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Thread Boost feature

 
Trailboss
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This thread is for discussing the new "thread boost" feature.


Years ago, when I would look at Dr. Dobbs or Byte, I would spend about 20% of my time reading the ads.   I could skip over them, but I know I want to know about this stuff too.  

When we run ads on CodeRanch, most people have learned to ignore them.   So people are not getting that information.  And advertisers are bummed too.

We created a forum a long time ago called "blatant advertising"  - so when people post to this, it shows up in all the feeds.   It is labeled as "advertising" and we allow advertisers to post there for free.  I think it has worked well.   We allow publishers and authors to make threads about their books in the books forum.   Product manufacturers to the product forum ....   Workshops, conferences, online courses ...  all are free and we encourage people to post.  We even made a big list of free stuff people can do to advertise their stuff.


There are only two sites in the world that use this exact forum software.  Both sites are belong to me.  CodeRanch and permies.  We do a lot of testing at permies, the smaller site.  Over the last year, we have been boosting the permies threads that we think are the best.   Often times, that boost is for a really good thread.  Other times it is for something commercial.  

Most threads when they are a year old, appear to have about 800 views.   But take a look at this thread.  Six weeks ago we created it and gave it a bunch of boost.   It now has over 20,000 views.  Not too shabby!

Possible threads that could use a boost:
  • recruiter with a position
  • upcoming workshop or class
  • a conference
  • a new coding tool
  • an IDE
  • a contracting shop that could use more contracts
  • a blog
  • a linux box
  • online courses


So we have now come up with an automated way to boost a thread.  Everybody should be able to see a big button at the bottom that says "Boost this thread!"   This is a brand new feature, so it is still "beta".   Please let us know in this thread if there are any issues.   Hell, at this point, it would be good to hear that things are working well!



 
Greenhorn
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What are the features characteristic of the prototype???
 
paul wheaton
Trailboss
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Olatunbosun Amoniyan wrote:What are the features characteristic of the prototype???



If you click on the "thread boost" button on this thread, you will get an idea of what we currently offer.   There are quite a few more things in the works.

But, for example, one of the features we currently offer ... the thing that I think is the most powerful, is "similar threads".   At the bottom of each thread is "similar threads".   We have a rich algorithm that will take ALL of the text of a thread and compare it to ALL of the text of all other threads and come up with the threads that are most similar.   Suppose you select "50" for similar threads.   Once paid for, we will run this algorithm and find 50 threads that are most similar to the thread being boosted.   And those 50 threads will now have an additional "similar threads" link.  

Coderanch currently gets about 10 pageviews for each visitor.  We think that quite a lot of that is people finding a thread through google, and then getting through the thread and then looking at the similar threads.

If the thread is about java pdf libraries and a similar thread is about a specific product for doing that, then it is not seen as advertising - it is seen as legit.  At a time that people are curious about such things.  People click and learn about the product.

 
paul wheaton
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We have now added a new feature to thread boost:  the ability to insert ads into our mailings.
 
paul wheaton
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I just made the DX5 and email-at-the-bottom stuff super freaky cheap.  

DX5 is now $0.10 for 1000 impressions.    Or at 20 million impressions it is $0.05 per thousand plus there would be an additional 60% discount for total orders that large is it ends up at $0.02 per thousand.

Email ads at the bottom are the same price.  

For now.  

So the way thread boost is currently set up, you could get get 10 million impressions of DX5 and 10 million impressions at the bottom of emails, for a total of $400.
 
paul wheaton
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I kinda forgot about this thread.  I got an email saying that some of the boost I put on this thread was expiring.   And now I see that it has  312,800 views.
 
paul wheaton
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paul wheaton wrote:I kinda forgot about this thread.  I got an email saying that some of the boost I put on this thread was expiring.   And now I see that it has  312,800 views.



now it says "This thread has been viewed 417494 times."

 
Ranch Foreman
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I'd like a feature that bookmarks a specific post in a thread.  Sometimes I learn something very important in  post.  If I use bookmarking I think it saves the entire thread.

I would like a feature named Ranch Dressing but I haven't thought of its purpose yet.
 
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