Blog piece: Ads, Supporters, Endorsements and Bandwidth Throttling

[Lisnpuppy]

@Dark0ne

How about making it mandatory to endorse a file before the downloader can download the mod a third or fourth time (If he is logged in, of cause), lets say because of updates.

 

Or maybe because he considers the mod to be an essential one and so he installs it each time he reinstalls the game because he cleaned up the data folder or whatever.

 

Once he endorsed, he can download it as often he wants, watching pinups popping up all over the screen while loading or sth like this. ;D

 

Edit

He still could unendorse the file after the downloded... which could reset the process, so to speak.

 

endorse or they could use the abstain button if they dont want to endorse the mod. That would give the same effect.

I am not entirely sure about this one bt I am all for ideas.

[bben46]

@Nofsdad: Yup, one fee covers it all -

 

I'm glad to see another old timer here - I go back to mainframes- IBM 360, 370, DEC PDP-8, VAX, VT-78, Data General NOVA & Eclipse and others.

I once made a living as a Fortran programmer. (Fortran66, 77, WATFOR & WATFIV)

I was once the go to guy for fixing the C64 in my area. I still have a few of those proprietary C64 chips laying around. Now 66 and still a geek. 8)

[Nofsdad]

@Nofsdad: Yup, one fee covers it all -

 

I'm glad to see another old timer here - I go back to mainframes- IBM 360, 370, DEC PDP-8, VAX, VT-78, Data General NOVA & Eclipse and others.

I once made a living as a Fortran programmer. (Fortran66, 77, WATFOR & WATFIV)

I was once the go to guy for fixing the C64 in my area. I still have a few of those proprietary C64 chips laying around. Now 66 and still a geek. 8)

 

I was a sysop on the old Quantum Link board which eventually evolved into AOL. I got out of it after the went public and the Wall Street suits took over. Was a ton of fun when we started but alas it grew big enough to attract the attention of the professional investors. I did some O'Hanlon Database programming for computerized dispatch system of the state fire control agency I worked for... Never try to run a 400 unit fire department on software programmed in BASIC... but QBASIC was as far as I ever got.

[GenRabbit]

I just looked in my profile and it hit me..

 

You could add a option that lets us Premium user see ads, if we choose so.

 

Offcourse it should be disabled by default when you buy the Premium package.

 

Also what about minimum supporter 1USD a month, +1MB/s download.

[phoneyLogic]

endorse or they could use the abstain button if they dont want to endorse the mod. That would give the same effect.

I am not entirely sure about this one bt I am all for ideas.

I think this would be even better.

[mindinavoid]

The reason I started using an adblocker for the Nexus way back before the site redesign was the fifteen-to-twenty second video advertisements. I would often start downloading three or four mods at once downloading, which meant adverts in multiple tabs all talking at some random different rate, all eating a small chunk of my (at the time limited) bandwidth to stream whatever the video file was from whatever server-- and it was the same two adverts. Every. Single. Time. It got to the point where I had an aneurysm every time someone said the word "rainbow" or mentioned Skittles in general.

 

Later, when the site was redesigned and the video adverts were apparently dropped, I took off adblocking, but I put it back up again after no less than ten instances in the span of two hours where Lysol started talking at me from unmonitored tabs. (There was also an issue for some time-- although I think it was Chrome's doing-- where adverts appeared OVER a mod's screenshots when I clicked to zoom them.)

 

And the only thing I hate about site skin ads is that most of them will trigger the link just because I clicked into the previously inactive window and my mouse landed on the ad, or if I middle-clicked to scroll a particularly long page (which, apparently, is browser-fu for "open link in new tab"). I've also seen some websites where the skin ad would force the (normally width-aware) content off-screen, but that's just an issue of bad coding.

 

If there were a way to run site skin ads that had a designated "hier klicken!" section on them I'd be all for using them. (At least, assuming that 60% of your adverts aren't WoW. I made an exception to my supporting exception for a site when, over the span of a year, I saw a grand total of two different ads for them: World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II. I get tired of having the same air-humping, bobbing gnome crotch pop up on the right side of my screen every single page I go to.)

 

As for the supporter thing, I'd be all for throwing a buck and change in to support the site. Hell, if I had 64 bucks to swing around I'd drop for a lifer Premium. I started modding with Morrowind back at Planet Elder Scrolls, but when I saw Nexus was far more active I moved here (around the time Oblivion's GOTY hit) and have been kicking around since. Nexus has more than earned my sixty bucks... just as soon as I can give it.

[MurdermiesteR]

@ Dark0ne

I like it. Reward beneficial behavior. Free will. Increase moral through community incentive. That's a good direction to go.

Edited February 10, 2013 by MurdermiesteR

[Nixy23]

Dark0ne:

I really think this website (well, more like community) is amazing, as it has been supplying me with mods for some my favourite games over the past few years. I won't lie though.. I've always used an AdBlocker because those ads drive me nuts. To make up for it now, I have purchased a lifetime premium membership.

 

I wish you, and the Nexus crew, all the best!

[telemaciek]

@Dark0ne

Thanks for this post. It's not every day that people are treating themselves as adults on the internet. You did just that. Your ideas are sound. Take my money, you guys deserve it.

[SirRomin]

I found this blog to be very enlightening. I truthfully had NO IDEA that ads on Nexus were of any significance whatsoever because evidently I've had them blocked for so long that I was unaware they even existed, and have only recently had the time to become more active than I have hitherto since joining in '09. Apparently, I had incorrectly divined that Dark0ne must be independently wealthy, and that the Moderators must be earning... oh, at least a six figure income for their labors here. I'm quite serious - please don't laugh ok?

 

Years of fighting 'the good fight' to keep my computers healthy and on-line reluctantly compels me to agree with those here who have advocated leaving all protections enabled. For to not do so would be tantamount to removing all one's body armor to face the most challenging of adversaries (I hate it when that happens!). I do know that java programming language itself can be an indispensable tool for some, or a formidable and intrusive scalpel for those of the less scrupled ilk.

 

For what it's worth, a minor experiment (by yours truly) revealed that completely disabling AdBlockPlus on fo3nexus allowed me to view mysterious darkened boxes where ads are obviously meant to appear, although there were no ads visible. Which in turn lead me to surmise that potentially dangerous scrips may be an integral part of the ads currently being displayed on Nexus sites. I say 'potentially' because, although I implicitly trust the Nexus sites themselves, and have whitelisted them in both NoScript and AdBlockPlus, I really do not have the tools or the skills to ferret out which ads may or may not be a threat to my aging peecee. It would probably be too dynamic to keep up with in any case.

 

Long story short; as the cost of becoming a supporter seems uncommonly reasonable to me, I plan to contribute in that way at the very least, if not to a higher degree, when a doable PayPal payment option becomes available. In the meantime, I'll continue to leave leave Nexus sites whitelisted so that if/when safe ads (according to AdBlockPlus/NoScript) do become 'par for the course', I will be able to view them in all their radiant glory. Oh joy.

 

Also, although the bandwidth changes probably won't affect my download speeds (hey, I have the fastest service available in my area already), I feel that the proposed changes will have a positive effect in regards to the low endorsement ratio because: I've recently come to believe that the low endorsement to unique download ratio is at least partly due to members not understanding, or otherwise being confused about, the way the 'Endorse Me button' works (I'm serious!). Especially new members. I base this on the fact that I've personally had several complimentary 'comments' (before locking comments due to spoiler queries) and similar personal messages about my player house mod, and yet the very same members never endorsed it for some reason. How does that even make sense otherwise?

 

I ashamedly admit that I was similarly dazed and confused myself when I first joined. In fact, as I recall, the words "Endorse Me", and "Vote For Me" were a bit intimidating at the time. I believe this was because I had apparently lost my 'Nexus primer' [sarcasm - sic] somewhere along the line, never used the forums much, and thus hadn't correctly divined what either button actually was/did. Anyway, I realize that it's not as simple as just putting up buttons that say "Like" or Dislike" either. The very words 'Endorse Me' connote a greater sense of responsibility (which I personally take to heart), and are words which apparently are meant to be custom defined by each member.

 

Furthermore, I'd like to suggest that a new category covering 'the most endorsed files by download ratio' be added to the 'Top files' links. Because (to my way of thinking) these mods more than qualify as being some of the 'top mods' on Nexus. Certainly as much as do ones which have been up for years and have amassed a whopping number of downloads and endorsements (although not necessarily the highest quantitative relation between the two). The advantages of course would be that budding and experienced mod authors alike, as well as mod users, might benefit significantly because of the increased visibility a category like this would provide. Thus making it easier to locate very good mods, regardless of the popularity they may enjoy due to the type they are, that may have otherwise been buried in the annals of antiquity which comprise the nearly abysmal cornucopia of files posted on the collective Nexus sites. This function (e.g. 'Endorsed by DL ratio' - or whatever) could also be added to the 'field options', which at this time do not provide a choice between quantity and quality when sorting by endorsement.

 

Thanks to all who read this wall of text, and especially those who managed to do so without dozing off. :thumbsup:

 

Possibly applicable and somewhat humorous famous quote:

 

"The length of this document defends it well against the risk of its being read." ~ Winston Churchill