Dear members of the DARKLY community,
As you already know, running online communities and hosting dedicated servers and VPS, etc, all come with a cost. We have always worked to find the most cost-efficient solutions to keep the monthly donation goals low, while providing the ultimate online-gaming experience and environment members who have come to love this community seek. We are also very grateful for the continuous and generous support from the community to always ensure we meet our monthly goals.
Over the past two years, we have seen changes, continuous improvements to be the best, and of course the growth and expansion of DGN. We have been very fortunate to have partnered with Aim2Game and Pinion, having allowed us to grow while keeping our donation goals low. Pinion is the marketing company that displays the ads you see when you join DARLKLY TF2/CSS/CSGO servers. Effective January 1st 2013, Pinion made some changes to their service policy that have affected our ad generated revenues.
The current monthly costs of operating DARKLY are over $450/mo. Our previous donation goal was $200/mo. And with Pinion's changes, the ad revenues used to cover the balance of our expenses have been significantly less, therefore the monthly donation goal had to go up. The reason is, most people do not watch the ads in the motd, and up until now, we were getting paid for each impression, even if you did not watch the whole video. But starting January 1st, we no longer get paid unless you watch at least 60-85% of the videos. That being said, we have decided to raise the donation goal to $250/mo. If the ad revenues continue to drop, we may have to revise the goal again in the future.
We wanted to explain the changes to you so that you understand why we had to come to this decision. Again, we thank you all for your understanding, and we thank you for your continuous support over the years. Your generous donations gives us all a place to play.
Sincerely,
DGN Staff
As you already know, running online communities and hosting dedicated servers and VPS, etc, all come with a cost. We have always worked to find the most cost-efficient solutions to keep the monthly donation goals low, while providing the ultimate online-gaming experience and environment members who have come to love this community seek. We are also very grateful for the continuous and generous support from the community to always ensure we meet our monthly goals.
Over the past two years, we have seen changes, continuous improvements to be the best, and of course the growth and expansion of DGN. We have been very fortunate to have partnered with Aim2Game and Pinion, having allowed us to grow while keeping our donation goals low. Pinion is the marketing company that displays the ads you see when you join DARLKLY TF2/CSS/CSGO servers. Effective January 1st 2013, Pinion made some changes to their service policy that have affected our ad generated revenues.
Effective 1st January 2013
For January impressions, we can no longer pay for impressions when people do not watch an advertisement and
hence we will be calculating the rate for impressions differently. Pinion will shortly release a new version of the
Pinion Plug-In that has an option to force a minimum 85% duration of an advertisement. If you enable this feature
and you achieve a monthly average completion rate of 85%, your community will be paid $2.00 per 1,000 impressions
as opposed to the current rate of $1.50 per 1,000 impressions. If the average completion rate is under 85%, you
will still receive a rate of $1.50
Payment Terms
Unfortunately we have been put in the difficult position where we have been forced to change the payment terms to
communities from 30 days to 60 days as our advertising networks are paying us in excess of 60 days. From 1st January
2013 all invoices will be generated automatically and you will be paid on the 1st of the third month from when the
impressions were generated. For example, for impressions generated 1st to 31st January 2013 you would be paid
on the 1st April 2013. There will be special arrangements for Australian based communities that are registered for
GST and we will contact each separately.We understand this may be difficult for some communities, however, due
to continued demands on our limited resources, we have had no choice but to implement this change.
Effective 1st February 2013
For February 2013 and later impressions we must refine the way the rate is calculated for impressions: we will no
longer be paying for impressions of advertisements that people donít watch. Our advertising partners only pay us
based on advertisements we serve over a particular duration and impressions from any community with less than a
60% average completion rate will not be purchased. Impressions with a completion rate between 60% and 85%
we will pay for on a scale of between $0.00 and $1.50 eCPM in this view range. The good news is that we will
continue to pay an eCPM rate of $2.00 for all impressions from a community that has an average completion rate
of 85% or greater.
For January impressions, we can no longer pay for impressions when people do not watch an advertisement and
hence we will be calculating the rate for impressions differently. Pinion will shortly release a new version of the
Pinion Plug-In that has an option to force a minimum 85% duration of an advertisement. If you enable this feature
and you achieve a monthly average completion rate of 85%, your community will be paid $2.00 per 1,000 impressions
as opposed to the current rate of $1.50 per 1,000 impressions. If the average completion rate is under 85%, you
will still receive a rate of $1.50
Payment Terms
Unfortunately we have been put in the difficult position where we have been forced to change the payment terms to
communities from 30 days to 60 days as our advertising networks are paying us in excess of 60 days. From 1st January
2013 all invoices will be generated automatically and you will be paid on the 1st of the third month from when the
impressions were generated. For example, for impressions generated 1st to 31st January 2013 you would be paid
on the 1st April 2013. There will be special arrangements for Australian based communities that are registered for
GST and we will contact each separately.We understand this may be difficult for some communities, however, due
to continued demands on our limited resources, we have had no choice but to implement this change.
Effective 1st February 2013
For February 2013 and later impressions we must refine the way the rate is calculated for impressions: we will no
longer be paying for impressions of advertisements that people donít watch. Our advertising partners only pay us
based on advertisements we serve over a particular duration and impressions from any community with less than a
60% average completion rate will not be purchased. Impressions with a completion rate between 60% and 85%
we will pay for on a scale of between $0.00 and $1.50 eCPM in this view range. The good news is that we will
continue to pay an eCPM rate of $2.00 for all impressions from a community that has an average completion rate
of 85% or greater.
We wanted to explain the changes to you so that you understand why we had to come to this decision. Again, we thank you all for your understanding, and we thank you for your continuous support over the years. Your generous donations gives us all a place to play.
Sincerely,
DGN Staff
