Should we display ads on HDRI Haven? (Patreon)

Hey all, I've done some research into the possibility of displaying a few unobtrusive ads on HDRI Haven using Google AdSense.

Before you throw me under the bus, understand this is just an idea and I'm now reaching out to you to hear your thoughts before proceeding with any decision.

At the moment HDRI Haven is completely ad-free. This decision was made early on for three reasons:

1. I don't like ads. I use an adblocker myself, and I hate the fact that they've become the defacto monetization method for nearly everything on the internet.

2. I think that if we put ads on HDRI Haven, a notable portion of newcomers will believe that this is how we earn our income, and thus be less likely to become a Patreon supporter.

3. Originally I believed (based on past experience) that ads don't make a lot of money, so accepting donations on Patreon is a better way to go.

The first two reasons haven't changed, but after some research and number crunching I've estimated that displaying one or two unobtrusive banner ads on certain pages will result in approximately an additional $1000-$2000 per month from ad revenue.

Add this to the Patreon donations and that's an increase of about 50%, which would significantly help us produce higher value HDRIs and expand the platform.

For the second reason (ads discouraging donations), I think it's still valid, however we can counter it by enabling an ad-free experience for all patrons, which has been proven a successful idea in the mobile apps world (paying a small amount to remove ads). This way, I think the patrons gained from those who become a patron just to remove ads may balance out those that are lost.

Finally, if we do implement ads, there will be absolutely no attempt to discourage the use of adblockers, and the ads will be implemented in a way that does not affect performance and load times on the site. There will be no popups or ad-gates that prevent access to any content, just some simple banners or boxes that don't get in the way.

So I'm torn two ways about this.

On one hand, I hate ads, and I feel like it's an easy way to anger our community and be perceived as being greedy, which could hurt us in the long term.

On the other hand, the additional income would help us progress our craft. Sergej and Andreas are both currently experimenting with new techniques (flexible flare reduction and video backplates respectively) and these additional funds would likely help them achieve their goals.

Additionally, I'd like to hire an assistant to help us spread HDRI Haven further in the 3D community, on platforms where we're not active yet and to create a presence in communities where other immoral users are attempting to resell our free content for their own profit.

To be more specific about my plan for the extra funds: Half of it would be added directly to the patreon donations, the majority of which goes to HDRI authors which should help us produce more valuable HDRIs. The other half would be set aside for savings and hiring additional help. This is not a final decision either, so I'm keen to hear your thoughts about this in the comments below as well. Whatever we do with it, it'll of course be described in our usual monthly finance reports.

But, I've wrestled enough with this idea on my own and I'm not comfortable making the decision without your feedback. So I've decided to leave the decision up to you, my patrons.

You can vote in the poll below. The results of this poll will decide whether or not we display a small number of unobtrusive ads on HDRI Haven.

The poll will run for two weeks, after which I'll announce the results and respect your choice either way.

Please only vote if you read this post fully. Knee-jerk reactions that don't consider the arguments above are not very helpful.