Forum Revenue Sharing

[Heartlander]

I've recently installed the phpBB2 MOD for Adsense Revenue Sharing, and would like to know how many others have been successful with it?
I have yet to announce this new development to the members, as I'd like to get some feedback on performance from others first.

There seems to be little in the way of support anywhere for this mod, and I have questions ; )

Is there any way to get different styles of banners?

Thanks for any and all advice.

[rogerd]

I haven't tried this mod, but it sounds like an invitation to click fraud... One or two abusive users anxious to up their share might put the whole account in peril if detected. Or am I misunderstanding how it works?

[Heartlander]

It's basically the same as the one at Digital Point, Roger.
There is a way to tweak so that registered users that are logged in do not see their own ads ever.

[chabbs]

I have this on my forum and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The existing members were happy when I had installed it but it really hasn't done much in terms of new members signing up.

[Heartlander]

Can anyone suggest a working version of the mod?
Thinkbling and another author have stopped support, and many claim it doesn't work.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[hoppy]

This sounds like a brilliant idea at first. Aside from the obvious click fraud problem there could be others.

> keyword stuffing, instead of posting useful content.
>This is an invitation to maximize post’s instead of getting the facts correct in a post.
>Members competing for keyword topics on the forum/blog might try and eliminate the competition by just clicking there co-posters ads.

I would be interested to hear people that have had success doing this because it really sounds great. The only way I can think it would work is if the posters where heavily screened. An example might be a group of close friends that post to a site and want an easy way to divide the profits.

[Heartlander]

I'm wondering why there isn't a market (at least I haven't seen one anyway) where it can be done on static pages as well?
In other words, *sell* space for others?

[Webwork]

I think this concept is doomed and destined to be trouble for those who employ it as a method to increase their earnings.

I firmly believe it will inevitably breed a culture of message board buddies engaged in an unspoken practice of "you click on the ads in my posts and I'll click on the ads in your post". Intentional or not, by force of nature - like magnetism - this will breed legions of such practicioners.

Just think about it: "Hey, the new way to make money! Forums are running revenue shares! Great! Let's all sign up at dozens of forums running this. We can make a living just posting and clicking on forums."

If you host such a forum you, in effect, become the host of the problematic behavior. Who do you think will get the boot when the inevitable surfaces? Your scheming members? Nope, they'll just move on to the next forum offering the same deal. (Though their IP addresses may follow them around.)

Perfect for college and high school kids. This type of thinking jumps right out at them. I've heard it described by a friend - as his son's friend's response - when the father suggested he should make an AdSense site. "Yeah, and I can visit your site and click on you ads." Doh!

The thing about forums is they lend a certain amount of cover and a (false) air of legitimacy. "Why, I was really interested in his/her post so I just had to click on the ads to learn more." Doh2!

I don't even believe it will be necessary for the participants to exchange stickies for this to get rolling.

IMHO, IF the folks behind AdSense allow this format to go forward it's a sign that someone doesn't have their eye on the ball. This will be 1 more bit of rot in the system that will send advertisers running and will drive the CPC to the basement.

The ONLY AdSense system in which this approach makes sense is where there are 9 flavors (options) of AdSense for advertisers and, in the case of revenue sharing for clicks on bulletin boards, that system will have to tilt in favor of either pay-per-sale (affiliate model) OR extreme smart pricing (whatever that might be, but I suspect the clicks start at .01 and are not paid on until 3 months after the clicks are totaled - to see if there's any ROI for such clicks.)

YMMV, but I think this version of AdSense will be very closely scrutinized and those who employ it are likely to find themselves booted from the system due to games taking place for which the AdSense member is only partially responsible (for enabling it).