Build out a community ad network

[chrismdp]

was: HTML snippet to promote the Top Giver

I think we should try to increase the Top Giver profile. They're doing a fantastic job for the community, and it should be as desirable as possible to get the Top Giver spot in order to maximise the amount people give.

Can we perhaps have a little HTML snippet or widget to promote the Top Giver page on our websites? I'd happily run a little mini-ad on my blog which automatically changed to the next Top Giver each week to help promote the fact they're giving back.

Any thoughts?

Want to back this issue? Post a bounty on it! We accept bounties via Bountysource.

[chadwhitacre]

Oooh! That's actually an interesting idea. It basically turns Gittip into a weird inside-out ad network. :-)

[zbynekwinkler]

I like this too. I think it's a great idea! Should we add it to the widgets? Or someplace else?

[mvdkleijn]

👍 but let's be careful we don't make Gittip ad-driven by accident, which would move us away from our stated goals.

[chrismdp]

Agreed. There should be no guaranteed reward for being top giver on Gittip. It's just a nice benefit.

In my opinion, we certainly shouldn't offer statistics on impressions or anything that implies a "contract": they are not "buying" traffic, they are giving to the community, and any publicity is a nice side effect.

[clone1018]

Would this be the global "Top Givers" list? Meaning the same one on the homepage? Wouldn't that just be an ad for whatever company is giving the most?

[tshepang]

@clone1018 I think that's the idea... encouraging companies to give more.

[mvdkleijn]

Would this impact / be impacted by #1074?

[chrismdp]

@clone1018 yes, exactly. I want to advertise the company that gives the most on my blog for free, as a reward for giving back.

[chadwhitacre]

I'm dusting this off and bumping it up from ★☆☆ to ★★★. Here at PyCon I've been seeking out conversations with those within companies who are now or would potentially be interested in giving on Gittip, and the main pain point I'm hearing so far is that they don't know what to tell their accountant.

"I can buy a product very easily within my spending limit. I can make a donation, though that takes a lot longer to work through the system. Gittip is neither of those."

"I work at a non-profit and want to give on Gittip. When I went to accounting they didn't know which rules to apply. Are we paying for a product or service? Or are we giving money to another non-profit?"

To fix this we need to cast ourselves either as a product or a donation or maybe both. Implementing this ticket moves us towards the former: Gittip sells a product, advertising. Community members place an embed on their blog, etc. that rotates logos for companies giving to this or that community, weighted by amount given during the previous payday.

Since Gittip is turning around and giving the money to someone on the other end, according to an instruction from the company patron, I'm not sure if this really resolves all the questions, but it at least moves us in the right direction.

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from @RobSpectre via Hangout. Ftr, he asked for traffic data.

[chadwhitacre]

Picks up from #497.

[patcon]

Yeah, not sure how to avoid the traffic data thing, as commenters seemed to be pushing for earlier in the thread. If we're framing Gittip contributions as an investment in advertising, and getting people on the platform based on that premise, then those entering into a relationship with us are going to have certain expectations. And we will also have a responsibility to check-in with them when we want to change related aspects of the system (ie. we can't just hash it out in an issue queue and do as we please).

It's a funny territory to enter, but not necessarily bad :)

[duckinator]

+1. This seems like exactly the kind of thing Gittip needs.

I think @patcon summed it up fairly well: it's a funny territory to enter, but not necessarily bad.

[chadwhitacre]

Dropping back to ★★☆ until @bmann tells me otherwise. He's started doing user interviews with corporate patrons.

[bmann]

Interesting read. I think selling advertising in this way does enter troubling territory.

On the other hand, we want givers to be promoting themselves. I don't think Gittip needs to focus on top too much, since we want a long tail of givers and receivers.

The bargain that is being struck is that giving on Gittip is "social proof" of giving.

What stands out is that we do have to be able to explain to accountants what this is. Marketing is the easiest line item "We give this money out through this system and then have a widget to put on our website which helps with hiring and makes people feel good about us". That's marketing.

[seanlinsley]

Referenced in IRC

[chadwhitacre]

Can we call this GratiSense? :-)

[chrismdp]

YES great idea! :) Glad to see this one might become a reality!

[chadwhitacre]

Relevant:

Humanity Box is a free ad network designed to increase exposure to individuals raising funds for personal medical needs.

http://humanitybox.com/

[chadwhitacre]

OC is exploring this: https://twitter.com/opencollect/status/882735419774836737.

[chadwhitacre]

https://medium.com/open-collective/using-ads-to-sustain-open-source-d048b75d4979

[chadwhitacre]

So many open source projects try to find funding through donation buttons. This can sometimes help, but rarely results in consistent or meaningful income. We believe sponsored advertising is the solution.

https://codesponsor.io/

[chadwhitacre]

They're using SVG with no-cache.

https://app.codesponsor.io/embed/PKGFLnhDiFvsUA5P4kAXfiPs/kentcdodds/cross-env.svg

[![Watch on GitHub][github-watch-badge]][github-watch]
[![Star on GitHub][github-star-badge]][github-star]
[![Tweet][twitter-badge]][twitter]

[![Sponsor](https://app.codesponsor.io/embed/PKGFLnhDiFvsUA5P4kAXfiPs/kentcdodds/cross-env.svg)](https://app.codesponsor.io/link/PKGFLnhDiFvsUA5P4kAXfiPs/kentcdodds/cross-env)

## The problem

Most Windows command prompts will choke when you set environment variables with
`NODE_ENV=production` like that. (The exception is [Bash on Windows][win-bash],
which uses native Bash.) Similarly, there's a difference in how windows and
POSIX commands utilize environment variables. With POSIX, you use: `$ENV_VAR`

https://github.com/kentcdodds/cross-env

[chadwhitacre]

Talked to someone from {Code} (Dell) and he was interested in putting ads on his Dell/Code READMEs in order to gather data on traffic to his site. Non-ethical advertising, in other words.

He had also seen a Gratipay badge on a job applicant's README recently! 😆

P.S. Badges are a form of advertising already extant on GitHub READMEs, as we know.

[chadwhitacre]

Closing in light of our decision to shut down Gratipay.

Thank you all for a great run, and I'm sorry it didn't work out! 😞 💃