Thanks for posting that, also for the explination of the dips. I assume there is generally a sharp rise after you update to the newest minecraft before leveling off again to what looks like the 6isk K view mark?
Correct, usually it could get much much higher. March was the lowest month we've had (lower than October, when we first came out) for combined reasons.
Slighty off topic
Still interesting to thee the descrepency in that you get $1.68 per 1,000 views and they charge $5.00 to show an add 10,000 times (cpv = $0.50) so it would be interesting to know how they are making their money. Maybe that is some sort of introduction rate.
I also want to point out (mainly to users of mods) that this is nowhere near enough to really make a living (At least where I live). At best it is a very minor supplementary income. The job I am currently in the final interview stages for doing graduate software development consulting pays about $50,000 per year. After taking off tax and student loans this is about $750 a month. The amount that divine RPG makes of adfly links for March would be a bit over what I pay for rent per week (Cost of Living here is quite high).
I'm personally not sure whether adfly pays more if a link is more popular, but the combined amount of adfly non-adblocked link clicks is around two million.
And to answer the other question, if a user uses adblock or some ad-skipping program, adfly ignores the click completely. We are able to tell this due to massive (as I stated, off by 92%) discrepancy between the file hosting website downloads and adfly clicks. To our knowledge, DivineRPG has had between 4-5 million downloads from either modpacks, the thread, or FTB. We also have (sort of "had" at the moment, due to the server being iffy) a version checker that runs upon loading their first world of the session, there has been a bit above 6 million unique IDs (Personal ISP Addresses) checked on that since October, however I do believe a decent portion of people have either re-installed windows or so on which is why I go with the download statistics to around 4-5 million.
As for making a living, at our point, it could make a living if you lived in a less developed country. However, here in Canada living isn't as cheap. If a mod grows even more than we have in the past couple months, the modder runs official servers with donations and so on, it is likely possible to, but I wouldn't suggest it. I personally do make a living outside of the mod (doing some nifty stuff, but that is another story) but I can safely say the mod does help.
For example, if I had a webpage set up in my dropbox that would preform a drive by installation of a trojen to computers with a particular version of a browser (due to a security bug) before downloading the mod, how quickly do you think I would get banned from the forums? I really don't see much difference with this situation than using adfly.
As for updating the statistics, feel free to do it if you want. Personally I just wanted to see ballpark figures anyway and the image above clearly demonstrates it.
P.s. sorry agin for any offence with my previous comment (and with this one). That is not my intent I do not wish for this discussion to devolve into a flame war as it is an issue that probably should be discussed and people can be quite passionate on both sides.
No offense taken, no war started, I can understand being afraid of adfly.
I am a modder and I had about $5,09 given to me by adf.ly for about 3500 downloads (not 10000).
4,877
TOTAL VIEWS $6.17684
TOTAL EARNINGS
But that's not what I use it for, it isn't anout money, I make mods to make people happy because some people would want those mods, and to learn coding.
But my main reason for using adf.ly is because you can easily keep track of all of your downloads, and all the links, mirrors, how much downloaders in how much countries... Statistics really, which I just want to know.
And I can see which mod generates how much traffic.
Also, as a normal minecraft player I have downloaded hunderds of times from adf.ly and I haven't to this day ever, had problems with it.
This is a half truth. Any website can download executable code to the computer, providing the browser has a plugin that allows that. Namely Java. Java code is not executed without the consent of the user. Who unless he absolutely 100% trust the site, probably won't click yes. And Adfly uses Flash to display ads, not Java. Flash cannot harm your computer. That's a generally well known fact.
Unless the user clicks and Adfly ad and downloads the product or runs a Java app on that website, security concerns are minimal. I trust that most people are able to notice the skip ad button.
Saying that Java is unsafe and flash is 100% security risk free is very wrong. Any browser plugins are the primary security flaw in any browser (the security flaws in browsers are generally patched up quite quick). Flash is from what I have heard one of the worst, sometimes taking over a year to patch up known issues. One of the most dangerous times for any software security is the time between a patch being pushed issued and that said patch being installed (look up patch Tuesday/expoilt Wednesday for a Windows example). Keeping your browser and browser plugins up to date goes a long way in browser security.
Just as a quick example, this time going to the mac based Flashback trojen that infected over half a million macs sometime last year. Apple have stated that it was caused by a security vulnrability in Java (which is true). But have you ever thought why the same vulnrability did not exist in other OSs? Basically Apple handeles their own updates where java is conserned.
Java's developer, Oracle, issued a fix to the vulnerability on 14 February, but this did not work on Macintoshes as Apple manages Java updates to its computers.
Apple released its own "security update" on Wednesday - more than eight weeks later. It can be triggered by clicking on the software update icon in the computer's system preferences panel.
People are very quick to judge Oracle/Java but forget that there was a lag of 8 weeks before Apple got their act together to push the patch downstream. If this wasn't the case I have no doubt very few computers would be infected and we would have never heard about this.
*This is not be trying to Apple bash or anything but it does serve to point out the risk of not keeping browser plug-ins up to date.
I fail to see when I mentioned that. On Macs it's significantly harder to install viruses, since all applications require an admin to be installed. I know that Macs can get viruses, my Mom installed a virus onto her Mac (a trojan). Please point out exactly what line you think says that in my post. That was not my intention.
Sorry for jumping to that conclusion, it is one of my pet hates when people think they are "malware safe" if they own a mac.
(Again going by linux not mac as I have next to no experience with macs) Yes you do require administration previliges to install a program system wide on a unix operating system, but programs can still be "installed" in the user space. This would of course require each user on the computer to be infected seperataly. Furthermore there are certain files that can be used to execute code automatically on log in that don't require elevated privliges to edit.
For example if we go back to the Flashback Trojan example, do you really think that over half a million mac users would have elevated priviliges to install this tojen?
As I have demonstrated, Adfly is a safe site. It's perfectly safe for anyone computer literate. Yes $5 isn't much, but hey, it's money.
You have not demonstrated this at all, in fact looking at google's diagnostic page goes completely against what you are saying.
Acording to the page I just linked, although adfly itslef does not host malware, it does act as an intermediate (i.e. the ads). In fact "Of the 7096 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 9 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent."
Correct, usually it could get much much higher. March was the lowest month we've had (lower than October, when we first came out) for combined reasons.
Again out of curiosity, how much higher (don't bother posting a screenshot, just a ballpark figure would be fine). If you don't want to give out that informaton its fine, just would be interesting.
I'm personally not sure whether adfly pays more if a link is more popular, but the combined amount of adfly non-adblocked link clicks is around two million.
2 million downloads per month? Wow impressive. You guys should be proud of your work. TBH I am a little annoyed at myself for not setting up a bitly accout for battlegear to see how many downloads I was getting (doubt it was close to that though)
So far total downloads for another mod I have been writing is about 34,000 (it's still in WIP and haven't updated it in a while). Which according to those posting here would be around $60 if I whacked an adfly link on it (So it could fund a small night out)
And to answer the other question, if a user uses adblock or some ad-skipping program, adfly ignores the click completely. We are able to tell this due to massive (as I stated, off by 92%) discrepancy between the file hosting website downloads and adfly clicks. To our knowledge, DivineRPG has had between 4-5 million downloads from either modpacks, the thread, or FTB. We also have (sort of "had" at the moment, due to the server being iffy) a version checker that runs upon loading their first world of the session, there has been a bit above 6 million unique IDs (Personal ISP Addresses) checked on that since October, however I do believe a decent portion of people have either re-installed windows or so on which is why I go with the download statistics to around 4-5 million.
I thought that would be the case, just wanted to ask.
Off Topic:
You version checker seems quite interesting. I have been toying with my own basic implementation over the last 24 hours (using an xml back end on my dropbox). Is there any chance you could give me a few more details about your implementation (or even some code)? You also mention a server, does that mean you are hiring one for this purpose?
As for making a living, at our point, it could make a living if you lived in a less developed country. However, here in Canada living isn't as cheap. If a mod grows even more than we have in the past couple months, the modder runs official servers with donations and so on, it is likely possible to, but I wouldn't suggest it. I personally do make a living outside of the mod (doing some nifty stuff, but that is another story) but I can safely say the mod does help.
I still doubt you would be able to make a living off this here (going by the month you posted which I know is low) you would need 13-14 times more downloads than you currently have to hit minimum annual wage. I really don't think this is possible as it would require more downloads per month than there are minecraft accounts. Yes it might be good for a small suplimentery income, but not to live off (at least here.
I am a modder and I had about $5,09 given to me by adf.ly for about 3500 downloads (not 10000).
4,877
TOTAL VIEWS
$6.17684
TOTAL EARNINGS
But that's not what I use it for, it isn't anout money, I make mods to make people happy because some people would want those mods, and to learn coding.
But my main reason for using adf.ly is because you can easily keep track of all of your downloads, and all the links, mirrors, how much downloaders in how much countries... Statistics really, which I just want to know.
And I can see which mod generates how much traffic.
Also, as a normal minecraft player I have downloaded hunderds of times from adf.ly and I haven't to this day ever, had problems with it.
There are many url shorteners that have this functionality also (eg bitly)
See I have had my virus scanner go crazy over it. Either it's simply a case of luck of the draw, my virus scanner is picking up a false positive, or things are getting through yours. Although looking ath the diagnostic page linked above, I am guessing it is not just the false positive.
[1]Again out of curiosity, how much higher (don't bother posting a screenshot, just a ballpark figure would be fine). If you don't want to give out that informaton its fine, just would be interesting.
2 million downloads per month? Wow impressive. You guys should be proud of your work. TBH I am a little annoyed at myself for not setting up a bitly accout for battlegear to see how many downloads I was getting (doubt it was close to that though)
So far total downloads for another mod I have been writing is about 34,000 (it's still in WIP and haven't updated it in a while). Which according to those posting here would be around $60 if I whacked an adfly link on it (So it could fund a small night out)
I thought that would be the case, just wanted to ask.
[2] Off Topic:
You version checker seems quite interesting. I have been toying with my own basic implementation over the last 24 hours (using an xml back end on my dropbox). Is there any chance you could give me a few more details about your implementation (or even some code)? You also mention a server, does that mean you are hiring one for this purpose?
[3]I still doubt you would be able to make a living off this here (going by the month you posted which I know is low) you would need 13-14 times more downloads than you currently have to hit minimum annual wage. I really don't think this is possible as it would require more downloads per month than there are minecraft accounts. Yes it might be good for a small suplimentery income, but not to live off (at least here.
I numbered your parts for responses.
1) I'd say around 4-6x higher (not the dip parts).
2) We'll be improving ours currently, so that is now displays the current version you are on, and shows what the most recent version is. It will also link to our Twitter.
As a server, I mean we actually have a physical server computer. The version checker needs to find the server at a certain URL and checks a line of text to make sure it is the same as the one programmed in the mod.
3) That's pretty much why I said lesser developing countries. I know somebody in Lithuania with only 32k Youtube subscribers who is fully able to live off of it without a problem. In countries such as Australia, Canada, United States, etc etc, it would be quite difficult to live off mod developing alone.
Saying that Java is unsafe and flash is 100% security risk free is very wrong. Any browser plugins are the primary security flaw in any browser (the security flaws in browsers are generally patched up quite quick). Flash is from what I have heard one of the worst, sometimes taking over a year to patch up known issues. One of the most dangerous times for any software security is the time between a patch being pushed issued and that said patch being installed (look up patch Tuesday/expoilt Wednesday for a Windows example). Keeping your browser and browser plugins up to date goes a long way in browser security.
Flash, is one of the best. Mainly because it can't directly access computer info or download anything to your computer without consent. Java applet can however, download things to your computer without your consent. Though to run a Java applet you need to allow it to run. Honestly as far as I know, there aren't any Flash exploits still around. And if they are, they aren't widespread, and definitely aren't used in ads.
I would also argue that about 60% of people use Adblock or NoScript. Which blocks Flash content.
TL;DR the likelihood of having malware installed because of Flash is extremely low.
You have not demonstrated this at all, in fact looking at google's diagnostic page goes completely against what you are saying.
Acording to the page I just linked, although adfly itslef does not host malware, it does act as an intermediate (i.e. the ads). In fact "Of the 7096 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 9 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent."
Google is SUPER sensitive in detecting malware. It's flagged atleast one legit site I know of (though the owner of the site worked it out with Google and he was able to get it unflagged). They should be though. And that's 9 out of 7096 pages. The odds of getting "malware" installed on adfly is 788.4 to 1. It's not gonna happen (unless of course like I said, you aren't good with computers and don't have security measures taken, in which case again I reiterate, you should be using computers with supervision).
I would also argue that about 60% of people use Adblock or NoScript. Which blocks Flash content.
It's not gonna happen (unless of course like I said, you aren't good with computers and don't have security measures taken, in which case again I reiterate, you should be using computers with supervision).
I would make the case against this, mainly because many of the people who play minecraft(Not all by any means, but a large number of the people who play it from my experience) are people who fall into the second category, who probably should have some sort of supervision when using computers.
Those users are highly unlikely to utilize a adblock tool, and I know that my parents, heck, even some of my friends who are parents don't know enough about computers to put adblock or something similar on there to stop that sort of thing.
I'm sure there are a large number of people who do use adblock, but in most cases those are the people who know better than to click the ads in the first place. The people who don't know better are the ones who likely don't have adblock.
Honestly as far as I know, there aren't any Flash exploits still around. And if they are, they aren't widespread, and definitely aren't used in ads.
There are always exploits in software, there is no way around that. You will never find a perfect piece of software, although I'm sure You can come awfully close. Even though the ones that don't exist are definitely not highspread(Read: I agree they are few and far between in most cases), The instances where they are used is the issue at hand. As for those exploits being used in ads, the purpose being people using those exploits is not to give them through ads, but rather to infect people with things they don't want on their computers. The "ads" that carry the viruses are not meant as ads at all, but are rather the "messenger" or "envelope" as it were. They simply provide a means of distributing the infection to other computers, the person behind the virus likely isn't expecting You to go to their site and actually use whatever they're pretending to sell.
Just my thoughts on that, sorry if it's long winded or if I went off on any tangents.
P.S. I'm honestly thrilled that this has stayed so civil and awesomely discussed throughout this, It's threads like these that make me smile on the bad days.
Flash, is one of the best. Mainly because it can't directly access computer info or download anything to your computer without consent. Java applet can however, download things to your computer without your consent. Though to run a Java applet you need to allow it to run. Honestly as far as I know, there aren't any Flash exploits still around. And if they are, they aren't widespread, and definitely aren't used in ads.
I would also argue that about 60% of people use Adblock or NoScript. Which blocks Flash content.
TL;DR the likelihood of having malware installed because of Flash is extremely low.
I agree that less than 60% of people overall use adblock. However, when it comes to the Minecraft community, better yet, people who download mods for Minecraft, a lot of them have more knowledge than the average going person. As I mentioned before, statistics on our mod downloads do vary, however the adblock amount has ranged (per month) anywhere from 63% to 92% of people.
Well, actually, im pretty sure adfly pays you more than 5 bucks per 10,000 downloads... I think that is for the people who have the advertisements, not the person who gets paid for the links. I hear it is like 5 to 10 cents a download, and more if someone clicks on an ad.
Flash, is one of the best. Mainly because it can't directly access computer info or download anything to your computer without consent. Java applet can however, download things to your computer without your consent. Though to run a Java applet you need to allow it to run. Honestly as far as I know, there aren't any Flash exploits still around. And if they are, they aren't widespread, and definitely aren't used in ads.
I would also argue that about 60% of people use Adblock or NoScript. Which blocks Flash content.
TL;DR the likelihood of having malware installed because of Flash is extremely low.
While the overall number of zero-day vulnerabilities is up, attacks using these vulnerabilities continue to be successful. Some of these vulnerabilities are leveraged in targeted attacks. Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Windows ActiveX Control vulnerabilities are widely used in targeted attacks, and vulnerabilities in Microsoft technologies accounted for almost 50 percent of the zero-day vulnerabilities seen in 2012.
and a graph showing vulnerabilities found over 2011 and 2012 in the major browser plug-ins
And to go back to the issue of malware in ads
In 2012, drive-by Web attacks increased by one third, possibly driven by malvertising
and
In 2012, Symantec’s Trust Services (formerly VeriSign) technology scanned over 1.5 million websites as part of its Website Malware Scanning and Vulnerability Assessment services. Over 130,000 URLs were scanned for malware each day, with 1 in 532 of websites found to be infected with malware. The most common form of compromise was for the use of drive-by downloads.
I don't know where you get the idea that a java web based application (They are moving from applets to JavaFX based) can access the filesystem without user consent. Barring exploiting vulnerabilities (which could in theory be done in both flash and java) Java requires a .jar file to be digitally signed by an external server before being granted full un-sandboxed access to the file system. Even if the jar is digitally signed, it still requires user permission to elevate the privileges.
I am not saying that web based Java applications are safe, far from it (look at the data above) but saying the Java is unsafe and Flash is not is so wrong it is not funny. I don't know if you are saying this because you really believe it or not, but please stop spreading these false statements.
Please stop putting your head in the sand over this issue.
The reason Adf.ly (more like Stupidf.ly) is not a good URL shorter is because all of the ads on there are intended to put malware on your computer. I've even heard reports that Adf.ly is showing people PORN as ads. So your 8 year old son really wants that brand new mod that came out, but he has to go to Adf.ly and have that kind of crap shown to him. That can ruin his childhood.
So, before you run off to Adfly, think "Kids play Minecraft, too" and use Bit.ly, Ow.ly, or Goo.gl instead. I recommend Ow.ly because it does not require registering.
Examples: http://ow.ly/rz43vgoo.gl/uDgAZU
@Nerd-Boy: I've had enough of your crap.
1. Adfly ads CANNOT download anything to your computer. They can redirect you to a site where you can download software. But any person should know that iLivid download manager isn't the mod they wanted. AND EVEN IF THEY DID DOWNLOAD IT 99% of the software that I have seen is adware, not malware. The chances of someone actually downloading a virus is MINIMAL. Especially considering a lot of people are switching over to Macs, which REQUIRES you to give an admin password every time you try to install something. And no, software cannot be automatically downloaded and installed from the web browser with out user consent.
TL;DR you can't get a virus from adfly unless you're an absolute moron and you shouldn't be using a computer without supervision anyways.
2. You call Minecraft modders greedy because they ask you to wait through a 5 second ad. Am I greedy because I put ads on my youtube channel? NO! I'm just trying to get some extra money on the side. Is it hurting you? NO!
All your arguments against adfly are stupid and baseless. Do not spread around falsehoods simply because you dislike waiting 5 seconds to download a mod. You're basically trying to rob people of $5.
I've heard that Adf.ly has shown pornographic ads before. So are you stating that showing images like that to an 8 year old child who wants that mod is good? If Adf.ly shows ads like that and children as young as 8 play Minecraft, then quit using Adf.ly.And if you don't believe me, go here: http://www.bubblews.com/news/344495-the-dirty-dogs-of-adfly
I also think adf.ly sucks. My computers bios refused to work after I clicked on some dumb ad. I have decided to start using polr.me for my link shortening needs as they are open source, and don't put ads everywhere so they get heaps of money for just making something people could do very easily themselves.
adf.ly is terrible. It earns money (and sends some to you) by tricking people into installing malware. I don't know how people who host things behind adf.ly links can live with themselves
adf.ly is terrible. It earns money (and sends some to you) by tricking people into installing malware. I don't know how people who host things behind adf.ly links can live with themselves
That is so far from the truth it is not funny.
For starters, AdFly doesn't trick people into installing malware, if a user gets malware from an ad, it's on them as there is a very distinct and obvious countdown up top with a big SKIP AD button. Not that hard to notice.
Next, AdFly doesn't get money by people installing malware, sites and organisations pay AdFly to host advertisements and AdFly gives you a small cut of the revenue, similarly to how Facebook and Youtube work. The better example would be AdFly pays it's hosters for having their users view the ad, not interact with it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Author of the Clarity, Serenity, Sapphire & Halcyon shader packs for Minecraft: Java Edition.
Correct, usually it could get much much higher. March was the lowest month we've had (lower than October, when we first came out) for combined reasons.
I'm personally not sure whether adfly pays more if a link is more popular, but the combined amount of adfly non-adblocked link clicks is around two million.
And to answer the other question, if a user uses adblock or some ad-skipping program, adfly ignores the click completely. We are able to tell this due to massive (as I stated, off by 92%) discrepancy between the file hosting website downloads and adfly clicks. To our knowledge, DivineRPG has had between 4-5 million downloads from either modpacks, the thread, or FTB. We also have (sort of "had" at the moment, due to the server being iffy) a version checker that runs upon loading their first world of the session, there has been a bit above 6 million unique IDs (Personal ISP Addresses) checked on that since October, however I do believe a decent portion of people have either re-installed windows or so on which is why I go with the download statistics to around 4-5 million.
As for making a living, at our point, it could make a living if you lived in a less developed country. However, here in Canada living isn't as cheap. If a mod grows even more than we have in the past couple months, the modder runs official servers with donations and so on, it is likely possible to, but I wouldn't suggest it. I personally do make a living outside of the mod (doing some nifty stuff, but that is another story) but I can safely say the mod does help.
No offense taken, no war started, I can understand being afraid of adfly.
4,877
But that's not what I use it for, it isn't anout money, I make mods to make people happy because some people would want those mods, and to learn coding.TOTAL VIEWS
$6.17684
TOTAL EARNINGS
But my main reason for using adf.ly is because you can easily keep track of all of your downloads, and all the links, mirrors, how much downloaders in how much countries... Statistics really, which I just want to know.
And I can see which mod generates how much traffic.
Also, as a normal minecraft player I have downloaded hunderds of times from adf.ly and I haven't to this day ever, had problems with it.
SlamDrag
No problem mate, it's a topic that many are quite passionate about.
Saying that Java is unsafe and flash is 100% security risk free is very wrong. Any browser plugins are the primary security flaw in any browser (the security flaws in browsers are generally patched up quite quick). Flash is from what I have heard one of the worst, sometimes taking over a year to patch up known issues. One of the most dangerous times for any software security is the time between a patch being pushed issued and that said patch being installed (look up patch Tuesday/expoilt Wednesday for a Windows example). Keeping your browser and browser plugins up to date goes a long way in browser security.
Just as a quick example, this time going to the mac based Flashback trojen that infected over half a million macs sometime last year. Apple have stated that it was caused by a security vulnrability in Java (which is true). But have you ever thought why the same vulnrability did not exist in other OSs? Basically Apple handeles their own updates where java is conserned.
Here is a small excert from a BBC article
People are very quick to judge Oracle/Java but forget that there was a lag of 8 weeks before Apple got their act together to push the patch downstream. If this wasn't the case I have no doubt very few computers would be infected and we would have never heard about this.
*This is not be trying to Apple bash or anything but it does serve to point out the risk of not keeping browser plug-ins up to date.
That wasn't ment as an insult but a ligitamite concern. Sorry if you did take offence.
Sorry for jumping to that conclusion, it is one of my pet hates when people think they are "malware safe" if they own a mac.
(Again going by linux not mac as I have next to no experience with macs) Yes you do require administration previliges to install a program system wide on a unix operating system, but programs can still be "installed" in the user space. This would of course require each user on the computer to be infected seperataly. Furthermore there are certain files that can be used to execute code automatically on log in that don't require elevated privliges to edit.
For example if we go back to the Flashback Trojan example, do you really think that over half a million mac users would have elevated priviliges to install this tojen?
Good to have these, I probably shouldn't have said that adware is a form of malware, but more that it some of it can be classed as malware.
You have not demonstrated this at all, in fact looking at google's diagnostic page goes completely against what you are saying.
Acording to the page I just linked, although adfly itslef does not host malware, it does act as an intermediate (i.e. the ads). In fact "Of the 7096 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 9 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent."
Xolova
Again out of curiosity, how much higher (don't bother posting a screenshot, just a ballpark figure would be fine). If you don't want to give out that informaton its fine, just would be interesting.
2 million downloads per month? Wow impressive. You guys should be proud of your work. TBH I am a little annoyed at myself for not setting up a bitly accout for battlegear to see how many downloads I was getting (doubt it was close to that though)
So far total downloads for another mod I have been writing is about 34,000 (it's still in WIP and haven't updated it in a while). Which according to those posting here would be around $60 if I whacked an adfly link on it (So it could fund a small night out)
I thought that would be the case, just wanted to ask.
Off Topic:
You version checker seems quite interesting. I have been toying with my own basic implementation over the last 24 hours (using an xml back end on my dropbox). Is there any chance you could give me a few more details about your implementation (or even some code)? You also mention a server, does that mean you are hiring one for this purpose?
I still doubt you would be able to make a living off this here (going by the month you posted which I know is low) you would need 13-14 times more downloads than you currently have to hit minimum annual wage. I really don't think this is possible as it would require more downloads per month than there are minecraft accounts. Yes it might be good for a small suplimentery income, but not to live off (at least here.
Thieves
There are many url shorteners that have this functionality also (eg bitly)
See I have had my virus scanner go crazy over it. Either it's simply a case of luck of the draw, my virus scanner is picking up a false positive, or things are getting through yours. Although looking ath the diagnostic page linked above, I am guessing it is not just the false positive.
I numbered your parts for responses.
1) I'd say around 4-6x higher (not the dip parts).
2) We'll be improving ours currently, so that is now displays the current version you are on, and shows what the most recent version is. It will also link to our Twitter.
As a server, I mean we actually have a physical server computer. The version checker needs to find the server at a certain URL and checks a line of text to make sure it is the same as the one programmed in the mod.
3) That's pretty much why I said lesser developing countries. I know somebody in Lithuania with only 32k Youtube subscribers who is fully able to live off of it without a problem. In countries such as Australia, Canada, United States, etc etc, it would be quite difficult to live off mod developing alone.
Flash, is one of the best. Mainly because it can't directly access computer info or download anything to your computer without consent. Java applet can however, download things to your computer without your consent. Though to run a Java applet you need to allow it to run. Honestly as far as I know, there aren't any Flash exploits still around. And if they are, they aren't widespread, and definitely aren't used in ads.
I would also argue that about 60% of people use Adblock or NoScript. Which blocks Flash content.
TL;DR the likelihood of having malware installed because of Flash is extremely low.
Google is SUPER sensitive in detecting malware. It's flagged atleast one legit site I know of (though the owner of the site worked it out with Google and he was able to get it unflagged). They should be though. And that's 9 out of 7096 pages. The odds of getting "malware" installed on adfly is 788.4 to 1. It's not gonna happen (unless of course like I said, you aren't good with computers and don't have security measures taken, in which case again I reiterate, you should be using computers with supervision).
Those users are highly unlikely to utilize a adblock tool, and I know that my parents, heck, even some of my friends who are parents don't know enough about computers to put adblock or something similar on there to stop that sort of thing.
I'm sure there are a large number of people who do use adblock, but in most cases those are the people who know better than to click the ads in the first place. The people who don't know better are the ones who likely don't have adblock.
There are always exploits in software, there is no way around that. You will never find a perfect piece of software, although I'm sure You can come awfully close. Even though the ones that don't exist are definitely not highspread(Read: I agree they are few and far between in most cases), The instances where they are used is the issue at hand. As for those exploits being used in ads, the purpose being people using those exploits is not to give them through ads, but rather to infect people with things they don't want on their computers. The "ads" that carry the viruses are not meant as ads at all, but are rather the "messenger" or "envelope" as it were. They simply provide a means of distributing the infection to other computers, the person behind the virus likely isn't expecting You to go to their site and actually use whatever they're pretending to sell.
Just my thoughts on that, sorry if it's long winded or if I went off on any tangents.
P.S. I'm honestly thrilled that this has stayed so civil and awesomely discussed throughout this, It's threads like these that make me smile on the bad days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn2Own
Check out the results from this year if you think Flash is "safe."
Also, your estimation of 60% is probably a bit high.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
I agree that less than 60% of people overall use adblock. However, when it comes to the Minecraft community, better yet, people who download mods for Minecraft, a lot of them have more knowledge than the average going person. As I mentioned before, statistics on our mod downloads do vary, however the adblock amount has ranged (per month) anywhere from 63% to 92% of people.
You are kidding right? If flash was so safe then why would security experts recommend not installing it or blocking it? A couple of quotes and statistics from the latest Symantic Security Response Report goes completely against what you are saying.
and a graph showing vulnerabilities found over 2011 and 2012 in the major browser plug-ins
And to go back to the issue of malware in ads
and
I don't know where you get the idea that a java web based application (They are moving from applets to JavaFX based) can access the filesystem without user consent. Barring exploiting vulnerabilities (which could in theory be done in both flash and java) Java requires a .jar file to be digitally signed by an external server before being granted full un-sandboxed access to the file system. Even if the jar is digitally signed, it still requires user permission to elevate the privileges.
I am not saying that web based Java applications are safe, far from it (look at the data above) but saying the Java is unsafe and Flash is not is so wrong it is not funny. I don't know if you are saying this because you really believe it or not, but please stop spreading these false statements.
Please stop putting your head in the sand over this issue.
Well,
MediaFire, PMC, and (I'm pretty sure, but don't count me on this,) DropBox does this too. Soo...
I've been here for a loooooooooong time.
Yes you are correct, Dropbox does give you a direct link to the file though (unlike mediafire for example)
So, before you run off to Adfly, think "Kids play Minecraft, too" and use Bit.ly, Ow.ly, or Goo.gl instead. I recommend Ow.ly because it does not require registering.
Examples: http://ow.ly/rz43v goo.gl/uDgAZU
/rant
Click on this text to go to my website.
I've heard that Adf.ly has shown pornographic ads before. So are you stating that showing images like that to an 8 year old child who wants that mod is good? If Adf.ly shows ads like that and children as young as 8 play Minecraft, then quit using Adf.ly.And if you don't believe me, go here:
http://www.bubblews.com/news/344495-the-dirty-dogs-of-adfly
Click on this text to go to my website.
I also think adf.ly sucks. My computers bios refused to work after I clicked on some dumb ad. I have decided to start using polr.me for my link shortening needs as they are open source, and don't put ads everywhere so they get heaps of money for just making something people could do very easily themselves.
adf.ly is terrible. It earns money (and sends some to you) by tricking people into installing malware. I don't know how people who host things behind adf.ly links can live with themselves
i think adf.ly is not that bad but if you dont press skip ad
your computer has a virus
It's even more annoying when some devs have a small mod but have about 10 ad.flys
That is so far from the truth it is not funny.
For starters, AdFly doesn't trick people into installing malware, if a user gets malware from an ad, it's on them as there is a very distinct and obvious countdown up top with a big SKIP AD button. Not that hard to notice.
Next, AdFly doesn't get money by people installing malware, sites and organisations pay AdFly to host advertisements and AdFly gives you a small cut of the revenue, similarly to how Facebook and Youtube work. The better example would be AdFly pays it's hosters for having their users view the ad, not interact with it.
Author of the Clarity, Serenity, Sapphire & Halcyon shader packs for Minecraft: Java Edition.
My Github page.
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