Ladies and gentlemen of the Cartographers Guild,

As you all may know, we currently have some minimal ads on the site. There is currently a text ad bar across the top of every page, and a larger ad banner at the bottom...We have at our disposal MUCH more ad space, and I've been loath to utilize it...But of course, for the site to grow, it needs to be supported just like most other websites, through paid advertising.

So I wanted to open this up to you all to find out how you all feel about ads? I have been working on a new ad system that will allow us to continue using the adsense ads in conjunction with selling our own ad impressions to companies (and industry professionals) that are related to the site and its content. This new system does not allow for the minimal text ads like in the above bar. It will probably have to go away in exchange for a standard banner ad of some sort. By using standard ad sizes, I can have sold ads and random ads from adsense intermingled, and this will benefit you all by allowing us to grow our server and resources to something a bit more robust.

What I'm interested in from you all is discussion on tolerable ad placements. Here's some topics:

  • larger banner ads in plainer view and their impact
  • more and larger ads for guests (not signed in) and members who haven't yet posted 5 posts
  • Paid membership (annual or monthly) to bypass ads
  • Interstitial ads (periodic full page ads that require you to click to continue to content) (note: I hate these, but they may be effective, especially for guests)
  • Places you hate seeing ads and places you don't mind seeing ads


Rest assured, I will NOT allow any ads that have popups or malware or annoying vibrating blinking animations. This is a mature community, and I'd like to keep te ads as relevant and useful as possible. That would be profitable to you as members as well as to the guild's support income.

Thank you all for your time and consideration on the future of the guild!