This forum software might be too old to allow it, but I wouldn't mind if Doug put Google ads on here. Google does ads correctly... on topic, unobtrusive. And I understand they're usually fairly profitable for the hosting site. (In fact, the whole ETS site oughta have a google ad area somewhere on the page. Does the non profit nature of ETS prevent it?)

Also, again, if this forum supports it, allow us to buy "emblems" (or whatever the system calls them). Little icons that show up next to our name. CPF uses these for various purposes. If I contribute to ETS, I get a special icon for a year. Another, relatively easy, way to make money and encourage those who haven't to contribute.

ETS may not want to endorse specific retailers, so this may not work... I think we should start mentioning in the comment areas on new equipment buys where we got the idea to buy the gear. Maybe that would encourage people to pay for larger ads on here.

(Look, I'm not crazy about advertising. But it can make a site a fair bit of money, and I'd rather learn to ignore the ads than learn to do without my ETS fix.)

I think adding contributor icons would be a great idea. Many other websites have done this successfully. Also, adding a "DONATE NOW" button prominently at the top of each page might help. My guess is the majority of visitors here don't realize there is a non-profit foundation behind this board that could use some financial help.

I don't think Google ads would work, as Doug would have little say, if any, as to which vendors would be featured. Given the number of vendors selling junk survival gear, this would certainly seem to impugn ETS's integrity.

My $.02, and there's probably change left over... <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Yeah. You're probably right about google ads. But dang, CPF has banner ads from gear sellers. And I've bought a ton of stuff after reading posts here. You'd think some of the people I bought from would want to advertise here...

But I'd definitely pony up the dough for a little icon that said I did. I'm all for a class based society. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think those are all good ideas. However I disagree about the google ads. They aren't popups, are unobtrusive, and google spends a lot of time and money tuning their advertising engine to the hosting site, this benefits everyone. As long as the page areas containing the ads are clearly marked, if it means more up time and less stress for Doug, I am all for it. Although I do understand the desire to not associate with the less reputable retailers; lets give the site users some credit, most of us understand the difference between an ad and an endorsement. Still, I always repect the desire to "avoid even the appearance of impropriety"

Marc

Yeah but at cpf you had a lot of wars between vendors and moderators/owners. Last one was when somebody was selling a limited edition lights for $200 and donating only $1 for each light sold making a hefty profit with min cost advertising. This created a lot of bad blood. Also certain merchants who turned to be bad still kept advetising even thou people expressed their opinion.

On the other hand like you, I've gotten some great deals out of cpf banners but even greater deals were made available to me thru members of that forum. I also got burned by one of the advertising merchants and when looking back at posting history that particular company had a bad reputation starting day one yet it is still in heavy rotation in the ads section.

I think that besides regular money rising buttons etc etc we all should make an effort to buy dougs endorsed products. His psk, rsk and photon. I also believe that doug should venture out and get some basic stuff such as hats, shirts, stickers or pins. Latter would be a great idea to identify ourselves on the street. I would pay $5-7 for a nice quality small collar pin or $10 for a patch. But I also do understand that doug is busy and all vendors contacts take up a lot of valuable time.

I would belive that trading forum would be nice under condition that it is limited to survival items only and sellers could donate 1% of the sale to ets.

Here's another idea: Doug could raise funds with minimal effort by selling logo merchandise on cafepress.com. He already has a nicely designed ETS logo, so it'd be very easy for him to set something up there -- just upload a hires version of the graphic and select which merchandise it could be sold on (e.g., hats = yes, thongs = no). I'd certainly buy an ETS hat and shirt. In fact, I'm sure many of us here would be happy to set it up for him and then give him control over the whole thing.

Yow. I didn't know that.

Ads are about the least hassle way to make money on a site. ETS gets lots of clicks per day. That could really ad (ahem) up. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Depending on how easy it is to insert custom html into the forum pages, Doug could be serving up google ads in a day. After google crawls the site, we might get fairly specific (and maybe, maybe, even useful) ads popping up. Several retailers are mentioned by name in the archives. I would guess this would help google figure out which ads to present.

The merchandise is a great idea. I'd like an ETS bumper sticker, myself. (No, not for the bumber... for the laptop! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

Ditto the no to the thongs. Many of us here should not be seen in thongs. *shudders in fear*

That being said, general ETS gear might not be a bad idea. It just shouldn't be kitchki (sp)

Ok. That's just cool.

There's no reason not to do this that I can see.

I WANT MY BUMPER STICKER.

Please. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So... no Doug Ritter bobble heads, then?