Site Advertisements & Donation Tracker

[Hells Warrrior]

We have been testing over the past week or so the effect of adverts on CoDz and how these are impacting on the visual aspect and how these impact on the performance and so forth.

 

Some people are aware of these adverts being tested and thank you for assisting, we didn't want to introduce adverts but it's evident that we need to. So you will now see adverts on the main forum index at the top, on the right sidebar and at the bottom of the forum index. You will upon selecting a category see AD's top, bottom of the site and after the first topic.

 

Selecting a topic will present you will an AD after the first post.

 

Adblock will render them useless, I know. However, we will have a pop up window, that clearly states, CoDz relies on advertisement revenue and to kindly switch it off for www.callofdutyzombies.com - as soon as Adblock is disabled the message will disappear. Alternatively it will disappear after 120 seconds - sorry but needs to be done.

 

We have other plans afoot to assist with options of disabling AD's completely, when we are ready to share these ideas we will. In the meantime, please accept our apologies but please also understand the necessity to switch adverts on.

 

Donation tracker, this is a new enhanced donation system, this will show you the donations we have received, how much we need to reach our monthly target and how far away from that target we are, Upon using the donation system, you will be passed on to paypal in the same way as before, however, what will now happen is upon a successful donation, you will be transferred back to CoDz and receive one of the new tiered donor groups.

 

These are being finalised at the moment, however, until these are finalised, you will be entered into the donor usergroup as normal. You can see the new donation tracker on the top right, if you want to keep a track of your donations, you can click on help and donate from the drop down menu.

 

Don't turn this into a bashing, keep it civil and understand why we have had to take these measures.

[GRILL]

Thanks for making this thread, Craig - and for implementing the ads that we all knew would inevitably have to come.

 

When carbon originally started this site, he wanted it to be ad free.  Not many forums can claim to thrive so well on solely donations, CODZ is a special place with a fantastic community.  It grew from a humble forum to what it is today: an institute in Call of Duty: Zombies knowledge & know-how.

 

Things are different now, we have a lot of information on this site - which takes up a lot of space - and we can't run on donations alone, although they still are the lifeblood of CODZ.  Our server bill is $130 a month, and to get it reduced we basically have to clean out a bunch of space.  Until then, we are stuck with this bill - and we will experience downtime if it is not paid.  

 

The donation trancker is there so we can all see how CODZ is faring (I'd like to mention that the donation tracker was an add on that we recently acquired, for which Craig paid money out of his pocket for - so thanks Craig/HellsWarrrior for getting us the donation tracker).  We will do our best to keep you all filled in on how the ads are doing $$$-wise.

[MegaAfroMan]

I do hope plans call for removing the ads if donations reach a high enough point to pay the bill for a month or a few months or whatever need be.

[DeathBringerZen]

I am glad to see that you have decided to introduce ads. I want this site to strive, especially during this extended off-season, and I believe ads and subscriptions are the only way forward. I do not find the ads to be intrusive in the slightest.

[GRILL]

I do hope plans call for removing the ads if donations reach a high enough point to pay the bill for a month or a few months or whatever need be.

Absolutely.

On top of that, once we get the data reduced - our server bill will be much more affordable.

[Hells Warrrior]

Not having a go at anyone but everyone wants something, new features, new functions, the site to be constantly online. Fact of the matter is, we got zero, yip, zero donations last month, zero donations the month before that and I think zero the month before that (actually I think the last donation was December) - apart from Boom and Slade who donated when we tested the new tracker.

 

We are paying out of our pockets to keep the site online, to bring the new features and tunctions.

 

Bottom line is, it's not sustainable anymore and the AD's not only must be added, they had to be added. Don't want AD's, make sure the donation tracker hit's it's goal every month and the AD's can go.

[MegaAfroMan]

Gotcha. I have to say I dislike the ads, I think they look awful (white on black, I mean really), and CoDz just is one of the places I'm glad to go where I can not see ads.

However I understand finances can be tight, so I'm not going to rage or bash.

I would like to request that it be made public knowledge how much money CoDz has at any given time, from donations and/or advertising.

Perhaps display this in the form of a progress bar where the end cap is the cost in hosting for a year or 6 months or whatever.

Seeing where we are, and how much left we need could help encourage donors.

[Hells Warrrior]

Have a look at the tracker, this will spell out what funds are being received from donations on a monthly basis, the tracker can show who has donated and when, only when donations have been received that is.

[MegaAfroMan]

How much revenue do the ads bring in?

[Hells Warrrior]

That's a good question, if we could answer that, we would. We need the data over a period of a few weeks to ascertain what revenue these will bring (if any) - they are pay as you click. That doesn't mean we are asking you to click away to generate income for us, so anyone thinking of doing that, please don't.

[Boom115]

zero donations the month before that and I think zero the month before that (actually I think the last donation was December)

 

I donated in January

 

Bottom line for me is that I would much rather see ads than not see your smiling faces due to down time. Although the ads won't carry the bulk of the bill it is still money for doing virtually nothing. That's okay in my book! Also @MegaAfroMan the Ads change so it won't always be white.

[Slade]

For anyone using Adblock Plus who doesn't want to turn it off, you can easily let it make an exception for CoDZ to allow ads and at the same time have it still block ads on any other web site. 

To do so: click on the Adblock Plus icon in your toolbar, go to options, then choose "Disable on" and type in callofdutyzombies.com

Et voilà.

[Hells Warrrior]

 

I donated in January

 

I don't have an overview of that, I believe you though. Last I heard you stalk our paypal account, never leaving it alone. I need to have a word with your wife.

[Chopper]

The ads will remain on the site until at least a time comes when we make enough in donations for a few months in a row to pay the monthly costs.

 

However, as there are an awful lot of hooks which can be added to the site, and as mentioned by Grill staff have already paid for a few we would keep them going if they enabled us to continue improving the site.

 

I have never run adblock software in my life; the way I see it, I'm looking at something someone else has created for free, I'm not going to worry about the place having non obtrusive ads.

And the ads on here, are non obtrusive.  I barely notice them.  An option for being ad free would be being part of a subscription package potentially, although I personally hate the idea, it could very well be necessary to keep CODZ alive.

[MegaAfroMan]

I hope that these don't have to stay for long, but I understand that isn't just as simple as choosing to get rid of them.

[Boom115]

I don't have an overview of that, I believe you though. Last I heard you stalk our paypal account, never leaving it alone. I need to have a word with your wife.

 

 

Eh Infest probably pocketed it to spend on booze and women.

[Matuzz]

Wasn't this the one thing Dan NEVER wanted on this site?

Edited May 15, 2014 by Matuzz

[Hells Warrrior]

No offence, but Dans not paying the bills.

[Delta]

Would you rather have a slightly more ad-filled CoDz (not really, just looks weird with white on black)

Or NO CoDz?

[Matuzz]

Ads, but rather small google ads than large flashy ones.

[Slade]

Staff have already explained why these ads are necessary, I really don't see the need to continue complaining about it.

It should be obvious that this choice wasn't easy and wasn't done voluntarily. We'd all rather see a add-free codz.

 

The one thing you can do to make it so, is to support the site. Complaining without doing anything solves nothing.

[Matuzz]

Staff have already explained why these ads are necessary, I really don't see the need to continue complaining about it.

It should be obvious that this choice wasn't easy and wasn't done voluntarily. We'd all rather see a add-free codz.

 

The one thing you can do to make it so, is to support the site. Complaining without doing anything solves nothing.

I'm not complaining I'm discussing. This thread should be locked.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Matuzz

[MegaAfroMan]

I don't see what the problem with discussing is. Or even complaining.

As long as it isn't bashing or flaming.

Saying "I don't like this" is a good thing to say.

Just saying it 10 times is bad.

[Hells Warrrior]

I'm not locking the topic, I'm open for the criticism.

 

For each critism, I'll personally come back with, when was the last time you donated, have you donated? Feel like AD's are still a bad/good thing? Still feel as though you have a right to criticise the decision?

 

I hate AD's don't get me wrong, I detest AD's but when it's necessary, it's necessary.

[Delta]

To be honest, it could be a lot worse.

Most of them are in places I can easily scroll past, or barely look at.

The only one that annoys me is the one under the first topic in a forum, but that's not that big of a deal.

I can live with this.