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How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

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Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#11

Post by jaydles »

lucb1e wrote: post #5

StackOverflow is an extremely valuable resource for all programmers. I've not seen the option anywhere, but a yearly donation would definitely be something I'd do for a substantial amount (substantial to me as a student, so it's not the moon but not a beer either).

We're humbled hearing from folks like you - your willingness to give back is what makes it all work. Keep your money. But here's how you CAN help, right now: Sign up if you haven't, create a developer story, and when you ARE job-hunting, try Jobs. We I think you'll find it to be the most developer-friendly offering on the planet.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#13

Post by brianzelip »

Great answer to a related FAQ in a post[0] linked from this article, about why !SO doesn't care about ad blockers:

> The truth is: we don’t care if our users use ad blockers on Stack Overflow. More accurately: we hope that they won’t, but we understand that some people just don’t like ads. Our belief is that if someone doesn’t like them, and they won’t click on them, any impressions served to them will only annoy them-- plus, serving ads to people who won’t click on them harms campaign performance.

[0] https://stackoverflow.blog/2016/02/why-stack-overflow-doesnt...!

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#14

Post by vlunkr »

Another good article linked from this one: https://stackoverflow.blog/2016/02/why-stack-overflow-doesnt.... Stack Overflow is IMO the site to look to if you want to do ads correctly. So many big sites have incredibly trashy ads, SO shows that they care to not subject their users to that junk.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#15

Post by jc4p »

subhobroto wrote: post #7

Thank you for submitting this on HN. I am really happy to see the site grow. > I am extremely protective of our users. You can ask anyone who works here. It’s is my very strong belief that we have a built up a trust with the community that is not easily earned and is impossible to replace. I want to work for a company that respects that trust, and I do. > How much money we make is a direct proxy for how much we are h…

For my own curiosity, when you mean anonymous answers do you mean by people who don't have accounts on our platform at all, or do you mean people who already have accounts disconnecting their persona from a specific answer?

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#16

Post by [deleted] »

subhobroto wrote: post #7

Thank you for submitting this on HN. I am really happy to see the site grow. > I am extremely protective of our users. You can ask anyone who works here. It’s is my very strong belief that we have a built up a trust with the community that is not easily earned and is impossible to replace. I want to work for a company that respects that trust, and I do. > How much money we make is a direct proxy for how much we are h…

[deleted]

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#17

Post by [deleted] »

subhobroto wrote: post #7

Thank you for submitting this on HN. I am really happy to see the site grow. > I am extremely protective of our users. You can ask anyone who works here. It’s is my very strong belief that we have a built up a trust with the community that is not easily earned and is impossible to replace. I want to work for a company that respects that trust, and I do. > How much money we make is a direct proxy for how much we are h…

[deleted]

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#19

Post by jack9 »

> And we don’t want to use an automated system that selects some ads for us.

So they do direct deals mostly, which is antiquated and probably to preserve their branding as a "tech site".

> Did you know we have a lot of unpaid inventory on Stack Overflow every month?

This is what trying to guess your avails with direct ends up doing. Leaving inventory unmonetized. Typically, you get paid less for less of your inventory trying to do monthly manual trafficking.

All they do is display, so it's rather silly to quibble about CPMs in the 25 cent range...until you look at the traffic and realize that translates to real money.

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