Like I said, I have always loved the fact that TWG is ad-free, and this is only a trial. That said, we have earned 4 and a half bucks since putting them up on Friday afternoon, so that's what, just over $2 a day? We get paid for both click-throughs and page impressions, for those who are curious, and in a purely monetary sense it does seem to be working out. Most of you seem to hate them, though, so in that sense they're not working out at all.
I've been thinking about how best to use this money, and one of the ideas that came up was helping to subsidize the mass trip to WorldCon in August. There are ten or so forum regulars going, and if we buy nothing else (and if this rate keeps up) we'll have a few hundred dollars by then to help pay for hotels and gas and meals. It won't be a lot, especially spread out over that many people, but it would help. It's just a thought. There are plenty of other possibilities, too: paying for Magic drafts and other games/food at TWG get-togethers, buying RPG books we can't otherwise get (which applies to those outside of Utah as well), paying Tage for the web space that thus far he has more or less been comping us, and so on. This is money that you guys are earning via writing articles and posting on the site, and I want to make sure it gets used to benefit you.
In other words: I know they're distasteful, but if you can get used to them they do look like they'll have a direct and significant effect on what we can do. Give it a week and see what you think; if you really hate them, we'll take them down. They're no good to anyone if they drive people away.
