Forum:External Sponsor Links

Are these "sponsor links" a new idea or something that's always been there? I haven't noticed them before if they were, and assuming they are new, are we going to stand for this? We remove spam links, not suggest people go right ahead and add them, and if we are going to have ads on all sides of our small content space, why not just do it ourselves somewhere else? - 08:33, December 5, 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't see that when I looked at the Kirk page, unless it was removed before I looked. I'm sure you did see it, only saying that I don't. :) --31dot 09:35, December 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's not the skin either, I looked at it under both skins.--31dot 10:22, December 5, 2010 (UTC)


 * It's only visible when logged out - though already set to hidden in Concealer.css, just in case. Border and different background color were already added by me, otherwise it would completely have looked like a part of the page. I'm not happy about them either, just haven't had the time (busy weekend & they were added just some days ago) to further think about that. -- Cid Highwind 12:09, December 5, 2010 (UTC)

We should look into this sooner rather than latter, since as I so eloquently put above, this seems like a really bad idea, and I'm saying that in the context of all the rest of wikia's really bad ideas. Can we have an ad taken down for reason "X"? Is there some sort of approval process before one gos up? Can the giant advertisement at least be moved below the categories? We're we notified (I refuse to check the "blogs" at central for anything important since they can just blue box us all)? - 09:05, December 6, 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't recall seeing any notification about it- here or there.--31dot 11:57, December 6, 2010 (UTC)


 * Sponsored Links. Yes, an idea we have been testing at various wikis over the last few months. Naturally, I understand your immediate concerns about some things that can go wrong. So here's a very quick overview of the process: Ad gets sent in via the approval interface, ''Wikia Staff researches it to make sure it is not inappropriate, gold-selling, illegal, scammy, etc., etc., (i.e. these things do not automatically go into effect), Wikia Staff presses button to make it go live, only logged-out users see.


 * Part of the reason we are into this project is because we think it creates a more organic ad system, as if it shows enough interest we can start writing logic that says "if enough ad money is made through this system, get rid of those big ol' right-hand boxes". Possibly even allow wikis to become self-sustainable.


 * No, we did not inform this community or any others in the recent rollout. We informed every community in the first few roll-outs, but ultimately, with enabling these links in many, many places, that was far too many to inform individually (though if someone had poked me and say "hey, going on Memory-Alpha, I prob. would have pinged Sulfur or Cid Highwind). --daNASCAT (Help Forum) (blog) 16:24, December 9, 2010 (UTC)


 * All of that doesn't change the one very basic concern we have specifically about this form of ad presentation - it looks like content. All other forms of advertisement we have been confronted with so far could, at least, easily be identified as "non-content". You have now gone a step ahead and not only placed advertisement in a spot where readers expect content - you additionally made it a point to disguise that advertisement as content. This is a slap in the face of all people who spend their time actually writing that content, or patrolling it to keep it spam (=ad, just without payment) free.
 * Also, I really have to wonder whether adding "content-like" stuff to our work doesn't make the result you present a "derivative work" of it - which, according to our license, should not be used for "commercial advantage or private monetary compensation." I'm not sure you can still claim to "just" be the host in that case... -- Cid Highwind 17:19, December 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * No reply from Wikia in almost a fortnight? Its silence is ominous. Somehow I find transporting into the darkness unnerving. --GNDN 17:26, December 21, 2010 (UTC)

Since this is the first time I've noticed that there is an ad in this space, I still want to know why these are in the content space, regardless of who see them, and how that is not breaking the copyright. - Archduk3  talk (on an unsecure connection) 01:48, April 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it's now affecting logged-in user accounts, too. Can't we get rid of it, even with the hidden patch?! Whoever made the mistake of moving our hosting to wikia, the company clearly doesn't have our interests at heart & are just desperately trying to scrounge profit, damn the consequences – even if they involve copyright infringement. Idiots! --Defiant 09:39, September 10, 2011 (UTC)