I have tried to buy ads on 4chan many times. I have emailed them at least once every two months over the last year. I have NEVER received a reply.<p>My product is a browser based game that is very popular with the 4chan crowd. We already advertise on ED. It's as close to a perfect fit for their audience as anything I can think of.<p>On their previous ad network (I just learned about the new one), things were self serve, but every time I bought ads I was told there was a conflict and to try again.<p>They seem completely uninterested in doing business with us, or anyone. Maybe that's why the whole thing is failing from a financial perspective?
You should be aware that moot has a long habit of being somewhat less than perfectly truthful with the media.<p>ED is <i>profoundly</i> not safe for anything: <a href="http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Christopher_Poole" rel="nofollow">http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Christopher_Poole</a>
I met him at ROFLCON in Boston and spent a while chatting with him about career stuff. Sadly, I suspect that the thing they mentioned about Boston might have been some people I put him in touch with. I never followed up on what happened there. :/<p>He is a bright guy and he can/will do great things once he figures out the right way (for him) to extract a good professional presentation of his skills and experience from the quagmire that 4chan can be.<p>My personal opinion is that he needs to find some start-up that is trying to do something edgy in the social scene and hook up with them to be a coordinator/moderator/facilitator. He knows a damn lot about how a large social group like 4chan can ebb, flow, and eddy.
<i>If he didn't care so much about what kind of advertising 4chan users have to look at, he probably wouldn't be worried about money right now.</i><p>If this article is an accurate portrayal, it is surprising yet sad someone with such a site (sole owner, >5M visitors, sustained growth+traffic over years, source of numerous profitable spin-offs, etc.) is in debt and unprofitable.<p>Surely it is better to run ads that are not optimal but make you money (a balanced comprise), than be unhappy, in debt, and looking for a job?<p>I don't think he would be happy in most day jobs either (as such people rarely are) and with an income stream he could pursue other ideas that interest him.
I would pay for advertisement on 4chan. It would be perfect for recruitment, especially on the more arty boards like photography. But it would take at least:<p>- the possibility to buy small packages, partly because the companies who are big enough to buy the big package are the ones who care most about reputation<p>- the possibility to define your audience, at least by: board, keywords, country/city of origin<p>None of which are possible now: <a href="http://www.4chan.org/advertise/" rel="nofollow">http://www.4chan.org/advertise/</a>
> <i>A baby seal walked into a club.</i><p>- The favorite joke of the creator of 4chan.<p>I wouldn't trust this guy too much. It seems strange that he can't monetize such a hugely popular site. Kind of fishy actually. If he has problems with big flashy ads something like google adsense would work out just fine.
He cannot make money of the site and he cannot get a job? That is the saddest thing I have read for a while. Not because he cannot get a job but because it confuses one's mind on what success really means. In a way he is extremely successful, but in a way he is $20,000 in debt. Irony!