This is an associated discussion thread for Community Promotion Ads - 2011, which is otherwise relegated towards posts actually for the ads.
Stack Overflow runs a Free Vote-Based Advertising for Open Source Projects system to host ad space on the sidebar of the main site. These are selected through a community voting process on Meta Stack Overflow, done in 6-month periods.
I would be happy to announce, had I actually been announcing it, that Gaming Stack Exchange is now hosting a similar process for its own in-house advertising. We're making motions towards increased promotion of the site, and our first step is reaching out.
Much of the basic detail is covered in the ad post, so this is just a less concise clarification. Also, if you have feedback, questions, concerns, or complaints to voice about this system, here would be a good place to post it.
Where are the ads?
Ads that reach a sufficient score in the ad question will be hosted on the main Q&A site in the sidebar, as shown below. If you can't see any, you may be running a service or program that blocks advertisements on the Stack Exchange sites. This will prevent you from seeing these ads.
If you don't have anything running, these do share the ad space that is used for the Area 51 ads, and only one or the other will be shown. There isn't any sort of priority, so it may be bad luck on your refreshes. That said, if we can get a lot of ads into our cycle, it will probably improve the chances that these ads will show up instead. If you want to see these kinds of ads more than Area 51, suggest more. ♪
What is the purpose of the Community Promotion Ads?
I'll just quote Jeff for the opening here:
The goal is for future visitors to find out about the stuff your community deems important. And to click on it for great justice!
This can be anything from community activities, to upcoming big gaming events and conventions, to advertising obscure games that more people need to learn about.
For example, some of the users host periodic game nights, which you can find out more information on in the SE Game On! chat room. You could advertise upcoming games, with details on the event. Or you could just advertise that we do have these periodic get-togethers - your choice as to which you think will be more appealing. On another end, I've personally contacted certain indie localization groups who have recent as well as upcoming products, and will be working with them to supply some ads.
In the end, if it's something you think the members of the Gaming community and visitors of the site should be interested in, consider submitting your ad.
...
It's hard to really explain things without being totally redundant when Jeff's bullet list and Jin's sample ads did a fine job. Let's not waste your time with me ambling about then, if you have any more questions about this system, don't hesitate to ask. ♪
