2009-01-07 [allenp]: hmmm.....yeah....I got lost in the whole add description thingy :)

That said...I tell you this....I am a hardware junky and yes...Newegg is the place to go.

Your vision I think is certainly understood, at least by me, as the reason for ET....now some (not all) of the younger generation may not quite understand that but I know some of the older folks get that.

Now...am I understanding that you want ET as your job?

I ask these questions because I am an idea guy....and maybe I can find or through our discussion WE can find a way to help

2009-01-07 [Hedda]: Another misconception among shoppers is that they don't want to click on their favourite shop's ads because that will cost it money and you want your shop to be able to offer cheap stuff instead of paying for ads.

But with Google's ads it doesn't work like that. The more people click on a particular ad, the less that advertiser has to pay per click. And if no one clicks on an advertiser's links, their ads will not be shown and your favourite shop will fail in its marketing.

For Elftown's affiliate links, you can click as much as you want on them, because there is no pay per click on them.

So the general rule is simple: Don't go out of your way to not click on ads! And you'll get better ads, better shops and a better Internet.

2009-01-07 [Hedda]: Elftown is my job at the moment. It just doesn't pay...

Any ideas of how to make money is greatly appreciated. I'm trying my best to make Elftowners both save and earn money, but I'm not so got at it yet.

But we should of course not forget that Elftown should be fun! This isn't a salt mine! (I do recommend the Salt Mines in Krakow though, but working in one is supposed to be less fun)

2009-01-07 [Hedda]: (buy.com do seem to be cheapest on books though and if that's wrong, then I hope I get corrected. I doubt they are cheapest on every book, but if they live up to that 10% less than Amazon offer you see at the bottom of a page it's generally very good)

2009-01-07 [allenp]: Ahh....so Elftown is your job...now that puts things into a different perspective. I think the only means for steady income would be through the adds.

Another way, but a way that would have to be carefully approached, would be to offer memberships of some sort not unlike deviant art does. Now...what this membership would include I dont know yet. I know that you shouldnt take away from the towns people what they already have...so it will take some thought. Perhaps others will have ideas as well.

2009-01-07 [Hedda]: The problem is that I don't like the membership idea. Some reasoning behind it:

It's the most active members of Elftown who would become members.

It's the most active members of Elftown who makes this a fun and useful place for everyone else.

People who don't mean a shit to Elftown as a community are the ones who click mostly on the ads. It's people who have Googled and come to Elftown. That content is made by the most active Elftowners.

So instead of people donating, I would prefer if they just sell me their soul... That is: Following the Elftown advice when shopping online. Then they would both save money and help the community in the long run.

The second thing is that it needs to become easier to go from registered member to active member. I'll try to set up a new member attack-squad, see the Elftown members forum in a minute.

2009-01-07 [james2777]: [Hedda] why not ofset with a membership to fake? do they not all somewhat run together? and plus it would eliminate the underage people on that site. even if it is just 2 dollers a month on there you could spred the wealth with all the sites and do somewhat better.... it is just an idea

2009-01-07 [Hedda]: Any community would die with a membership fee. It has been tried on many sites and the results are horrible.

2009-01-07 [Dr. Androgynous]: Depends, if the community is worth paying for.

2009-01-07 [james2777]: fake should be for 18 and over and for some people an on line life means a whole lot if they can not make a 2 doller p/p payment a month or 10 dollers for a year then something is fishy there i do belive hell sex sites charge 29.99 mostly i belive for that site a 2 doller fee would help alot you could at least try on there  of all of them and if it does not work then you can drop the membership after 90 days if the numbers drop so badly but if it was to work then it would help on these 3 major elf sites  ah just my openion

2009-01-07 [allenp]: I dont think that would be in the best spirit of Elftown. I understand where you are coming from but those things work well in a perfect of which this is not. [Hedda] is right...ET would not survive and thats the whole point...its survival.

2009-01-08 [Chimes]: "but those things work well in a perfect of which this is not."
Whuuuuuut...? o.o;

2009-01-08 [james2777]: im not referring to elftown I mean for the mostly adult site FAKE to see i that works and i so spred the monies around on fake elfpack and elftown. that is what I was getting to.. but if ya all think that is not a good idea then i`ll accept that

2009-01-08 [Artsieladie]: Hmm.. I only click on ads that peek my interest, occasionally just out of curiosity, but as a whole, I'm not much of an ad clicker, because it usually seems to lead me to a place I don't really want to be, either because they want my personal info and/or they are just trying to get me to buy something that I can live without. :P However, if just the clicking on the ads can be beneficial, without actually having to carry through with anything, I can certainly do more clicking! :)

lol [Chimes]. ;) I just want to know how we can help [Hedda], that's all. :)

2009-01-08 [allenp]: [Chimes] It means that some times great ideas will only work if everyone in life does what they SHOULD (or what we think they should) do....but we know that never happens.

Its hard to tell when someones being sarcastic or honest on the internet sometimes....so if you were being sarcastic...we are only trying to help in here. If you don't want me help I will go elsewhere.

2009-01-08 [Artsieladie]: [allenp], I think we all just want to see how we can be helpful. Everyone's positive help and input is welcome. I think [Chimes] just wanted you to clear up what you said so she could understand what you said. We all have ideas, which we should mention, because a silent idea can never become a good idea. *winks*

2009-01-08 [Chimes]: Artsie is right. :] Your sentence seemed like it was missing a word and so confused me. Help is good. If I were being sarcastic I would probably put '>.>', but I wasn't so all is well. :]

2009-01-08 [allenp]: :)

2009-01-08 [Chimes]: Sorry for the confusion. :]

2009-01-19 [Hedda]: That new ad is bugging though... It's set to not display when there is no ads, but I can see a damn FightGlobalWarming ad. Maybe because it isn't active yet.

2009-01-19 [Hedda]: Hm, now it started to work as in not appearing. At least for me.