[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]Argh! 
This tape in my way has a funny red colour.[/quote]
Hey the society has only existed for 12 days, its not like we a smooth oiled machine up and running yet.
We are still working out a huge number of things, plus doing normal work and life stuff.
To be honest I have not had the time nor put your offer high up on my agenda to think about, I only read the this full thread 2 days ago.
Ryan would you agree to temporary association, banner and discount till the next meeting?
OK, there are other things at play here, too - specifically technical issues. Right now, I don’t have the ability to add Ryan’s banner ad simply because I don’t have any banner software installed on my server.
Further, there’s a bigger technical priority to suss out with the forum before adding banner functionality - a complete forum version upgrade that I’ve known about for a week and haven’t had a chance to do. At the moment the forum is vulnerable to viruses and SPAM accounts, for example.
I would say that both these upgrades can be done in a week, but I think they will take that week to happen. For the moment, Ryan, feel free to post your offer in announcements…
If that’s what the committee wants, sure. I don’t want hoist things on anyone, just a quick turn-around on a decision because of the time pressure of the $5 discount period.
Craig, you could just edit the one image into the header template as a simple hyperlink. If there’s only one ad for now then ad rotatioon is irrelevant. If you’re willing, I can sort the development in short order.
This statement is technically true. When you cannot see them, they are no more annoying that a non-animated gif/jpg advertisment.
However, when they are on screen (and lets face it, that’s the only time anybody actually cares about them) they can be distracting/annoying.
My point was that animated banner ads in the header don’t distract from reading content, because they’re seldom visible while you’re reading content.
I was only contending against the argument that they distract from the content. Obviously, if people can’t stand to see them at all then there’s no defense. Personally I don’t mind them, but then I spend a lot of time on forums that have them so maybe I’ve been numbed.
It seems like there’s a consensus against animated ads, or perhaps just the people who are against are more likely to post than those who don’t care. I don’t absolutely require them, I’d just prefer them because they attract more interest.
I’ll leave it to the committee. They can have a straw poll or just make a decision. I could mock up what it will look like on the site if it will help people make an informed decision.
Personally, I dont like banner ads. However, I don’t mind so much when its for something directly related and has small bandwidth. The Paddywhack one is fine by me, and if we have banner ads rotating through Associate things (we can even add a few for ourselves, eg one for Mordavia pointing at the Mordavia website) then that’s OK by me.
No evil popups, java aps, Flash, or streaming video, though, and certainly nothing that might result in penis pill ads…
what about Google ads? If those result in Penis pill ads, at least you’ll know its your own damn fault for talking about it in the first place…
101 ways to make someone regret giving you access to their web server. Number 47:
Just thought I’d mock something up to show how quick this is. I haven’t changed the real Diatribe site files, just created a little temporary parallel universe where Diatribe has the ad to show how simple it is to do and what it looks like. I’ve just mocked up what it would look like on the forum homepage. You’d only need to edit one file to put it in the header throughout the site.
How do people think this looks? Does it live up to everybody’s worst animated banner nightmares, or now that you see it do you get what I mean about it disappearing off the top of the page as soon as you scroll down? Personally I think having a relevant ad improves the site, gives it a bit of colour, makes it seem more real.
Note that this still doesn’t consitute an offer to LARPS members, because there still hasn’t been a decision from LARPS about the advertising. I’m happy to make a temporary deal with LARPs until the next meeting if the banner goes up, and I think it’s clear how easy that is to get done. I’m also happy to alter the banner (in fact, it was just a mock-up and I can probably do a better job).
Don’t you love commerce in plain view?
101 ways to make someone regret giving you access to their web server. Number 47:
diatribe.co.nz/index_ad.php 
[/quote]
Good on ya, mate.
As the Diatribe operator, I’m quite happy for you to prepare a roll out of this (less work for me - and there’s plenty of work to do around here). I can’t prepare advertising readiness on the site fast, but if you can, please do.
If you could look into and even install a banner ad’ rotator, that would be even better. I back up the database fairly regularly, but give me a yell before you do anything drastic.
Craig
Does that design look okay to you Craig? I just did it with the smallest change I could think of.
I have no worries doing a simple ad like this, could randomise it with some simple javascript if we had a few banners to swap out. I haven’t looked into ad rotators, but I think that can wait a month or two in any case. If it involves running anything on the server I probably don’t have permissions.
In any case, I was just pointing out that the technical bit isn’t a worry for the immediate requirements. If LARPS makes a decision, we can put it up quickly after. And I wanted to show people what it might look like, so they can comment on whether it’s as bad as they imagined.
Seeing is believing and all that.
Looks fine to me, Ryan. I would add a 1 pixel border as well. I’m more worried about rotation functionality because I don’t already know how to do it.
Okay, I’ve made some improvements to that banner and reduced the file size down to around 15 KB at the same time. Also, I’ve decided to go for a straight 30% discount on all products.
Seems like the ad will be up shortly, going by opinions from the committee.
Is there any plan to publish a list of LARPS members? Would be useful to me for verifying that people claiming the discount are really members.
Issue ID cards, maybe? Some shops will give discounts to members of an official sounding club.
And I once got my AS&SS card passed by a bank as valid ID when they wouldn’t accept a birth certificate.
ID Cards are on the cards.
Can’t pass a good ASS membership.
Okay, from what I’ve heard elsewhere a majority of the committee seems to be agreeing to the association and running the ad.
I’ve put it up, and the offer starts now. I’ll knock 30% off the advertised price of any purchase for verified members of LARPS.
Until the end of October it only costs $5 to join LARPS. If you want latex weapons you should join up now and get a massive discount!
OK Ryan you have a number of supporting committee members and note we will have a discussion at the next meeting and will review it then.
So if you are happy with this arrangement, do your database thing.
And I will update our advertising to include your 30 % discount.