Sponsoring Charity
This article was originally titled “Chitika for Charity”, but due to some auditing complications, I’ve decided to change to the Yahoo! Publisher Network for now. I only had Chitika eMiniMalls (that is not an affiliate link because, frankly, I wouldn’t recommend them) running for a single day during the month of October, but on that day, six clicks were audited to two, and the revenue for the day went down by over 80%.
Obviously, a single day is not fair treatment, but I actually have over a month of Chitika under my belt and I will be waiting until the audited revenue for November is released before I decide on anything. There is an excellent article at Work Boxers about this as well as some other discouraging aspects about Chitika.
Now, to get back into what I meant to say. A discussion about ads following my recent redesign got me thinking about whether or not I should keep them running. The hosting costs for this site with Dreamhost are fairly low and I just got a wonderful new job, so the money isn’t really the point of this website. However, since the site is making money, why not keep the ads running and give the money to someone who needs it more than I do?
Another Redesign
I had a little creative surge this morning, and what better outlet to release it than my website. That’s right, this entire layout is approximately two hours old and will hopefully last a little longer. I decided to go to a one column layout (although keep an eye on Garrett Dimon’s site for an opposite transition) because it still is all about the content and what better way to feature it than give the impression of a page.
Unfortunately, I still don’t do colors, but I did go out on a limb (by my standards) by using a light shade of gray! The inspiration for this new layout comes from sites like Niggle and Powazek that have brought their content to the forefront without discarding the essential blog features. Hopefully, this will inspire a little more interactivity and discussions.
Update
It’s been a little over two weeks since I rebooted this site, and I’m happy to say that I consider it a success. The new design seems a little more user-friendly and slightly less boring than the original.
Most importantly, the forum has definitely picked up and there are quite a few active contributors. So, what are you waiting for? Hit the forum for some exciting philosophy action.
9rules 2 and 3
In case you haven’t noticed, 9rules has launched a gorgeous new design which includes some interesting new features such as user favorites and a handy “Randomizer” (so you won’t have to refresh the page to get a fresh set of content). Accompanying version 2 is Round 3 for English submissions, so whip your blog into shape and submit it during the 24-hour window beginning Monday, November 14th at 12:00am EST.
Philosophy 2.0
It looks like this whole “internet” thing is going to pan out after all, so I’ve decided to hold on to this site. After decades of toil, precisely 3.43 gallons of sweat and an equal amount of coffee, version two of Philosophy is here! I’ve spent quite a bit of time ensuring that everything works properly, but I would appreciate it if you would notify me of any quirks.
The Forum
By far the biggest change is the addition of a new forum. Have a question of your own? Post it in the forum and kick up a debate. I’m hoping that the forum turns into a very active community and I think it’ll be a lot of fun. So go ahead and get registered Don’t worry about registering, just go ahead and start up a good conversation.