The ads won't actually break tables like the one on that Yu-Gi-Oh page. If the 300x250 ad would break a table at the top of the page, then you'll see a banner ad under the edit bar instead of a square ad. Essentially, the edit bar and the banner ad that you currently see on Monaco will switch places, with the edit bar on top and the banner underneath.
This change is a huge deal. It's not something that we're taking lightly at all. What you're seeing right now is the result of months of conversations, tests and compromises. We looked at a lot of different options, including most of the ones that people are asking about. You're seeing the end result of that long process -- the best balance that we've been able to come up with so far. We have to change things in order to make Wikia financially stable. It would be great if we could host wikis with no advertising at all, or just have Google ads running in the footer. Unfortunately, Google ads in the footer pay pennies a click, and nobody clicks. We need to be able to attract real advertisers, who pay for impressions rather than clicks. Impressions work on a pageview basis -- the advertiser will pay for people to look at the ad, whether they click or not. But they won't pay for impressions if the ad is hidden at the bottom of the page, because they don't know whether people are scrolling down to look at the ad. The ad needs to be visible on the screen when people first come to the page, so the advertisers know that they're paying for real impressions. So how do you design a wiki page that has a 300x250 box at the top of the screen? Either you put it in the header, which pushes the entire content area down, or you put it in the sidebar so that it squishes the content area over... or you put it in the article area, and allow the content to wrap around it. We tried out all three versions, and I think putting the box into the article actually creates the least disruption. A huge header would make the content disappear to the bottom. A huge sidebar would create a big blank area on the left side of the screen as you scroll down. Having the box at the top right means that the only space that's being used for the ad is the 300x250 box itself. So what happens on Tuesday is basically a big test. Once things go live on Tuesday, there are a few things that we're going to be looking at very closely: * whether the system actually works the way we expect it to, and it doesn't break page designs * the actual impact on ad sales and click-through rates * the community reaction -- how people feel when the changes are actually live on the site * the overall impact on readers and contributors, which we can evaluate by looking at the stats on pageviews, edits and active editors. There are a couple of possible predictions that people could make. One prediction is that the change won't make any difference to people at all -- that it's just exchanging one ad shape for another, and people will adapt their designs around the new format. Another prediction is that the change will drive people away, that every wiki will lose their core contributors, and that all of the wikis will die within a week. But those are the extreme cases, and it's not likely that either of those will happen. It won't be a dream or a nightmare. Some people will hate it, some people will like it better, and some people won't care. We can't know for sure what's going to happen until we try it out. Once we turn it on, then we can start evaluating the impact, and making changes. The parts of this that work well will stay; the parts that are completely broken will have to change. One version of "completely broken" is that people read and contribute less. Right now, everything is theoretical. It's easy to say "this will be fine" or "this will drive every user away". We have to try it out and see what actually happens. I know how important everybody's wiki is, and how connected you feel to your wiki. I started Muppet Wiki in 2005, and I ended up working for Wikia because I figured out that I love working on wikis more than anything else in the world. There are a lot of wikis on Wikia that I'm tight with now, but Muppet Wiki is my home -- that's the community where I've put in hours of my own time every day, every week, for two and a half years. When I've felt like that community is threatened, I've fought like a tiger for it. So I'm paying a lot of attention to how this plays out. If it really hurts the wikis, we'll make changes. We just need to see the impact in order to know what's true and what's hypothetical. -- Danny User:Toughpigs Community Development Manager, Wikia On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 7:10 AM, TwoTailedFox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I second this. Advertisements at the bottom, at the top, or at the side, is > totally fine. > > But the line must be drawn somewhere; Advertisements in the very content of > a Wikia's articles is offensive, not least to everyone who has contributed > so much to getting them looking just right, > > Take the Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia. Use this article as an example: > > http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Cyber_Jar > > Where would you logically put an advertisement in there without breaking > the way the Table works, or making it look even uglier than it is now? Bad > idea, really. > > On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 2:41 AM, Havac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> After having read the information on Wikia's new style, and discussing the >> issue with several of my fellow Wookieepedia admins, and many of our most >> dedicated users, I feel compelled to try to get across the message of just >> what a bad idea this is. Specifically, the decision to inject advertisements >> into the content of articles and the main page. When this was announced on >> the Wookieepedia IRC channel, in which almost all the major Wookieepedia >> contributors and admins spend time, it failed to garner anything but utter >> derision and disgust. The first question was "Can we move somewhere else?" >> Many of our users, myself included, were outraged. Not a single person spoke >> up in defense of the idea. Greyman, one of our administrators and a Wikia >> janitor, has informed me that he registered complaints, and was blithely >> assured that he was in the minority. Perhaps those who said so genuinely >> believed this. I fail to see on what evidence they have based this, and it >> certainly does not match my experience. >> >> As I have stated in the IRC channel, I couldn't care less where ads are >> placed, or how many are placed. So long as they're not flashing garish >> colors or advertising goat pornography, they don't bother me. I understand >> business. I understand that advertising money is rightfully a major factor >> in decisions. We can't run Wikia on pure love for Star Wars or Star Trek or >> muppets or whatever our chosen subject is. But I have to draw the line at >> forcing advertising into the content of an article. Our articles are >> meticulously laid out to look good. Almost all of them have some sort of >> infobox at the top that would get forced well down the page by the proposed >> advertisement. They have images that would probably be forced out of >> alignment by pushing the infobox down. Moreover, the very idea of sticking >> foreign advertisements into the content area is pretty offensive to our >> dedicated users, who put a lot of time into their articles. As I said, I >> don't give a dang about what goes on outside that little box of individual >> article content. But unilaterally forcing (and the unilateral imposition of >> Wikia decrees on wikis with little or no warning and less consent has been a >> point of repeated outrage for Wookieepedia admins and users alike) a big >> block of foreign content right at the top of each and every article, not >> just beside but *inside* it -- that is not at all appealing. It's a >> horrible decision that seems to be motivated only be sales department >> concerns with no consideration of the impact on users and readers. >> >> When people see a gigantic ad block inside the article they come to read, >> it's not going to impress them. It's going to look ugly and intrusive. When >> people search for Luke Skywalker and find a great big ad and a few >> paragraphs about Luke with half an image lurking at the bottom, they're >> going to want to look elsewhere. Instead of looking professional, it makes >> Wookieepedia and Wikia look cheap, mercenary, aggressive, and indifferent to >> the quality of their content and the presentation thereof. It looks flat-out >> chintzy. I know that when I go somewhere online and get confronted by a >> virtual Vegas of obnoxiously intrusive advertising, I'm immediately turned >> off. I don't want to have to get through an ad before I get to content. >> Maybe advertisers like it. No one else does. Dedicated users are going to be >> offended, as I am, at the prospect of advertising being forced into their >> work with no regard for the presentation of the article, and I know that the >> response from everyone I've talked to has been outrage. I'm sure this little >> plan will inspire a serious push for a move elsewhere, because this is not >> something that is going to be taken well. Especially in that it's been >> decreed without any input from the actual users, and all concerns are >> apparently being brushed off with the ridiculous line that people will get >> used to it. People shouldn't have to get used to bad ideas, not when they've >> not had any input in the decision. I've seen no explanation as to why Wikia >> could not attempt to gain better advertising revenue from ads outside the >> content space. Why not a floating ad at the very top of the page that can't >> be scrolled away? Why should what advertisers think they like most >> determine, without any other factor apparently being given much weight, that >> an extremely intrusive addition be forced onto all wikis? >> >> Objectively, I think this is a bad decision and a bad direction for Wikia. >> Moreover, I think it's absolutely no way to treat the people producing the >> content and the page hits that give Wikia something to sell. I have to ask >> that Wikia please reconsider this decision. >> >> Havac, Wookieepedia administrator >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikia-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l >> > > > > -- > "I had a handle on life, but then it broke" > _______________________________________________ > Wikia-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l >
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