Advertisements Appearing in Orchid

[wldlzrd1]

Hello Seth,

Regarding your below comment:

Safety pins by jewelers

We don't allow (at least not currently) product announcements on Orchid, even by advertisers. I don't want Orchid to turn into a constant stream of people trying to sell stuff, as that's not what it is for.

I just want to mention that I have been seeing little thumbnail advertisements (labeled as "Advertisement" at the top of the thumbnail)...inserted in between posts on threads...are these sanctioned by you? or is this some sort of cookie I need to rid myself of,,, I am not very computer literate and don't know if these advertisements are being inserted by Orchid...or not...?

...there are 5 in this thread alone...( 15 posts, 5 ads)

(they all seem to be jewelry related,,,but as I always search jewelry related things perhaps that is just a product of that activity...?

Julie

[seth-ganoksin-admin]

Hi @wldlzrd1 - I moved this to a new topic, as it is unrelated to Safety Pins by Jewelers.

Yes, those are ads by sponsors of Orchid -- they are not Google ads. They get interspersed throughout the content on Orchid and Ganoksin.com in different ways. Right now we are trying every third post... we may reduce it, change the ad format, etc.... we'll watch scroll behavior of users and see if it impacts readability or time on site. So far, no change, but it's only been up for a few days. BUT.... I'm looking at it, and I'm thinking that it interrupts the "flow" of the thread to have a big square ad every third post. I am going to chat @leah-ganoksin-admin about that, we may need to re-think it.

We are still playing with the best way to display them and make them the most relevant and not horribly obtrusive. We designed them so they are bordered by something that makes it clear that they are ads from sponsors, and not part of the post.

Without jewelry industry sponsors, memberships alone would never cover the cost associated with keeping ganoksin.com 100% free and open to the public (it receives over 1.5 million visits a year), and keeping the Orchid archives freely searchable to the public as well.

Some other examples of how they appear on Ganoksin.com

[seth-ganoksin-admin]

Yeah - I don't really like these ads in the middle of the posts. @leah-ganoksin-admin and I are going to think about this and try a different approach.

[Kavitha_Balakrishnan]

Actually I was just thinking few days back that it is nice to see their
names below each mail.

It sort of establishes, I dont know how to explain.

But I like them there. In face I did not know that GIA also was a sponsor.

Thanks
Regards,
Kavitha

[wldlzrd1]

Hello Seth.

Ok, good to know! I do not mind ads in general...I just wanted to make sure i was not invaded by a cookie!

(for example, I now have a thumbnail ad from a fashion clothing company that "follows" me online! It shows up in sidebar ads alot when I I am browsing the web! (I am even afraid to mention the URL here! ha ha!) I clicked on it (a pop up ad) once...saw a cute dress shown...now it won't leave me alone!...also, I sometimes get thumbnail ads for sites I have recently visited popping up while I am browsing the web...I don't know how it happens...unnerving!)

btw, I do think the double column of thumbnails on the right sidebar (that is shown in your above example) is a nice attractive way of displaying ads...high density,,,self contained...more impactful (?)...

there seems to be a lot of blank "room" on the right side of the page (on my laptop screen anyway...probably wouldnt work on the phone...)

anyway, the ads are pretty the way they are now too, I don't mind them at all.

thank you for your hard work!

Julie

[seth-ganoksin-admin]

Thanks Julie! The problem is that I can't really use that sidebar in the forum for ads... the forum software uses that for navigation, and the system is built to work on the phone and computer seamlessly. I don't wont to impact the ease of navigation or the ability for the forum to adapt automatically to different devices, so the space in between the threads is one of the few we have.

Many people seem to enjoy the ads and find them relevant (which was my original intention in eliminating Google adsense ads from the website) - but I want to be sure I also keep things usable for the forum. It's a balancing act.

Thanks for your support!

@Kavitha_Balakrishnan Yes, @GIA is a longtime financial sponsor of Orchid and Ganoksin, and we are grateful to them for that!

[Atwater_Mary]

Seth,

I’m getting really tired of many more posts from Platinum members than discussions about issues in making
jewelry. I just returned from Art Basel Miami looking at contemptary jewelry. I have almost 400 posts from
three days off line. Probably 75% are platinum showing their unrequested services and products. I don’t
mind the bottom line of Orchid reading Strachura, Gia and Rio but the platinum posts are very close to driving
me to leave Orchid.

MA

[seth-ganoksin-admin]

Hi Mary -
I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean. There have not been 400 posts in the last three days in total, let alone posts from "Platinum members"... there are very few commercial posts in general, and I haven't seen anything that was an unsolicited service or product post.

Feel free to email us at "[email protected]" - perhaps there is an email setting or something else that is off in your settings?

[Atwater_Mary]

Seth,

I am counting posts and responses to posts. Is this how you are counting?

Best, MA

[wldlzrd1]

Hi Mary,

hmmm...I looked around in my Preferences, to see if I could figure out why you are getting soooo many emails..

I am wondering if perhaps it is your setting for "Activity Summary", in the "Preferences".
(click on your avatar, then click on the gear icon, and scroll down about halfway down the page)

under "Activity Summary"
it says "When I don't visit here, send me an email summary of popular topics and replies"

with a check box for " Include content from new users in summary emails"

and It allows you to select:
- every 30 minutes
- hourly
- daily
- every three days
- weekly
- every two weeks, etc...

perhaps you are set to every 30 minutes or hourly...?

(I have mine set to "weekly"...?...not even sure what email it is...I seem to get one digest a day...I guess I need to pay more attention!)

that seems to be the only place where multiple emails might be generated from...?

edit::
Also in preferences, under "Mailing List Mode"

there is a check box for "enable mailing list mode"

and it allows you to select:
- "send daily updates"
- "send me an email for every new post"

perhaps yours is set to "send me an email for every post"?
(mine is set to send daily updates")

Julie

[Betty2]

@Atwater_Mary

I counted every post and response from Ganoksin during 4 full days.

I used November 29th, 30th, December 1st and 2nd, which covers 96 hours.

The total number of posts and responses were 110.

No matter what the content, nobody likes reading 110 emails all at once. But you have several choices other than threatening to leave:

• Take a tablet computer when you travel and keep up with your email while you are away.

• You do not have to read every email. Each email has identifying information you can read before you open it. If you have read as many Platinum member posts as you say, then you can recognize their names, so don't read their posts.

• On your profile page, you can prevent some categories of emails from being sent to you. They are on the website if you decide to read those categories. Also on your profile page you can eliminate from your view the members whose posts you do not want to read.

• You could turn off the emails and look at the website instead. You can read whatever is appealing and not be aware of what you missed. It's easier to retrieve the website than to open an email if you drag the address of your favorite category page to the bookmark bar on your computer.

We do not have as many posts and responses as we used to have in previous years, so it is not the quantity of posts and responses that is bothering you. You said 75% of the posts from the previous 3 days were regarding unrequested services and products. I perused the 110 posts and replies from the 29th, 30th, 1st and 2nd, and only see 5 posts that could remotely be considered unrequested services or products. That amounts to 6%, not 75%.

If the quality of posts bothers you, and if you do not want to make the above referenced changes to your email habits or to your profile page, then you could set a good example for the rest of us and only post or respond with information that would be of interest to the majority of Orchid members.

If you have long-term experience on other forums, then you are aware of the cost to provide a website such as this one. And if you think about the big picture, Platinum members have a lot of specialized knowledge which might not fit your interests, but it fits the needs of other Orchid members. A vendor would not waste time and money here if some of our members were not in their target market. And Orchid would not be here were it not for the money paid by Platinum members.

[Susan_Werner1]

I don't mind the three "brought to you"" ads in between posts at all. Three great companies, and if they are keeping the site a float, that is a small price for the available information. A great resource.

[Barbara_Ettles]

Is Mary referring to the adverts by GIA Stachura and Rio?

[seth-ganoksin-admin]

@Betty2 thank you for such a thoughtful reply! I had just sat down to share some of the same numbers.

For those of you who like such things, here ya go. Keep in mind, many of the metrics like "User Visits" and "New Users" only count logged-in users. The forum itself gets over 1,000 visits a day and climbing quickly, from folks online who want access to the archives and who are lurking.

Check out "emails sent" -- for anyone who wonders why I am such a stickler. Forum behavior impacts a LOT of people. One topic someone starts by accident or whatever triggers many, many annoying emails In the last 24 hours, we've sent 10,000 emails. In the last 7 days, we've sent 173,000 emails. 730,000 in the last 30 days. For anyone who tells you email is cheap or free, it usually is - but not when you send millions of them

@Susan_Werner1 thanks for saying that! Indeed, I am so humbled and flattered by the support our Platinum folks provide. @Stachura, @GIA, @RioGrande, and all of the many other folks in the Ganoksin Business Directory. Everyone in the business directory is a Platinum member.

I certainly have every intention of showcasing the services and products of those folks who purchase banner advertising and financially support the forum. My attitude towards ads is that they should be first and foremost, relevant to site users, and appear in such a way that they are useful and not overly obtrusive. @leah-ganoksin-admin and I just want to be sure we are inserting the ads in a smart way. Also.... this is why I made the difficult, and short-term financially challenging, decision to eliminate all Google ads from Ganoksin and Orchid. Google ads are "easy money" - you stick them up everywhere, and people click them, and you get paid. No work. In our case, we get a lot of website traffic (1,500,000 on Ganoksin alone), so the numbers can be quite attractive. BUT what you lose is the ability to control who advertises, what they advertise, and where the ads appear. So I said, these sites will be subsidized by the industry and the members. It will take some time, but it will work.

[seth-ganoksin-admin]

Hi @Atwater_Mary yes, I am counting those. I pasted a table below for reference. I just wanted to be sure your email wasn't set to receive every post - that can be particularly frustrating for anyone

[mcvsh1]

Ganoksin is great! They need to be compensated for their wonderful efforts. Advertisers are a great help. It's really easy to just scroll by the icons if you are not interested in the product. Really, they are quite innocuous in my opinion and not worth stressing over. Just my opinion.
Mike

[Atwater_Mary]

Barbara and Seth,

I am a customer of Stachura and Mary at Stachura has been very helpful to me
for years. I shopped at Rio recently and am waiting for a response to a technical
question. I do not object to the Stachura, GIA and RIO banners below text.

I am referring to the individuals who show several pieces of their work often.
Some of these are platinum members who make gorgeous jewelry but when they
show photos and photos and photos, and, there are comments and comments and
comments not in response to a jewelry making question, I have to take time to delete
these. Hans Meevis also shows work and drawings but these always are helpful
explanations of fabrication and I find his posts educational. Thank you, Hans.

Perhaps I need to look at reseting my choices for what to receive from Orchid.
Perhaps I can make changes to reduce the posts I receive. I did not set my
choices. One day the new orchid arrived in my regular email in a new format
with photos and photos and photos.

Best, MA

[Atwater_Mary]

Julie and Seth,

I have an Avator? Somehow I have missed this. Seth, can you please direct me to my avatar?
Do I need an appointment?

Best, Mary

[wldlzrd1]

Hi Mary,

(oh...hmmm...oopps!..you have to be logged into the forum...I don't think you see your avatar or are able to change you "preferences" unless you are logged into the forum...)

while logged into the forums, your avatar is located in the upper right corner of the page.

it is a lime green circle, with an 'A" in it.

after you click on that lime green circle, you will next see a "gear" icon directly below it.

click on that "gear" icon, and then scroll almost halfway down the scroll bar, until you see:

under "Activity Summary"
it says "When I don't visit here, send me an email summary of popular topics and replies"

with a check box for " Include content from new users in summary emails"

and It allows you to select:
- every 30 minutes
- hourly
- daily
- every three days
- weekly
- every two weeks, etc...

perhaps you are set to every 30 minutes or hourly...?

(I have mine set to "weekly"...?...not even sure what email it is...I seem to get one digest a day...I guess I need to pay more attention!)

that seems to be the only place where multiple emails might be generated from...?

edit::
Also in preferences, under "Mailing List Mode"

there is a check box for "enable mailing list mode"

and it allows you to select:
- "send daily updates"
- "send me an email for every new post"

perhaps yours is set to "send me an email for every post"?
(mine is set to send daily updates")

Julie

[janetb]

Hi Mary...and Seth,

My reply has two parts:

1) Mary, as other members have suggested, you probably need to configure your Ganoksin mail settings. Unless one wants to be notified of every email instantly (are there any Ganoksins who opt for this??), you would probably be happy to get notified only daily or even weekly. So that would solve the problem of clogging up your mail with so many emails--just one email a day or one email a week.

2) I'm going to take a guess and suggest that maybe the many "platinum posts" Mary refers to which are not related to specific technical issues are the many Gallery posts and all the comments on them (?). As I suggested earlier in another post somewhere, perhaps the daily/weekly posts could be sorted by category so all the Gallery posts follow all the Jewelry Discussion posts and are clearly marked as such. I would also very much appreciate this, as I prefer to read the tech posts daily and go to the Gallery just when I have some free time for browsing. The present daily emails do not say which category each post is in, and they are all mixed together, so you have to at least start reading through the post to see if it is a tech post or simply someone who wants to share their work with us. So I think separating daily posts by category would be very helpful.

Janet in Jerusalem