A long time ago I applied to be included in a beta program for Yahoo's response to Google AdSense. I received an email today stating that I was accepted in to the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program and can begin showing advertisements. For those of you unfamiliar with online advertising, Google AdSense started back in 2003 as a way for regular webmasters to show ad blocks on their website from advertisements from various companies that Google works with. An example of AdSense is an advertisement in a box that says "Ads by Google." Such is the case with the YPN beta. I show ads, and depending on hits, clicks, and some ratios Yahoo sends me some profit. I am just testing this program out and whether I keep it on this website or not has yet to be determined. Personally, I believe advertisements degrade a website and take away from it's design and appeal from a purely aesthetic standpoint. They are generally a huge eyesore. However, as mentioned I am merely testing this program out. I have had experience with Google AdSense on my other website and would really like to compare the two.
On that note, I had wanted to post a few screenshots of the settings that the YPN portal gives me and how it tracks clicks and payment. Due to the way companies are sue-happy these days, I decided to call up the Yahoo! Publisher Network and pose an inquiry regarding the legality of such a matter. The guy on the line had no clue what I was talking about. At first, he said it was fine and then when I rephrased my question for the fourth time he put me on hold to ask his superiors. He came back to the line saying exactly what I had expected... there were some copyright issues involved and that if I was really intent on posting such content I could get in touch with some head honcho at Yahoo. Anyways that was my rant for the day.
I've got a Calculus 3 midterm tomorrow, so I'll be studying all-night somewhere in the library, far from the procrastination-prone Wi-Fi that plagues campus. I need to check Avalonstar.com later tonight. Avalonstar is the brainchild and online playground for Bryan Veloso, an amazing web designer and the Interaction Designer for Facebook.com. The website is also a member of the prestigious 9rules blog ring. Bryan will be announcing the winner for Avalonstar's 5th Birthday Bash t-shirt design contest, in which I entered a few (twenty) designs of my own. Today he said that he has 26 entries to go through. The winner gets essentially anything worth 300.