Bitcoin Forum

I recently noticed that the ad area was completely removed for the following reasons


I think it should have been repurposed to create more awareness to non-profit Bitcoin related projects and also announcements about any updates or upcoming events.

For example:
- Latest Bitcoin Core release update instead of that small space at the top left.
- Bitcoin pizza contest updates
- The Bitcointalk show
- Bitcoin resource websites etc

What do you guys think?

Not necessary for all these because you can see some information about these forum appeared at the left upper side if theymos wants all users to see it from the home page and you can click on it.

If the ad is not used for advertisement, it is better it is disabled as it is now. I prefer the other way theymos display information about this forum that he wants users to see which is not like an ads.

Here is an example:

News: Help 1Dq create 15th anniversary forum artwork. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5501779.0)

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/07/21/4kJuJ.jpeg

It was removed for more than two years already though.

Yet those you have mentioned were already taken of on the news section (upper left part of the forum) pretty good, so just like already mentioned, the reasoning behind to enable again the top ad is not necessary.
Unless it's decentralized project contribution for bitcoin but most of them are for privacy and this forum don't want it, so again it will not be approved by theymos.

I don't mind this as it helps Bitcoin by bringing attention to relevant projects. But it still requires theymos to research on which projects are legit and stay updated on any changes that goes on with them. This IIRC was the reason the ad space was disabled; lack of time to stay on top of which projects are being advertised.

Speaking of the bitcointalk show, it has been a while we got some new videos. ???

Paid ads banners were removed two years ago (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5407725.msg60976136#msg60976136) but the ads space was still there, and was used for factoids. Until the latest complete remove by theymos (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5491546.msg64075749#msg64075749) when he worked around to deploy the SMF patch built by PowerGlove.

This patch for identifying the linked-to post in a topic (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5491546.0).

We should respect the theymos decision to keep the forum ad-clean and rely only on the signature campaigns. This is, unlike most sites and forums where you will be seeing ads left, right, front, back, and central. If he couldn't allow profitable ads for a reason, how are you sure he would allow for unprofitable ones?

Besides, most of the examples above are not worthy of your claims except for the Bitcoin Core update releases which is always updated on the forum, it mustn't be so large. Others are okay on their various threads. Even the Bitcoin resource websites are not always non-profit as you think as many are embedded with links. If care is not taken, the forum will be indirectly making money for some people.

Anything on the forum's ad space can be considered paid ads; visitors and those who do not know that Theymos disabled ads will think the forum is back accepting ads.

If there is big news in the Crypto community or something that members or visitors should be aware of, the newsletters space above the forum is a good place to post it.

Disabling ads allows members to focus on discussions. Ads on the SMF theme are made to look like the discussion's title.

On YouTube?
Theymos has always been a greatly influential part of the community ; aside being an administrator, he's always made decision to the growth of this community. The whole mixer chaos somehow made a look like Theymos' cowardice took the better of him, but in actual sense, he's always right ... You wanna avoid getting in big trouble? Avoid the trouble!

We are already using News section for all that in Header space, that is visible to everyone and there is no need to add any additional space for ads.
Right now you can clearly see latest post in News is to Help 1Dq create 15th anniversary forum artwork, but it was used for Pizza contests and for Bitcoin core updates.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/07/23/4jzKG.jpeg

Cowardice? I guess not, he was actually heroic to me in his decision on mixers? If you go by what people want always, you will make a lot of mistakes. What makes you a good leader is your ability to decide unwaveringly having weighed both cons and pros. That was what theymos did and I commend him for that. I will always say that this is the only forum I know that is most considerate to its users, it has the most listening ears and it's almost completely the situation of the forum being ruled by its users, which is fair enough.

So coming out to say No to what will taint the image of the forum is never too much. If he allows many of the attackers to have their way, they will spoil the forum, after all, most only care about their pocket and not the forum as they widely pretend.

I would like to see a real advertisement in that space but the admin does not think it is needed. Whereas within the environment of the forum, such important messages are already displayed here

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/07/24/4LTGC.jpeg

I do not think there is a need for placing such information in the advertisement region. I am happy to see the informative information on the advertisement space. I feel that is the best option if the admin does not want to place any ads.  

It's a good suggestion, but ad space, whatever you put there, is considered paid ad, and those who do not know that Theymos disabled ads are considered ads will think that those are paid ads unless he states that these are free ads.

Honestly, we are better off without those ads, we are already accustomed to not seeing intruding ads, and we can concentrate on discussions without those ads.

But if Theymost decides to open it for free ads I have no problem with that I just don't like widget type of ads like they have on the other forums.