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What are Community Promotion Ads?

Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertisements to be shown.

Why do we have Community Promotion Ads?

This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:

  • the site's twitter account
  • useful tools or resources for the mathematically inclined
  • interesting articles or findings for the curious
  • cool events or conferences
  • anything else your community would genuinely be interested in

The goal is for future visitors to find out about the stuff your community deems important. This also serves as a way to promote information and resources that are relevant to your own community's interests, both for those already in the community and those yet to join.

How does it work?

The answers you post to this question must conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.

  1. All answers should be in the exact form of:

    [![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]
    
       [1]: http://image-url
       [2]: http://clickthrough-url 
    

    Please do not add anything else to the body of the post. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.

  2. The question must always be tagged with the magic tag. In addition to enabling the functionality of the advertisements, this tag also pre-fills the answer form with the above required form.

Image requirements

  • The image that you create must be 220 x 250 pixels
  • Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
  • Must be GIF or PNG
  • No animated GIFs
  • Absolute limit on file size of 150 KB

Score Threshold

There is a minimum score threshold an answer must meet (currently 6) before it will be shown on the main site.

You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats here.

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16
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ For further info and examples see this blog blurb. $\endgroup$ Dec 3, 2011 at 3:37
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ Some nice examples from TeX on how one can use this initiative. Unfortunately I don't see the idea of community ads working as well for MathSE. Anyone have ideas on what we may even consider advertising? The arXiv? $\endgroup$ Dec 4, 2011 at 21:01
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ How do people feel about putting useful links in the community ads (encyclopedia of integer sequence, detexify, arxiv, inverse symbolic calculator, etc)? $\endgroup$
    – Phira
    Dec 9, 2011 at 10:24
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ @Phira OEIS is a very good idea, I think. Could someone, please, make oeisf.org/logo.png into a banner? $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 13:00
  • $\begingroup$ ...I'm not sure if detexify is relevant enough, though $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 13:01
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ @GrigoryM Note that this is about relevance compared to hot questions of other SE sites. $\endgroup$
    – Phira
    Dec 9, 2011 at 13:42
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ I support linking to any site that helps students answer their homework questions on their own, without needing to post here. Wolfram Alpha, for instance. $\endgroup$
    – user7530
    Dec 9, 2011 at 18:09
  • $\begingroup$ Let's try discuss some ideas in chat maybe? $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 19:01
  • $\begingroup$ @GrigoryM: AMM you mean American Mathematical Monthly? $\endgroup$ Dec 9, 2011 at 19:18
  • $\begingroup$ @WillieWong Yes. But after recalling that it's not freely available online I'm not sure anymore it's a good idea. $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 19:23
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ @user7530 I think a meta discussion is called for before giving free advertising to commercial enterprises such as Wolfram Research. This is not fair to other worthy free alternatives. $\endgroup$ Dec 9, 2011 at 20:13
  • $\begingroup$ Is it ok to use (and modify) logos of other websites. Do we need to have their approval of to look if they have something about licensing and stuff on their websites? For example Wikipedia mentions copyright here, I did not find something similar e.g. at proofwiki. Hopefully there is someone more knowledgable about this and it is quite probable that it was already discussed somewhere. $\endgroup$ Dec 11, 2011 at 8:34
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ -1. I find the style of this question unnecessarily off-putting. Does it really say, "But whyyyyyyyy"? On the main site, this style of question-asking is almost always a marker of a very poor question. Since I gather that this is a serious project, I suggest that the question be edited to a more matter-of-fact style. Otherwise, it would seem likely that you are driving away potentially talented participants. $\endgroup$
    – JDH
    Dec 11, 2011 at 14:27
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @JDH I'll happily revise it. If you think it could use more refinement, feel free. I admit that I followed more of a script than I did personally write it. Part of me actually wants to go and make at least this minor fix on all the site threads, haha. $\endgroup$
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Dec 11, 2011 at 18:27
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Thanks, Grace, it's much more professional now, and I have accordingly removed my downvote. $\endgroup$
    – JDH
    Dec 12, 2011 at 4:25

17 Answers 17

61
$\begingroup$

arXiv.org -- open access to over 700 000 e-prints

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4
  • $\begingroup$ is this version (made by Yi Jiang) better? $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 11, 2011 at 12:55
  • $\begingroup$ @GrigoryM Oh yes! :) $\endgroup$
    – John
    Dec 11, 2011 at 19:20
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Can we borrow this for Physics? $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Jan 5, 2012 at 8:55
  • $\begingroup$ @David Personally, I have no problem with that. But, I didn't make the current version and I'm not really active on this site. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Jan 5, 2012 at 14:23
50
$\begingroup$

The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences

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9
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Alternative version of Grigory M's OEIS ad, per request. $\endgroup$ Dec 22, 2011 at 12:19
  • $\begingroup$ I'm still naive at mathematics and this question has no perjorative meaning: Why an Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences? $\endgroup$
    – Red Banana
    Jul 7, 2012 at 9:34
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @GustavoBandeira It is very helpful at times when you encounter an unknown sequence (often they are coefficients of polynomials or even values of recursive functions) when doing manipulations and computations in math. The explanations of the sequences can help reveal much on the math problem. $\endgroup$
    – Argon
    Jul 19, 2012 at 22:18
  • $\begingroup$ @Argon Any suggested reading about it? $\endgroup$
    – Red Banana
    Jul 20, 2012 at 0:42
  • $\begingroup$ @GustavoBandeira Unfortunately, nothing comes to mind. Perhaps someone else can help you with that. Just about every sequence you can think of is in the OEIS! You may be interested in the use of the OEIS in the following answers: math.stackexchange.com/a/48509/27624 math.stackexchange.com/a/131954/27624 math.stackexchange.com/a/165970/27624 math.stackexchange.com/q/68147/27624 math.stackexchange.com/a/117542/27624 math.stackexchange.com/a/116032/27624 $\endgroup$
    – Argon
    Jul 20, 2012 at 0:53
  • $\begingroup$ +1! There are tons of questions like "what is the formula for this sequence?", and the answer is always "look it up in OEIS". $\endgroup$
    – asmeurer
    Dec 9, 2012 at 2:04
  • $\begingroup$ Ps. Here are the SVG and GIMP .xcf originals of this ad, in case anyone wants them. (The SVG is an early version, the GIMP image matches the actual PNG. I think I extracted the SVG vector logo from some PDF file on the OEIS website, although I don't remember the details any more.) $\endgroup$ Jan 26, 2014 at 0:29
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Voyska Suggested reading: 2014-10-07 Guardian article by Alex Bellos about OEIS $\endgroup$ Jul 20, 2016 at 12:34
  • $\begingroup$ See also this 2016-05-10 blogpost by Tim Gowers $\endgroup$ Jul 21, 2016 at 10:18
45
$\begingroup$

GeoGebra - Free mathematics software for learning and teaching

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2
41
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MIT OpenCourseWare - Free Online Course Materials

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3
  • $\begingroup$ The format of the answer is a little wrong, but I am not sure how to fix it. Any help would be appreciated. $\endgroup$
    – E.O.
    Dec 29, 2011 at 9:15
  • $\begingroup$ Looks OK to me now. $\endgroup$ Dec 29, 2011 at 19:36
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Just noticed that the background colors in the seal are a bit messed up. Either the whole seal should be black on beige, or the man's leg should be white like the rest of him (and presumably the insides of the "O"s should be beige too). $\endgroup$ Jul 19, 2012 at 23:04
31
$\begingroup$

Sage Math

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10
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Perhaps someone can contribute a better design. $\endgroup$
    – kuch nahi
    Dec 10, 2011 at 5:56
  • $\begingroup$ This one from their marketing page converted to requirements: image link $\endgroup$
    – kuch nahi
    Dec 10, 2011 at 6:09
  • $\begingroup$ Worth having one for nb.sagemath.org as well, or would the duplication be excessive? $\endgroup$ Dec 13, 2011 at 17:26
  • 20
    $\begingroup$ I saw this on the main page today, and I'm not sure I like the insinuation that Sage is the poor person's math application of choice. $\endgroup$ Dec 20, 2011 at 14:14
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I feel pretty confident I know two of the (unaffordable) "big three M's", but the third M that comes to mind is Maxima, which of course is free software and bundled into Sage. $\endgroup$
    – hardmath
    Dec 21, 2011 at 18:46
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ @hardmath Matlab, Mathematica, and Maple. $\endgroup$ Dec 21, 2011 at 19:24
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ My first thought was “cannot afford antialiasing?”… the text at the bottom looks bad $\endgroup$
    – F'x
    Apr 19, 2012 at 9:34
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ I hate to make a redundant comment, but the tagline really must go. "It's not as good as Maple, but at least it's free!" is not an attractive slogan. $\endgroup$ May 29, 2012 at 19:42
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I was about to click on it. But then I saw the "Can't afford... big three M's?", and I decided not to click on it. $\endgroup$
    – a06e
    Jun 10, 2012 at 2:40
  • $\begingroup$ kuch nahi, @UnreasonableSin: I thought there were four big M's, since replacing Magma was one of William Stein's primary motivations in starting Sage. $\endgroup$
    – Simon
    Dec 9, 2012 at 7:57
29
$\begingroup$

Climb into Cantor's Attic, containing infinities large and small

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7
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Climb into Cantor's Attic, containing infinities large and small. $\endgroup$
    – JDH
    Jan 4, 2012 at 3:35
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ +1 That's an ambitious project that will fill a "large" void. Kudos! $\endgroup$ Jan 4, 2012 at 4:10
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, Bill! We've just started out, but things are coming along. $\endgroup$
    – JDH
    Jan 4, 2012 at 4:11
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ The stats page currently says, under this ad, "Score: 7 Created: 19 hours ago Clicks per day: Infinity (11 total)" (my emphasis). That seems strangely appropriate. :) $\endgroup$ Jan 4, 2012 at 22:02
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Ilmari, it seems that one can also enter the attic through the trapdoor of dividing by zero... $\endgroup$
    – JDH
    Jan 4, 2012 at 22:32
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ The link seems to be broken. It gives me a 403 access forbiden error. $\endgroup$
    – yohBS
    Dec 18, 2012 at 9:21
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It seems that after clicking on the link I get some errors. (I wondered whether to copy this into Community Promotion Ads — 2020, but it's probably better to wait until the site is fixed in some way.) $\endgroup$ Apr 2, 2020 at 4:40
28
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Khan Academy - A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

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2
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ I LOVE! Khan academy for what its doing! There should really be a tagline or something on this ad though. $\endgroup$
    – gideon
    Feb 14, 2012 at 14:07
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Given the lack of a text saying what Khan Academy is, I can only assume the ad is for branding. $\endgroup$
    – blunders
    Aug 13, 2012 at 13:06
27
$\begingroup$

ProofWiki, the online compendium of mathematical proofs

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1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Alternative, less in-your-face ad for ProofWiki. $\endgroup$ Dec 22, 2011 at 12:22
20
$\begingroup$

Alt Text

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11
  • $\begingroup$ I have no experience with art, so this is just a rough draft. Suggestions welcome! $\endgroup$
    – John
    Dec 9, 2011 at 19:50
  • 14
    $\begingroup$ CFD $\ $ I think a meta discussion is called for before giving free advertising to commercial enterprises such as Wolfram Research. This is not fair to other worthy free alternatives. $\endgroup$ Dec 9, 2011 at 20:14
  • 11
    $\begingroup$ @BillDubuque But Woflram Alpha is a free service, no? (And what is CFD, btw?) $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 20:17
  • $\begingroup$ @BillDubuque But please do suggest "worthy free alternatives", anyway. $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 20:19
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ @GrigoryM Currently Wolfram Alpha is free but its computational engine Mathematica is not. No doubt the primary raison d'être for Alpha is to generate further sales of Mathematica and related WRI products. CFD = call for discussion. $\endgroup$ Dec 9, 2011 at 20:38
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I don't know if this is what @Bill had in mind, but perhaps something like GNU/Octave, Maxima, or GiNaC. I think the former two have nice graphical front ends (qt-Octave and wxMaxima respectively). $\endgroup$ Dec 10, 2011 at 12:55
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ To quote user7530: «I have no doubt that informing users about Wolfram Alpha will decrease the number of very elementary algebra/calculus questions asked here, and increase the quality of the ones that still are» $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 11, 2011 at 22:09
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Added the query suggested in the image to the URL. This produces a (slightly humorous) non-answer for African swallows, but with one more click you get an answer for European swallows! $\endgroup$
    – Mark Hurd
    Jan 31, 2012 at 12:40
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Alpha's going "pro" now, so it's not so free anymore... almost anything complicated turns out to require money. $\endgroup$
    – user541686
    Mar 31, 2012 at 22:51
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ African or European? Kidding aside, I feel Monty Python is slightly too obscure to rely on as a tagline, especially since it makes no sense whatsoever if you don't get the reference. $\endgroup$ May 29, 2012 at 19:46
  • $\begingroup$ @GrigoryM: So you would rather someone got a computer to do their work for them than have someone explain how to do it to them? Their is more to life than the answer... $\endgroup$
    – user1729
    Oct 26, 2012 at 12:13
19
$\begingroup$

PlanetMath - Math for the people, by the people.

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4
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I thought PlanetMath could also use some free advertising, but I couldn't find a high-resolution image of their globe logo. So here's a draft ad with a crappy upscaled globe, to serve as a reminder for myself and/or as inspiration for anyone else who feels like improving it. $\endgroup$ Dec 29, 2011 at 18:02
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I asked at PlanetMath if they had a larger version of their logo, and they said they didn't and suggested that I try drawing one myself. So I did. $\endgroup$ Jan 4, 2012 at 20:27
  • $\begingroup$ I like PlanetMath, but if this draft version is replaced by one with, say, Ilmari's globe, the space between the "f" and the "or" in "for" should be reduced. $\endgroup$
    – Mark S.
    Nov 13, 2012 at 4:07
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @helopticor: That is the version with the remade globe. But you're right, the kerning of the text below the logo was all over the place. I tweaked it by hand a bit to make it tighter. $\endgroup$ Nov 13, 2012 at 10:47
18
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You'll wonder how you even managed to write the simplest equations with Word's poor excuse for an equation editor.

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9
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ A very cool what you see is what you mean "document processor" with an attitude. Focus on the content, LyX (LaTeX) will take care of the rest. Comes with an equation editor that's heaps and bounds better than Word's unusuable and clunky contraption that starts breaking down after the 20th equation. $\endgroup$
    – badp
    Dec 11, 2011 at 8:09
  • 14
    $\begingroup$ Warning: TeX.SE will send ninjas after you if they see you using this. $\endgroup$ Jan 2, 2012 at 20:06
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Just tell them you could have been using MS Word and they'll back off. $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Jan 5, 2012 at 8:56
  • $\begingroup$ @muntoo: lol, why? $\endgroup$
    – user541686
    Jan 23, 2012 at 22:27
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ lol, I never noticed the "jQuery,Or..." $\endgroup$ Jan 24, 2012 at 3:47
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Really the only program out there that can be used to write anything from class summaries to a thesis comfortably. $\endgroup$ Apr 24, 2012 at 7:20
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I find this ad rather busy and a little confusing. My eye is drawn to the giant colored "LYX", whereupon it skips up to "You should totally...", and then I find that I'm still not at the beginning of the ad. $\endgroup$ May 29, 2012 at 19:52
  • $\begingroup$ @AustinMohr Well - LyX is what the ad is about so that doesn't work out too horribly :) $\endgroup$
    – badp
    May 29, 2012 at 20:44
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ tex.sx: We like Lyx; it is the bait. We'll get you working with Latex source later. $\endgroup$ Jul 2, 2012 at 11:14
17
$\begingroup$

Help this community grow!

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9
  • $\begingroup$ Full disclosure: I moderate that site. $\endgroup$ May 24, 2012 at 8:14
  • $\begingroup$ The phrase "most fun" is generally preferred over "funnest", even though the latter is technically correct. $\endgroup$ May 29, 2012 at 19:49
  • $\begingroup$ I'm well aware of that, @Austin, but the maker of that ad chose to channel Steve Jobs for the purposes of getting attention (which is somewhat the point of an ad). Remember "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."? $\endgroup$ May 30, 2012 at 13:25
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I've never seen "funnest", I thought it was some kind of joke with "Fun Nest" since Mathematica have a Nest function. $\endgroup$
    – Red Banana
    Jul 7, 2012 at 9:26
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @GustavoBandeira that's awesome - maybe we should change it to "Join the funNest community for technical computing"! $\endgroup$
    – Verbeia
    Jul 11, 2012 at 11:23
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Verbeia Lots of NestedUsers[]... $\endgroup$
    – Red Banana
    Jul 11, 2012 at 13:24
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M.: Congratulations on the graduation! $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:09
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @Asaf, but it wasn't just me. That site has a lot of contributors way more prolific than me... :) $\endgroup$ Jul 18, 2012 at 23:15
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @J.M.: But none of them have posted in this thread... you may send me a congratulatory cask of whisky, if you wish. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Jul 18, 2012 at 23:16
12
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Alt Text

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3
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ I made an alternative version of this ad, because I found this one a little too in-your-face. (As in, I found myself thinking "wait, which site was I on again?") $\endgroup$ Dec 22, 2011 at 10:45
  • $\begingroup$ @Ilmari Very nice! $\endgroup$
    – John
    Dec 22, 2011 at 17:01
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Do we really need two ads for ProofWiki? I don't really feel comfortable doing it myself, since I'm the one who made the competing version, but I'd like to at least suggest that perhaps one of the two ads should be disabled (e.g. by adding some extra text to the post so that it doesn't conform to the formatting requirements). $\endgroup$ Feb 26, 2012 at 15:21
12
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Scientific Literature Digital Library & Search Engine

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2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Based on Grigory M's version, with less aliasing artifacts. $\endgroup$ Dec 21, 2011 at 23:45
  • $\begingroup$ Good, thank you! $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 22, 2011 at 7:04
9
$\begingroup$

AMS Graduate Student Blog - Read and write about topics that matter to you.

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3
  • $\begingroup$ I should mention this is a little shameless, as I write for the blog. $\endgroup$
    – dls
    Apr 16, 2012 at 4:14
  • $\begingroup$ There is currently an error in the link that this ad contains: "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_ECHO in /web/sites/mathgradblog/wp-content/plugins/cd-qotd/cd-qotd-widget.php on line 45" $\endgroup$
    – 000
    Dec 29, 2012 at 23:28
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Just to let you know, this is the 2012 version of the thread. You should add the updated version to the 2013 edition if you want the ad to appear! $\endgroup$ Apr 4, 2013 at 17:57
7
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Academia Stack Exchange

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1
  • $\begingroup$ Hi! Academia.SE has a nicely growing community discussing all sorts of matters relating to academic life, from grad student to emeritus professor… We think it could be of interest to a good part of the Mathematics.SE community! $\endgroup$
    – F'x
    Oct 26, 2012 at 9:25
6
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Follow us on Twitter!

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8
  • $\begingroup$ This is an example ad to demonstrate, with the site's twitter account. Don't actually know how all y'all feel about the StackMath auto tweets, haha. $\endgroup$
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Dec 8, 2011 at 15:28
  • 11
    $\begingroup$ Personally, I am not a fan. I don't care to much either about the twitter account either. The whole ads part bothers me a lot. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Dec 8, 2011 at 18:23
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Asaf Let me make sure I understand you (I personally don't care for Twitter, either, but that's a bit irrelevant). Do you have a trouble with the community ads system (that is, this question), and if so would you tell me about it? I'm happy to listen. $\endgroup$
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Dec 8, 2011 at 21:07
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Indeed so. I feel that this sort of ads campaign may be very useful for some other communities but I have strong doubts on it being useful for communities like this one. In my view, at least, this community has enough work as it is. The fact that the dominant tag is homework - and it gave a very nice head start to other tags - is enough to suggest that most of the transient users want an answer or two and that's it. (cont.) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Dec 8, 2011 at 21:14
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ (cont.) On the other hand, the interesting threads can be found by those looking for them in 99% of the cases. Those whom are interested already come by, so ads cannot be directed particularly to them. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Dec 8, 2011 at 21:15
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @Asaf Alright. That's sensible, and thanks again for letting me know. The main reason we offer these community ads is to allow a community to control what is shown. Otherwise, the standard presentation is going to be the Area 51 ads and random questions from other sites. However, if it's already something that isn't going to be looked at out of reasons other than lack of interest, it makes sense that it won't really make any use to the community. $\endgroup$
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Dec 8, 2011 at 21:24
  • $\begingroup$ @GraceNote There are couple of good (IMO) ideas in OP's comments but no one to implement them. Maybe you (or someone else from SE team) could (please!) help? $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Dec 9, 2011 at 18:53
  • $\begingroup$ @Grigory I do like the ideas, actually. I've been watching this thread and seeing the suggestions. I'll see if I can round up some resources for this. $\endgroup$
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Dec 9, 2011 at 18:56

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