Originally Posted by Halx

I have tried ads. They didn't work. Here is why: The truth is, the TFP gets very few unique visitors in comparison with the total traffic. All the bandwidth gets racked up by the same users hitting the pages repeatedly. So, in terms of traffic, TFP is not the grand central station you think it is, it is, rather, a large company break room.

In other words, if I put ads up, it'll be a case of the same people viewing he same ads over and over. Now, I'm guessing that if you didn't click on an advertisement once, you won't click on it when it's presented to you again. And again. And again. And again. In fact, all that advertisement will do is take up space. That's all they have done in the past. That's all they will do, if applied to the TFP.



The fact is, donations work excellently as a form of sustenance for the site, but only if I advertise for them. The users of the TFP are fuckin' awesome (well, MOST of them) and the only reason why I haven't been getting much in the way of donations is simply because I haven't been actively asking for them. Mathematically, the rate of donation-per-member is magnificently higher than any click-per-impression rate any ad company can dream of even imbellishing. Now, think that if the MINIMUM donation is $5 (nevermind that the AVERAGE donation is a little above $20) and the most you can get per-click is.. ohh.. 3 cents, maybe you'll start to understand why THIS capitalist (meaning ME) stays FAR AWAY from advertising on his humble little site.



The TFP is not a business. It is a hobby. It's a project. As I've found, you cannot even incorporate it into a physical institution as a business plan because the fact of the matter is - discussion is not a commodity. It's a freedom. FREEdom. My intention with the TFP is to provide a place for people to discuss their views and learn from others without interruption from some unwarranted complications (such as an idiot who thinks they know better... or some flashy, annoying banner ad) and all I can say is... we're getting there.