There have only been 16 post in the last 4 hours, so you can't think it is just me.
There were actually 53 posts between 8:00am and 11:54pm. Maybe you were seeing that 16 threads had been updated?
The same day and time last year had 64 posts, though, so it is down a little in comparison. But there are a lot of variables in such a short window of a test (weather, an argument, a hot local topic, etc), so I try to pay more attention to monthly averages.
1. When you take political sides and filter out opposite thoughts you cut your users by 50%
As I've told you before with previous usernames, this has never happened. I would go out on a limb here and say that you (and no one on here, really) have any clue what my political thoughts are.
But the number of users isn't the problem. Last year was our second highest year ever for the number of users, and so far this year is on pace to break our previous record. The problem I'm having is:
a. Google made us remove ads from 2 of the most popular sections (Personals and Guns / Hunting)
b. Mobile traffic has increased, making up about 55% of our total traffic so far today (desktop is 32%, tablets and "other" are the remainder). But mobile users make far fewer posts than desktop users, they look at fewer pages per session, and mobile ads are worth about 1/3 of desktop ads. So as mobile traffic increases the number of posts decrease, the number of pageviews decreases, and the ad revenue decreases.
2. Don't take everything said so personal
I don't recall taking anything personal, I would be curious what you're talking about.
3. Allowing goofy post to dominate the discussion turns sane people off
I don't "allow" anything. I look at posts that are reported, and very rarely look at anything else (with the exception, of course, being with threads like this one). So if no one reports a post then I don't see it, thus it's not removed.
But as I said before, the number of users isn't the problem at all. So while I appreciate the feedback, this doesn't actually apply.
4. If you cover all your screen with ads it is not worth the chase to find the post.
I've only added 2 new ad locations: the one at the very top, beneath the navigation, and one that shows up after the 10th post if there are more than 18 posts in the thread.
The long one at the top is the one that I was the most nervous about, honestly. Generally speaking, a banner that's above-the-fold (meaning, you don't have to scroll down to see it) will have the highest value, and this has shown to be the case here. I don't personally like the appearance or that it pushes the main content down by 100px, but traffic hasn't gone down any so I'm hoping that the majority of users are simply adjusting to it.
If you can suggest alternatives to what I've already tried, I'm all ears!
