Do you think its a good idea to run advertisements on your own forum site to make a profit?

Clearly the only way a website can survive is with a revenue source, but how far should individuals go to make money off their site?

Are popups, popunders, big bright flashing banners, active x controls, etc. acceptable?

Or should forum owners sick with traditional less intrusive advertising methods that may make them less money?

If a pop under occured once when a site visited the forum and some big flashy banners for guests - with a link, join here to get rid of the ads -
but the members had smaller, less details ones - all I can see happening with that is that people will only join to get rid of the ads.


I just keep it plain and simple with a google adsense ad and changed the colors to suit the forum

I agree, Google ads prove to be the best revenue source for a forum and any website in general. All others do not seem to bring that much revenue. Moreover from user point of view all pop ups and flashy banners are annoyning. Plus google ads seem to be relevant.

I think other types of advertising should exist on the site but not for revenue purposes as main goal but rather as part of forums banner and links exchange programs that first of all aim at increasing traffic and PR. This as result might end up with revenue increasing or might not.