The AdPie system is designed to give members to this mediazine an opportunity to earn a share of advertising revenue in a fair manner. If you have an item published here, here's how you can earn a 'slice' of the AdPie for that item:

1. Sign up with Google to get 'AdSense codes', which are small blocks of HTML that generate ads.
2. Submit an "AdSense for Content" ad here at Colored Chalk, which we will link to any articles, flash animations, or music files you submit here.
3. When your item(s) are visited, the site will rotate your AdSense ad in place for the site's ad every other visit (if you created the item yourself).
• If more than one member contributes to an item, each member's ad-code gets a spot in the 'rotation'.
• Colored Chalk pays you nothing directly, but if your item is popular, it is likely to generate ad revenue for you through your ad-codes.
• Because of the rotation, each member who contributed to an item gets an even 'slice' of hits and the same chance for clicks - think of each article or item as a 'pie' and each person who helped make it gets one slice - hence "AdPie".
4. Colored Chalk generates revenue for itself by taking one slice from each article hosted here. In other words, if there are two members who built an animation, the site is added to those two as if it were a member, making three even slices.

This is a very new experiment. There are no guarantees attached. The system has not yet proven to generate anyone any worthwhile revenue yet. Do not quit your day job.

AdPie is not an official Xoops module, it is something I conceived and wrote while researching Google AdSense and other ad placement systems. I found that some people were already splitting advertisement hits in a similar manner, just not on this scale. AdPie takes the same concept and applies it across a community of varied users.

From the perspective of the site, this is a win-win-win situation:

1. Win: Both the site and its members can generate revenue.
2. Win: Members have good reason to spread the word about their articles, generating higher traffic for everyone, while giving the most reward to the most popular items automatically.
3. Win: Google handles payment for ad revenue without any intervention from Colored Chalk, meaning that I don't have to write checks and you don't have to wait for me to write checks.

I chose to tie this system initially to Google's AdSense program because it does not use popups and automatically displays ads that are contextually relevant to the material surrounding it. It is used by many popular sites already, getting started is easy, and the ads are among the least annoying you can put on a site.

However, if you object to using Google AdSense or are not able to do so because of age or other limitations, then I can still display an image-link type ad on your behalf. Please contact me if this is your case. We'll work something out.

1. You must follow the terms and conditions of Google AdSense regarding the use of your ads (some of these conditions are reiterated here).
2. You must not click your own ads or engage in any "you click mine, I'll click yours" arrangement. Doing so could have consequences not just for you, but for everyone on the site. Google was sued by advertisers because its users were doing this and they have since cracked down. Just don't do it.
3. Do not paste ad code in your articles - the editor(s) will place up to three ad units on your content for you with special codes that perform ad rotation. Your ad data is submitted separately.
4. Google AdSense requires you to be 18 years of age or older. If you are younger than this, consider having a parent or guardian open a Google AdSense account and use a channel to specifically identify your revenue.
5. If the system is not working properly or is being abused I reserve the right to shut down any or every AdPie user until the matter is resolved. In this case your content will remain active, but generate no revenue, unless you specifically request that the item is removed.
6. Colored Chalk is not responsible for directly compensating any member for their submissions, even if the system is not working properly. We will do our best to keep your ads displaying properly and fairly, but if the system has a glitch there will be no retroactive compensation.
7. While the display and rotation of ads is automatic, the initial setup of each user requires compilation and approval by the admins. Please make sure to submit your ad data before submitting content to the site if you want to participate. You only need to submit your ad information once, but you are welcome to update it any time.
8. If you choose to wait and submit your ad-code at a later time, there is no retroactive compensation whatsoever for the hits that the item received before your ad-code was made available.
9. Submitted content must be your own original work. Plagiarized items and copyright infringements will be removed immediately and result in the shutdown of your AdPie ads.
10. Again, there are no guarantees this will make anyone any money. This system will succeed only if the content is good enough to bring traffic here. Please do not focus on the ads, focus on creating quality content. Let the editors worry about ad placement and formatting.
11. Currently only Google's AdSense ads are supported, but I am willing to discuss alternatives.
12. If you use channels in Google AdSense, you can include one channel in your user data that will apply to all your ads on Colored Chalk.
13. Both your content and your Google AdSense ads are used here in a non-exclusive manner - we do not limit your rights to republish your own work elsewhere and you are free to use Google AdSense on other sites as well.
14. This policy may be updated as time goes along. Notice of policy changes will be placed in the Chalkboard News forum.

See links below for more information:

• Google AdSense tour
• Colored Chalk AdPie FAQ
• Google's approval
• Guidelines for submitting "Reading Material" or music
• Submitting your Flash movies or becoming a Contributor

Thank you everyone and good luck!