Viglink adverts into our posts?

[exodus]

I'm pretty sure this is a forum plugin you installed, but I'm not sure if maybe it's spyware on my part... But on many posts, links are being inserted into them on keywords. For instance, the word, "skype", on one post linked to http://www.skype.com, and had a meta-title of "Link inserted by VigLink".

VigLink So is this something admins installed?

To be clear, I have no issues with the adverts and will actually gladly click every one I see if you will receive money from it, maybe one day we will upgrade to a mobile chat room!

Edit: Many of you will see on this post probably, skype leads to skype.com without me adding the link.

 

[Chimpie]

VigLink So is this something admins installed?

It was MMiz. You can blame him.

He's testing the feature on a couple of his forums, learning how it works.

 

[Sasha]

It was MMiz. You can blame him.

He's testing the feature on a couple of his forums, learning how it works.

You mean there is more than just us?

Sent from LuLu using Tapatalk

 

[JPINFV]

Can someone give me a link to a thread with them? I'm not seeing any, but it could be because I use Adblock.

 

[Chimpie]

Can someone give me a link to a thread with them? I'm not seeing any, but it could be because I use Adblock.

The first post in this thread has them. Where he says, "Many of you will see on this post probably, skype leads to skype.com without me adding the link." You should see the first "skype" is underlined/linked.

 

[JPINFV]

Yep... Adblock blocks them. Confirmed by turning off Adblock, refreshing, and there they are.

...and there they go as Adblock goes back on.

 

[firecoins]

I haven't had any ads added to my posts.

I also uses American Express, I don't leave home without it.

 

[exodus]

I haven't had any ads added to my posts.

I also uses American Express, I don't leave home without it.

It doesn't edit the "post" itself, but is instead added at runtime when the server is processing the page.

 

[firecoins]

It doesn't edit the "post" itself, but is instead added at runtime when the server is processing the page.

No sense of humor?

 

[Anjel]

No sense of humor?

I laughed lol

 

[medicdan]

I'll credit one to Eric Schmidt... no ads on Chrome!

 

[exodus]

No sense of humor?

I don't get the joke? :wacko:

 

[usafmedic45]

I'll credit one to Eric Schmidt... no ads on Chrome!

So AdAware and Google Chrome are the solutions to the problem or issue (depending upon how one chooses to view it; as a Chrome user, I see it as neither). That might be counterproductive to whatever reasons the ad software was put on the site. My guess would be as some form of "click here and the site gets a penny" sort of deal. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[MMiz]

Hey, really good catch! I tried viglink for a period of 24 hours to see if I could monetize the forum in an unobtrusive way. Viglink is supposed to turn any links to retailers into affiliate links, meaning I'd get a kickback of some sort. I turned OFF the feature that turns normal text into links (for example, when you type Wal-Mart it shouldn't turn that into a link for Wal-Mart). It is only supposed to monetize direct links I make to retailers. Ideally I'd like for you to tolerate it for a month so that I have a metric to compare it to alternative forms of income.

Like many people, I'm trying to balance my finances, and part of that is making EMTLife cost-neutral. Server costs, software costs, and business costs mean that EMTLife is consuming a growing percentage of my income. It's hard for me to spend a relatively sizable portion of my income on something when at the same time I've made significant cutbacks in my personal spending elsewhere.

With that in mind, I'm trying to find unobtrusive ways to raise financing to support EMTLife.com. I plan on testing Viglinks.com for a month, SkimLinks.com for a month, and Google ads in the forum archives.

I appreciate any feedback, and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm not holding my breath. So far I've made less than $0.10 a day.

 

[usafmedic45]

Personally, I can completely understand it. However, I know a few of us who originally started out on "The EMT Forum That Shall Not Be Named but Frequently Pointed and Laughed At", kind of cringed when we saw the ads because that is how the decline of that site into a pure money-making option with "membership fees" and more ads than meaningful content began. I doubt this is the case, but that was our initial concern because of prior bad experiences over there.

Perhaps it might be time to ask for donations or something? Might I inquire what the servers cost you annually? Maybe we could have "sponsorship" by a particular member for a day, month, week or year if their finances were to allow it?

 

[MMiz]

I understand, really. It's hard to pin down a specific number, but I would estimate that 5-10% of my income goes to EMTLife each month.

At this point I'd rather not solicit donations, but that may be an option in the future.

 

[Sasha]

I would really hate to think EMTLife is becoming a financial burden. I wish you'd set up some kind of paypal donation thing so we could donate and show our appreciation and support.

I would in a heart beat. I love this place, it's amazing and has been a huge part of my professional growth.

 

[usafmedic45]

I would really hate to think EMTLife is becoming a financial burden. I wish you'd set up some kind of paypal donation thing so we could donate and show our appreciation and support.

I would in a heart beat. I love this place, it's amazing and has been a huge part of my professional growth.

Likewise. I have learned a lot here and have benefited in more ways than most from my time here.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I would really hate to think EMTLife is becoming a financial burden. I wish you'd set up some kind of paypal donation thing so we could donate and show our appreciation and support.

I would in a heart beat. I love this place, it's amazing and has been a huge part of my professional growth.

Same here.

 

[medicdan]

So AdAware and Google Chrome are the solutions to the problem or issue (depending upon how one chooses to view it; as a Chrome user, I see it as neither). That might be counterproductive to whatever reasons the ad software was put on the site. My guess would be as some form of "click here and the site gets a penny" sort of deal. Please correct me if I am wrong.

You are right. I was under the assumption this was some form of spyware and I was immune. I clearly didn't think enough about the motives.

I, too have learned an enormous ammount from this forum and am very grateful. I agree this should not be a financial burden to the CLs (specifically MMiz), and would be happy to support it financially. I do like, however that this is add-free. I would rather support the site through a donation that be subjected to ads constantly, but that's my $.02. I'm happy to wade through ads for this demo period, and would be curious the results if you wouldn't mind sharing them.