).
Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, ... none of them got ANY problems at all.
But with IE and Edge I get ~4 FPS... <_<
and it's the exact same for IE and for Edge. I don't see any improvements made there at all :P Both the exact same cty piece of bugc...
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 16, 2016, 07:56:30 PM
Is there a statistic to say how much money was generated?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 16, 2016, 08:34:08 PM
I don't think they'd make such a statistic public...
but it shouldnt be too much anyways as we'Re at $0.04 at max  :thumbsup:
buuut doing i for an entire month it might add up... ^^
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 16, 2016, 08:40:01 PM
No, it's not a public stat, but I still can tell you we've made almost $1 since the last 9 days the ad box have been up. Seems like nothing, but it is a good percentage of our hosting fees we can eventually pay this way, so yes, it does add up. So far, we've got an overwhelmingly positive response to the ads and I like this!

Fun fact: @pimathbrainiac currently accounts for 40% of this number with the You All Lost The Game ad.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 16, 2016, 09:11:53 PM
people usually hate ads. But I think the difference here is the fact we sometimes setup our own ads so we're actually even really curious about what ads will put up next ^^
We should make sure never to change that ^^

maybe even make it a little bit more:
people submit their own ads, people vote for their favorite member-made ad and it'll get added or something like that ^^
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: c4ooo on October 16, 2016, 09:13:40 PM
Quote from: p2 on October 16, 2016, 09:11:53 PM
maybe even make it a little bit more:
people submit their own ads, people vote for their favorite member-made ad and it'll get added or something like that ^^
But then there's no profit :P
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 16, 2016, 09:20:06 PM
it looks like that, yess, but actually it will result in people being even more involved in the whole advertising stuff. The change from "I hate ads" to "sure I disable adblockers, I want to see the ads to vote for my favoreit one"
It's very well possible it's gonna result in even more members watching the ads which would on the other hand neutralize the negative effect ^^
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on October 16, 2016, 09:30:13 PM
Yeah, we made a point to let our users the possibility to put their own ads up, otherwise it's no fun and we wouldn't put ads here in the first place.

For the voting thing, I'm not sure how it would work, but I guess you can always vote for the best one in the other thread.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: p2 on October 16, 2016, 09:54:30 PM
yess but that would only be fun if enough members submited ads xD
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 14, 2016, 02:31:42 AM
So I was wondering if we were receiving any outcome, now that we mostly have those online comic ads? I know the highest bid is usually around 0.01-0.02 but I was wondering if the income was basically the second highest bid like on Ebay?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on November 14, 2016, 02:36:52 AM
Simple. We get whatever the highest bid is per day minus 15%+GST going to Project Wonderful as a commission, for every region. I think it's precise to 1/100th of a cent, so no problem there.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 14, 2016, 02:59:04 AM
Ah, I thought we got what the second highest bid was. On Ebay, IIRC, if you bid $30 and the previous person bid $15 then I think you pay $15, right?
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on November 14, 2016, 03:13:00 AM
I'm not sure it works like this. You bid $30 because you said you'd pay $30 for it if you win, then you pay $30 because you won.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: kotu on November 14, 2016, 03:13:38 AM
I don't think it works exactly like that
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 14, 2016, 05:44:39 AM
Quote from: Juju on November 14, 2016, 03:13:00 AM
I'm not sure it works like this. You bid $30 because you said you'd pay $30 for it if you win, then you pay $30 because you won.
I'm confused then. Many people told me in the past that it was not that way. That crap is complicated as hell it seems.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on November 14, 2016, 06:15:24 AM
I never really bought anything on eBay and I don't really know how it works, they probably added their own twist on the process, but, as far as I know, this is pretty much how auctions generally work. Both on eBay and Project Wonderful, there is mechanisms that lets you automatically outbid the current bid until a limit you set, and as far as I know, you pay the price you bid.
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on November 14, 2016, 06:18:10 AM
YEah, I personally just look at the latest bid and assume that that bid or what I'll bid will be what I'll pay. I usually just bid at the very last minute.

On a side note, if calc.news traffic is significant enough, do you think ads could be added there too or would you need a different Project Wonderful account due to being a different domain name?

Thanks for explaining, by the way
Title: Re: CodeWalrus: Now with ads!
Post by: Yuki on November 14, 2016, 06:32:59 AM
It can go on the same account, yeah. The limit is 5 ad boxes/site.