Forum Moderators: martinibuster
In the course of this I've noticed something shocking. The Google Adense sub-forum, once one of the most productive in the Active List, is now down to a rather poor showing. In the current most-recent 50 messages in the active list, just three are in this forum.
So - what has caused the great change? Was it the arb-attack by Google? Have we learnt all there is to know? Was this sub-forum secretly made supporters-only?
sometimes just a few "I know it all and I've got the only right answer" posters can turn an active, informative, thought provoking forum into a "why bother" deal.
There now also seems to be a lot more control given to advertisers and not that many to publishers.
Plus many threads seem to rehash the same topics, perhaps with a slight twist or two.
I now only check my stats about once a week, sometimes only a couple of times a month.
Plus as someone mentioned it is summer, although looking at the BBC news some would disagree with that too.
[edited by: Visit_Thailand at 2:56 pm (utc) on July 27, 2007]
1) The intransparency of Google Adsense per se is preventing a lot of meaningful discussion. Let's be honest, nobody (okay, very very few) here know why and how this system is behaving. Input/feedback from ASA is almost zilch, and so there comes a point in time when everything has been said. Twice. Or more. I think we are at this point.
2) Sometimes overly protective moderation. Why are threads being locked even if no (visible) offense has been made?
3) Yes, it's summer.
4) Yes, the Adsense crackdown. Now that it's clear that Google is (nah, wait, seems to be) against get-quick-rich-schemes, certain members have lost interest. I guess that the Adwords forum has a lot more traffic these days (in order to get the Adwords>Other arbitrage working).
5) It's the Tour de France. Now where was my syringe again...?
I've got a macaw. His name is Apollo. He loves to talk and is a great conversationalist.
I can hear it now, in true parrot voice: "My earnings are down!" "My earnings are down!" "How much do you earn?" "How much do you earn?"
That ought to fill the void nicely. ;)
I visited all the other Adsense forums for a long time, under the theory "You never know. Maybe I'm missing something."
I'm no longer visiting the other forums. Really. Going back, to take anothter look, is painful. So much wasted time. Time that would have, and will now, be better spent building something.
I drop in here, from time to time, to share what hopefully is a valuable insight or to at least provoke some thinking, hopefully so that some might profit from it. Otherwise, I don't really chatter.
There's only so much to talk about that is of any really impact or import. In between program or policy changes it's the same old, same old issues, the type of chatter that doesn't advance a businessman's or businesswoman's objectives of the day.
Most of us stop by, from time to time, to see if we can help but I suspect many people reach a point where they realize there's a class of "hand me a fish, I don't want to learn how to fish" posters. I'm not talking about wide-eyed, earnest, eager to get working noobs. I'm talking about those who can't be bothered to go back and read older forum threads, maybe some that are actually still on screen. Those are the type of posts that don't serve anyone's interest, so they really shouldn't stay up.
There's lots of other ways to introduce one's self to the crowd other than repeating the same old, same old questions. If redundant questions are merely "introductions to the crowd" then that would explain why those questions are what fills most pages of the "busy" forums. I think we can do better. I think we do better for insisting that members do better. I also know, as a moderator, that when a redundant thread is pulled down the moderator invariably send the poster a sticky that refers the member to an earlier, often recent thread that addressed the exact same issue.
I have to wonder where some forums are going as a forum/community when I see the same question being asked, again and again - sometimes 3 or 4 times - on every page of the index to the forum. The same handful of questions and not much more that would make a difference in someone's success or failure.
"Busy" is not necessarily a sign of forum topic health or vibrancy or quality of content.
[edited by: Webwork at 3:45 pm (utc) on July 27, 2007]
1) people are now more educated about AdSense and have fewer questions to ask. The era of the AdSense newbie is over. That in turn has reduced redundant q's.
2) we put alot of forethought into moderation here about six months ago. The mods were given encouragement to be proactive in moderating repeat posts and fluff "what's your AdSense sign" posts and to weed out abusive and suspect posters. We have been very proactive in promoting the quality adsense threads and posters.
PV's and uniques have never been higher in this forum and continue to go up.
people are now more educated about AdSense and have fewer questions to ask. The era of the AdSense newbie is over.
Do you know if Google has tightened the admission requirements at all? If so, that would mean a smaller pool of "Where's my bucket of money?" posts.
I've got a macaw. His name is Apollo. He loves to talk and is a great conversationalist.I can hear it now, in true parrot voice: "My earnings are down!" "My earnings are down!" "How much do you earn?" "How much do you earn?"
Have we lost interest in Google Adsense?
Not me... If I want interest, I'll put some of my monthly earnings in a money market account.
Visiting the other forums it's clear to me that there are a huge number of adsense newbies about and they are asking the obvious already well-researched questions. Possibly webmaster world might break down the adsense forum into smaller, more individual sections. Along the lines of the teacher that asked the class to write an essay on Bournemouth. No great response from the class. He then asks the class to write an essay on the beach at Bournemouth, same response. He then asks them to write an essay on one grain of sand on that beach. The response is massive.
Is the subject of Adsense just getting too big?
One example id supplementals. This is a whole subject in itself and of vital importance to webmasters trying to earn a living.
The "grain of sand" idea does work in concentrating the mind, for me at least.
It was very difficult to participate in the Adsense forum here for awhile because the signal/noise ratio had gotten pretty bad (by WebmasterWorld standards -- still better than most adsense talk going on outside outside of here).
I know I had started to discount the likelihood of getting value from even reading any particular Adsense thread. So, I stopped clicking Adsense threads as often. :(
I'm happy to hear from Brett that the moderators have been working extra hard (they're super-human it seems!) to get the Adsense forum back on track. I think as people notice the fruits of this labor the ones that want to have productive discussions will trickle back in. I know I'll start paying a bit more attention. :)
But in addition, I think there are a lot of us (especially hobby websiters) that are quite content with the AdSense program.
I'm not making loads of money, but its certainly a nice steady stream and meets my own goals (which is to basically cover the expenses of the sites).
I've never been hit (as far as I know) by any of the many strangely named penalties that folks talk about.
On the other hand, I don't look at my stats several times a day - or even every week. I do look at trends over time and such. Generally its been very gradual but steady growth.
I spend most of my time developing more and better content, improving the user's experience of the site, and generally trying to make the information I have easily accessible.
Has the original post touched a nerve? Take a look at the last ten posters to this thread, moderators, administrators etc.
"Etc." is a broad category. :-) And moderators and administrators (unless the rank and file) can't disappear during the summer.
If I were a betting man, I'd bet that we'll be back to the usual threads about Google cutting the payout, John Doe's EPC taking a hit, the evils of smart pricing, and so forth when the weather changes and office workers are back at their jobs (where they take breaks from the real world by posting in online forums).
Where's my bucket of moneyTM
Hey Europe, I registered that.
You owe me a buck every time you use it! (haha)
Nope, been busy building Adwords campaigns 8 hours a day and hanging out here and there.
Just stopping in now and then to see if the general noise has gone down.
Is the subject of Adsense just getting too big?
One example id supplementals. This is a whole subject in itself and of vital importance to webmasters trying to earn a living.
Has the original post touched a nerve? Take a look at the last ten posters to this thread, moderators, administrators etc.
But it ain't the be-all and end-all. You have to put AdSense in with whatever the heck it is you're promoting to find what works for you.
Take a look at the last ten posters to this thread, moderators, administrators etc.
I'm surprised that so many members of the forum have had something to say. Thanks for all your suggestions, particularly Brett's revelation that the traffic to the forum is actually growing.
It seems that it is a sign of a community which has, on the whole, helped each other reach an understanding of Adsense beyond that which can be gained from Adsense's own help documents - that and a hot summer. In that case, I wish all those on the beach a nice day, and a vote of thanks to all those who've been helpful here and who continue to be so.
It therefore begs one to accept the fact that not all threads are suitable for everyone. Thankfully, there are many experienced guys who try their best to assist the less well experienced amongst us.
But it does get a bit tedious seeing the same old 'has PIP arrived yet', 'how can I make money fast', and 'I've been banned' threads!
I also usually feel lazy in summer. Air conditioner doesn't help either.
Checked my Adwords/Adsense accounts and SERPS.
Then went down to the drugstore to hang out...
Do you know if Google has tightened the admission requirements at all
I logged into my AdSense account and saw a poor eCPM and CTR.
Then I went downtown to look for a job.
Then I got a job, keeping people from hanging around in front of the drugstore.
Have we lost interest in Google Adsense?
Heck, if you want to see this forum posting fast and furiously again just get Brett to run AdSense on WebmasterWorld!
Many of us have just discussed it to death and now we're too busy making money with it to debate it any more. Eventually the novelty of the whole AdSense thing wears off, people quit checking their earnings every 5 minutes (ok, only every 15 minutes now), and the need to discuss it waxes and wanes as well.
To be honest, I'm not sure how much more you can say about AdSense that hasn't already been said as it would be like having a forum devoted to discussing the color BLUE as eventually you just don't have that much interesting left to say about BLUE.
Besides, this forum has a huge number of past posts covering almost every topic imaginable to glean from if someone is just willing to do a little reading instead of posting the same questions over and over and over and over...
Mostly it's noise like:
* My earnings are up! <yawn>
* My earnings are down! <double yawn>
* My <insert month here> <select one from list>CTR/Earnings/eCPM</select> are <select one from list>WAY UP/UP/FLATLINED/DOWN/WAY DOWN</select> <triple yawn>
* My CTR and eCPM doubled and here's how I did it! <ok, even I might read this>
* PIP! PIP! HOORAY! <the AdSense 'time of the month' post>
* I've been banned! <cool, more for the rest of us>
Then we have those priceless tinfoil hat threads:
* My robots.txt file helped scrapers double my income
* The lunar gravitational pull improved my smart pricing
and my personal favorite:
* My 80 year old neighbor click attacked my site and got me banned because I stayed up till 3am playing loud music
Oh well, don't despair, AdSense will make some big change and the conversation will pick up again.
Heck, if you want to see this forum posting fast and furiously again just get Brett to run AdSense on WebmasterWorld!
He already did last April 1st (April Fools Day).
[webmasterworld.com...]
He already did last April 1st (April Fools Day).
I'm aware of that, which is why I used the word "AGAIN" ;)
