Many of you have been helping countless sites get their act together for the search engines. The commercial sites are probably now even profiting financially from your help.
Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
> Many of you have been helping countless sites get their act together > for the search engines. The commercial sites are probably now even > profiting financially from your help.
> Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem > solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations > after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
> Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, > perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial > services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" > bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
> Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote > getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear > that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of > appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
Once in a blue someone clicks on an ad on my site, but I can never be sure whether it is a kind soul using google to repay me for my efforts, someone generally interested in my ads, or perhaps just that my site bores them to death so much that they have no option - other than that, things are pretty lean :)
> I've gotten a few emails over the years thanking me, dozens if not > hundreds wanting more help, but no donations whatsoever.
> I'd love to see some sort of "solved" tag on posts, but as always they > are limited by the worthlessness of the Groups interface.
> On Aug 22, 5:05 am, JohnMu wrote:
> > I'm just too curious, sorry :-)
> > Many of you have been helping countless sites get their act together > > for the search engines. The commercial sites are probably now even > > profiting financially from your help.
> > Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem > > solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations > > after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
> > Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, > > perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial > > services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" > > bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
> > Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote > > getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear > > that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of > > appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
> The commercial sites are probably now even > profiting financially from your help.
I doubt that. Maybe large commercial sites but I don't get involved with answer questions for those all that much. Not because I don't think they deserve "my" help, just that I don't have the experience with large sites and so can't offer much beyond the usual 301/PageRank/ Supps issues that effect all sites.
I don't even see a lot of large sites that look like they make much of any money coming here whether I get involved or not so I doubt there are people making tons of cash off the help they get here.
> Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem > solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations > after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
If you don't charge nuttin' refunds are painless. :-)
> Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, > perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial > services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" > bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
I periodically get offers for payment for my help but not only can I almost hear a sigh of relief when I tell them I don't need anything, as they likely have little to nothing to give but more so, I can't see charging someone for 10 minutes worth of time.
I don't get that many people saying thanks though, other than in threads but that is fine with me.
> Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote > getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear > that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of > appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
??? Naaa, I like it the way it is.
I too would like an EFFECTIVE "solved" button but I know, from experience, that there is no real way to ensure that it is effectively used.
> Once in a blue someone clicks on an ad on my site,
Would it be against the Adsense guidelines if it was suggested, in 40px font at the top of the forum that people who receive help should go to the sites of the people who helped them and click the shit out of their ads?
> > Once in a blue someone clicks on an ad on my site,
> Would it be against the Adsense guidelines if it was suggested, in > 40px font at the top of the forum that people who receive help should > go to the sites of the people who helped them and click the shit out > of their ads?
> > Once in a blue someone clicks on an ad on my site,
> Would it be against the Adsense guidelines if it was suggested, in > 40px font at the top of the forum that people who receive help should > go to the sites of the people who helped them and click the shit out > of their ads?
> Would it be against the Adsense guidelines if it was suggested, in > 40px font at the top of the forum that people who receive help should > go to the sites of the people who helped them and click the shit out > of their ads?
That would be very ungood (like a "total protonic reversal"). Not to mention that by multi-clicking you'll likely get the clicks filtered altogether.
NEVER use Adsense as a way to "thank" someone. In the worst case, they'll get their Adsense-account canceled. Yikes!
Way back when sitemaps were brand new, a fellow with a "web site in a can" sent me a nice box of chocolate for creating a sitemap for him and figuring out a way to get it to his server.
I think there are some people benefiting from what we post that I would love to see get a taste of their own medicine. Not long ago, someone with a hacked .htaccess posted the file....letting us all know how the rewrites for "bots only" was done. Now we see the same hack, but in reverse. Let the bots see that page, let the visitor get the redirect, thus the domain does not get the warning attached to it in Google's index.
> Many of you have been helping countless sites get their act together > for the search engines. The commercial sites are probably now even > profiting financially from your help.
> Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem > solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations > after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
> Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, > perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial > services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" > bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
> Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote > getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear > that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of > appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
Forgot: I would love to see a big GREEN star, which can only be set by the person that started the thread to signify "problem solved" and/ or "I am closing my thread"
> Many of you have been helping countless sites get their act together > for the search engines. The commercial sites are probably now even > profiting financially from your help.
> Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem > solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations > after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
> Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, > perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial > services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" > bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
> Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote > getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear > that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of > appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
And there was me thinking the Google Webmaster Support road was paved with gold.... :-(
I've had one or two people get in touch asking about something, but nothing of any substance.
I believe Google were looking at some way to compensate the regulars here, but I'm sure there are issue around that also. Even a simple thank you now and again would make a huge difference. Everyone likes to be thanked.
So... thank you to the regulars for all the correspondence, chats and learning experiences.
> And there was me thinking the Google Webmaster Support road was paved > with gold.... :-(
> I've had one or two people get in touch asking about something, but > nothing of any substance.
> I believe Google were looking at some way to compensate the regulars > here, but I'm sure there are issue around that also. Even a simple > thank you now and again would make a huge difference. Everyone likes > to be thanked.
> So... thank you to the regulars for all the correspondence, chats and > learning experiences.
> Rgds > Richard
> On Aug 22, 12:10 pm, JLH wrote:
> > On Aug 22, 6:05 am, dockarl wrote: > > other than that, things are pretty lean :)
> > I wouldn't suggest getting involved in Google Webmaster Support for > > the money, fame, or recognition. :)
Hey, it actually looks like I am a wee bit ahead. I have had 2 out of the blue donations that I recall originating here, and one from another forum where I hang out. I've also had 4 site redesign projects one of which weirdly I never got paid for after having been told it was exactly what he wanted - client seemingly having vanished off the face of the earth :( At least he's not uploaded the redesigned pages, otherwise I'd be livid. But after more than 6 months since the last contact, the trail is cold, I rather think he's a deadbeat. If he ever were to pay up I'd buy drinks all around :)
I have had other offers or rather requests which I have turned down for various reasons, one I remember being for hosting and designing some kind of adult site - which is totally against my personal policy, and a couple of requests that I couldn't take on as they were much too complex for me.
I have had a couple of innovative forms of gratuity like a bottle of a very pricey therapeutic beverage, a shipment of a fancy beauty oil and some amazingly artistic theme soap bars :). Others have been of the exchange of services variety, like photoshopped graphics which to me are an unattainable mystery.
I do get quite a few emails of thanks and unfortunately also occasionally a few of the nasty variety. I guess it goes with the territory.
And to the one or two folks who clicked 2 of my ads, thanks. Now, after about 2 months, I have $0.64 in my adsense account - there's a bet running on whether or not I will reach $1 by Christmas LOL
> I was, of course, saying that with tongue firmly in cheek :-)
> On Aug 23, 1:37 am, Red Cardinal wrote:
> > And there was me thinking the Google Webmaster Support road was paved > > with gold.... :-(
> > I've had one or two people get in touch asking about something, but > > nothing of any substance.
> > I believe Google were looking at some way to compensate the regulars > > here, but I'm sure there are issue around that also. Even a simple > > thank you now and again would make a huge difference. Everyone likes > > to be thanked.
> > So... thank you to the regulars for all the correspondence, chats and > > learning experiences.
> > Rgds > > Richard
> > On Aug 22, 12:10 pm, JLH wrote:
> > > On Aug 22, 6:05 am, dockarl wrote: > > > other than that, things are pretty lean :)
> > > I wouldn't suggest getting involved in Google Webmaster Support for > > > the money, fame, or recognition. :)- Hide quoted text -
Like some of the others, I do get the occasional request for more help, and I'm still in contact with a couple of people whose posts I answered way back. Thank you emails are also not that uncommon [although by no means frequent either].
Random donations are totally unknown, although I've had a couple of jobs materialise as a direct result of selfishly promoting myself here... [cough]... I do of course mean 'helping people out in this most excellent group'. ;-)
What I don't quite get are the few people who take the time to thank me for the advice, and then proceed to try & get me to talk them out of following it...
"Hey, thanks for the great advice about the W3C compliance errors, H- Tags. and inlinks. Fixing all that sure seems like a hell of a lot of work though. Surely it not necessary to do ALL of that work? There must be an easier way. Go on, be a buddy & tell me how you'd do it."
...or something along those lines.
"I've told you 'how I'd do it', now either swallow the pill or don't. It's not my problem if your legs explode."
For some reason, a small proportion of people seem to think that, although my advice is great, it's the most difficult possible approach and I'm keeping all the really tasty information for myself. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just the fact that I'm really crap at explaining things? ;-)
Also... amen to getting a 'solved tag' which thread-starters can use to close matters or tell people that the problem is sorted. I thought DJC's idea for a green star was particularly good, since it would fit in well with the star wars rating system already in place.
> Many of you have been helping countless sites get their act together > for the search engines. The commercial sites are probably now even > profiting financially from your help.
> Nobody here promotes their business as a means of getting a problem > solved (which I think is really neat). Nobody here requests donations > after or before solving a problem (I like that too).
> Do the people you help sometimes contact you to express their thanks, > perhaps even by sending a donation or - if you offer commercial > services - by hiring you for a project? Do the "buy me a beer" > bloggers ever get something from the sites being helped here?
> Is there something that could (or perhaps should?) be done to promote > getting feedback ("thanks it worked" or "no, I didn't want to hear > that answer") and perhaps even to suggest that they leave a token of > appreciation with the parties involved in finding a solution?
