So how long before you guys started monetizing? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

Modest Money said:

Sustainable PF said:

Hey – you're stealing my schtick! ;)

Personally I find it more helpful to just answer people's questions rather than force them to wade through older threads.

And those of us who have read the same question 15 times are sick and tired of seeing lazy people post again instead of do a simple search for an answer given 15 times.

clarification to the opening poster: you may not have known to try to search.  No worries there.

re: "selflessly helping others" – I see these repeats as "needlessly helping others, over and over and over".  

Immediately. Regular readers have the option of viewing posts via RSS if they don't want to see any ads. In my experience, the fear of reader backlash is vastly overblown.

i didn't start monetizing until about a year after i started my blog and that was only because I had no clue I could! Until I found Yakezie ; )

I am very thankful, because even though I only make a small amount in comparison to other bloggers, I have been able to put this money so I can afford things I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise, and you have no idea how GOOD that feels!

I find sponsored posts and sidebar ads generate the most income. Once I hit my $100 limit from google, I'm going to remove those pesky ads.

It teaches them a) there is a search function and b) they should use it.  Pretty basic stuff.  Apparently beyond your comprehension however.

Modest Money said:

And do you really think telling someone to search the forums is teaching them something?  It just teaches them that people will be rude if you try to participate instead of spending time reading other people's posts.

Sustainable PF said:

It teaches them a) there is a search function and b) they should use it.  Pretty basic stuff.  Apparently beyond your comprehension however.

 

Modest Money said:

And do you really think telling someone to search the forums is teaching them something?  It just teaches them that people will be rude if you try to participate instead of spending time reading other people's posts.

Ok guys, getting a little heated here. I agree there's a ton of info in the forums that can be searched. Point noted. There are also a lot of new members and challengers that can add value to the conversation. These are people who aren't searching the forums for old posts to add their opinion to, but if someone asks it again they'll gladly give their opinion. The newer members also don't have thousands of comments under their belts either so I don't think it's a bad thing for the new thread to be started. 

To your point, though, if someone with a question takes a little time to find an older post and comments on that one, it will bump it to the top of the forum and then the newer people will have a chance to answer it.

Matt Wegner said:

Sustainable PF said:

It teaches them a) there is a search function and b) they should use it.  Pretty basic stuff.  Apparently beyond your comprehension however.

 

Modest Money said:

And do you really think telling someone to search the forums is teaching them something?  It just teaches them that people will be rude if you try to participate instead of spending time reading other people's posts.

Ok guys, getting a little heated here. I agree there's a ton of info in the forums that can be searched. Point noted. There are also a lot of new members and challengers that can add value to the conversation. These are people who aren't searching the forums for old posts to add their opinion to, but if someone asks it again they'll gladly give their opinion. The newer members also don't have thousands of comments under their belts either so I don't think it's a bad thing for the new thread to be started. 

To your point, though, if someone with a question takes a little time to find an older post and comments on that one, it will bump it to the top of the forum and then the newer people will have a chance to answer it.

@Matt – I'm with you on the new challengers bringing new perspectives to the topic…in fact, I couldnt agree more.  It would just be nice if some people could find an existing thread (especially when it's a topic with 20+ threads out there) and bump it back up if they really want to read others take on it….instead we decentralize the topic even further.  I dont think my suggestion to search the forums (when Ive only suggested it twice before, on the same topic!) should be met with such disdain from new challengers that are still learning the boards, blogging, the people, and the yakezie way.

Also, to your point about comments… let's not get too involved with commenting just for the sake of belt points… many of us have been here for awhile…not everyone needs to have 200 points their first month of blogging.  There will be many topics of discussion every day, I dont think that's a valid reason to start a new thread on the most heavily covered topic in the forums.

Agreed. Great points Justin!

sooverdebt said:

Another forum I post on (not related to blogging) has members that volunteer to write a FAQ thread on a certain topic, with links to past threads on that topic. Those threads are stickied, then it's easier to find information without a thousand posts about the same issue.

Maybe we could do a spreadsheet and let people volunteer to write summaries on the things that come up the most. Just a thought!

Thanks for volunteering!  

I'm pretty sure we've decided to do that a couple of times, but it's never materialized.   We can go even simpler and just create a sticky post that has links to the threads in question.

Modest Money said:

Yes some sticky posts would be a good idea for the very common topics.  Then we can actually refer people to an easy to find post rather than send them off randomly searching the forums in hopes of finding what they need.

 

Obviously the OP wasn't looking to pad his stats like a certain someone going for his 'black belt'.  He's only got 10 posts so far.  People need to be friendlier to the newer members here.  Instead of bluntly telling them to search the forums, you could help them out with that and link one of the better threads on the topic.

 

By the way, loving all the hate after bashing Sam in the other thread.  Keep it coming guys.

This was a nice post, right up until the trollish baiting in the last line.