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Possible Duplicate:
Community Promotion Ads - 2012

What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is Going On Here?

TL;DR -- put images and links in the answers. If they get voted up enough, they will appear on the main site as community promotion ads.

But whyyyyyyy?

This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:

  • cool desktop apps
  • the site's twitter account
  • scripts packs or power tools
  • cool events or conferences
  • anything else your community would genuinely be interested in

The goal is for future visitors to find out about the stuff your community deems important. And to click on it for great justice!

How does it work?

The answers you post to this question must conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.

  1. All answers should be in the exact form of:

    [![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]
    
       [1]: http://image-url
       [2]: http://clickthrough-url 
    

    Please do not add anything else to the body of the post. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.

  2. The question must always be tagged with the magic tag.

Image requirements

  • The image that you create must be 220 x 250 pixels
  • Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
  • Must be GIF or PNG
  • No animated GIFs
  • Absolute limit on file size of 150 KB

Score Threshold

There is a minimum score threshold an answer must meet (currently 6) before it will be shown on the main site.

You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats here.

17
  • 7
    Like commented on MSO: sane browsers do NOT show alt text on mouseover. And even when shown by non-compliant browsers, alt should describe what is missing, not some tag line. So maybe it should be labeled "The text used on browsers that don't support images (like by readers used by visually impaired)". If a mouseover is wanted too, then besides the alt attribute the title should be specified as well, after the image or link URL. Like: [1]: http://image-url "Tagline to show on mouseover"
    – Arjan
    Mar 10, 2011 at 13:17
  • I was tempted to suggest PDF Creator, but given its default installation of the Yahoo! toolbar nowadays, I don't. Any other PDF printer, anyone?
    – Arjan
    Mar 10, 2011 at 13:29
  • @Arjan CutePDF!
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Mar 10, 2011 at 14:37
  • Hmmm, @Sathya: Requires PS2PDF converter such as Ghostscript — which is simply bundled with PDFCreator. Really too bad they started to install that Yahoo! thingy by default. (Though I do think one is prompted for that during installation; haven't installed it for a while.)
    – Arjan
    Mar 10, 2011 at 15:17
  • oh, my bad then @Arjan
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Mar 10, 2011 at 16:02
  • +1. Cool idea, these ads. Mar 10, 2011 at 17:54
  • @GeoffDalgas: Mouse-overs are not working for images that are linkified, can you look into this? I'm using Chrome 11.0.696.0 dev but I suspect this is also the case for older versions. Should we use Arjan's syntax? Mar 10, 2011 at 18:11
  • 5
    @TomWij - mouse-overs don't show in the posts below however when the ad is rendered the ALT text is used as the title. We wanted to keep the template syntax simple. Mar 10, 2011 at 19:13
  • @Arjan I use OpenOffice.org for making PDF files :)
    – Entity
    Mar 23, 2011 at 18:56
  • Sure, @The, that is indeed the best option (like to get clickable links and TOCs) when doing word processing. (And I am on a Mac, which has great PDF support anyhow; still OpenOffice.org's built-in export is superior to that.)
    – Arjan
    Mar 23, 2011 at 20:47
  • It's time for 2H 2011, isn't it?
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Jul 7, 2011 at 7:42
  • If someone feels like posting TotalMounter, that'd be great. I can't find a new image so I can't do it unfortunately, but it's an awesome product apparently.
    – user541686
    Aug 15, 2011 at 7:38
  • What happened to the ad for Chrome?
    – oKtosiTe
    Oct 3, 2011 at 22:27
  • 1
    @oKtosiTe nhinkle deleted it and commented: In light of discussion about what constitutes an appropriate community ad, with respect to companies that can afford to purchase advertising, I am deleting this ad for the time being. – nhinkle♦
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Oct 17, 2011 at 3:17
  • It would seem Ubuntu walks a fine line then. @Daniel Beck
    – oKtosiTe
    Oct 18, 2011 at 17:16

28 Answers 28

110

7zip, beyond zip

13
  • 8
    And: gui and command line, and multi platform?
    – Arjan
    Mar 10, 2011 at 13:30
  • 15
    Really, why is anyone still using WinRAR?
    – LawrenceC
    Apr 7, 2011 at 16:52
  • 8
    @ultrasawblade because you can dragdrop from winrar into an application, and any changes to that document is automatically pulled back into the archive. Couldn't get 7zip to do that Apr 7, 2011 at 21:51
  • 7
    Really, Winrar era needs to stop
    – bbonamin
    Apr 18, 2011 at 20:44
  • 1
    people don't wanna learn new stuff, everyone is lazy like me ! 7zip UI is not that user friendly other then that its awesome and has better compression on its own format but again its much more less common then rar.
    – omeid
    May 13, 2011 at 8:26
  • 5
    7-zip is good but ugly. Hence WinRAR.
    – user541686
    Jun 11, 2011 at 18:50
  • The King (of compression) is dead, long live the King (of compression)! All hail 7-zip! Aug 3, 2011 at 10:33
  • 1
    @ultrasawblade: Better shell integration.
    – Ian Boyd
    Aug 6, 2011 at 18:04
  • If your only complaint about 7zip is that it's ugly, there is a skinning program you can use. @Meh
    – Pops
    Sep 9, 2011 at 14:51
  • @Lord: Well don't leave me hanging, what's the skinning program? :)
    – user541686
    Sep 9, 2011 at 15:01
  • Sorry, I was having a hard time finding it. It's because I was searching for "skin" and not "theme." Anyways see this blog post. @Meh
    – Pops
    Sep 9, 2011 at 15:06
  • @Lord: Ooh nice, I see it's a (relatively) new program! :) I'll try it out, thanks! :)
    – user541686
    Sep 9, 2011 at 17:11
  • Ahhhh but there's still something missing: No context menu icons! Believe it or not, that can actually be a dealmaker/breaker in these situations. :\
    – user541686
    Sep 9, 2011 at 17:21
93

VideoLAN Player. It's free and plays everything.

5
  • 2
    The logo is awesome! Mar 12, 2011 at 13:16
  • 2
    It always reminds me of Kraftwerk - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:K1-D-front.jpg
    – ChrisF
    Mar 13, 2011 at 22:22
  • VLC on Ubuntu (Linux) Doesn't play all DVD-Videos. But on the same machine booted into Windows, VLC does: superuser.com/questions/199963/… Mar 14, 2011 at 9:51
  • 4
    There should be some mention of "media" in the ad. "Plays everything? Does it also play the piano? Does it play games?" Without "media" it's kinda vague. Apr 30, 2011 at 18:18
  • 11
    It's actually even called the »VLC Media Player«, so technically the ad is a bit wrong.
    – Joey
    May 12, 2011 at 19:34
77

ubuntu, Linux for human beings

2
  • IMHO the tagline is terrible. Most people in the target don't know or care about "Linux". Apr 30, 2011 at 18:21
  • 20
    It is the official tagline .
    – Lincity
    May 1, 2011 at 3:58
58

Free virtualisation for the masses

10
  • 6
    s/s/z :P @Blood
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Mar 10, 2011 at 15:35
  • 2
    Virtualization I thought?
    – nhinkle
    Mar 10, 2011 at 18:25
  • 4
    @nhinkle depends, s is British English, z is American. english.stackexchange.com/questions/11788/…
    – Pylsa
    Mar 10, 2011 at 19:50
  • 4
    We do have an international community here, but given that Stack Exchange is an American company, I personally think it should be with a z.
    – nhinkle
    Mar 10, 2011 at 20:04
  • 6
    I'd prefer to take into consideration the way it's spelled on the VirtualBox website. "VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product [...]" @nhinkle, BloodPhilia
    – oKtosiTe
    Mar 19, 2011 at 16:18
  • 7
    Guys, why does it matter so much if it's s or z in this case?
    – cregox
    Mar 24, 2011 at 23:22
  • 4
    Maybe @Cawaz iz right.
    – oKtosiTe
    Mar 31, 2011 at 21:56
  • @Sathya: I finally learned about sed (i.e. I'm finally nerdy enough) to "get" what you meant. Lol. :)
    – user541686
    Jun 2, 2011 at 2:12
  • 1
    @Sathya: Speaking of which, I think you missed a trailing slash...
    – user541686
    Jun 30, 2011 at 5:00
  • The name "VirtualBox" should be more prominent. If I weren't already a user, I wouldn't even realize that that's the name of the software. Aug 3, 2011 at 10:31
58

Microsoft Process Explorer -- find out what's running on your PC, and why

3
  • 9
    +1 - LOVE this.... I am recommending it all the time! (And Autoruns... I will try to make one a little later) Mar 10, 2011 at 13:40
  • 3
    While its a great program, I much prefer the open source Process Hacker processhacker.sourceforge.net Apr 22, 2011 at 14:06
  • 1
    This is a great tool if you ever need to find which process has an open handle on a file.
    – RussellW
    May 6, 2011 at 16:33
58

Firefox - Made to make the Web a better place.

8
  • If there are any suggestions, I'll be happy to take them into consideration. This was made with the Firefox 3.6 icon set. Source xcf (GIMP image file) available here.
    – oKtosiTe
    Mar 19, 2011 at 19:04
  • 1
    Might be a good idea to mention Firefox 4's imminent release
    – Yi Jiang
    Mar 20, 2011 at 8:39
  • I will certainly consider adding in a 4 once the release has been made. @YiJiang
    – oKtosiTe
    Mar 20, 2011 at 16:45
  • 4
    Might be a good idea to mention Firefox 5's imminent release... er, 6's -- er, 7's... er...
    – user541686
    Jun 17, 2011 at 2:26
  • 1
    Indeed. Instead of keeping up with their new rapid release cycle, I think we're better off removing all references to a specific version altogether. At least for now. @Mehrdad
    – oKtosiTe
    Jul 10, 2011 at 10:38
  • 5
    @oktosite: Just write "Firefox 17" and it'll be correct in no time! Aug 3, 2011 at 10:36
  • .... er, 8's...
    – user541686
    Aug 6, 2011 at 1:55
  • ... er, 10's...
    – user541686
    Oct 2, 2011 at 8:26
53

community blog for Super Users, by Super Users

2
  • I really like this though can you flip Super User over and leave it horizontal over the "community blog"
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Mar 10, 2011 at 15:35
  • 1
    Nice one @BloodPhilia
    – Ivo Flipse
    Mar 10, 2011 at 16:15
52

Super User members can vote on Community Ads to be displayed here. Submit yours today!

3
  • this is cool @nhinkle, I like this
    – studiohack
    Mar 26, 2011 at 4:54
  • 17
    omg meta! so meta! Mar 27, 2011 at 10:16
  • @Jeff Atwood: Yes, but it's actually useful, explaining to people what's going on. Aug 3, 2011 at 10:37
46

GIMP

2
  • 2
    That looks slick @Alaukik!
    – Ivo Flipse
    Jun 23, 2011 at 13:12
  • 4
    Should say what it is. The only hint is the paintbrush, and that looks like a cigarette! Jul 13, 2011 at 22:46
42

Synergy

4
  • This is one of the best tools on the list. for people who use more then one computer next each other.
    – nelaaro
    Apr 5, 2011 at 8:20
  • 2
    "What does KM mean?"
    – slhck
    Aug 21, 2011 at 21:57
  • Keyboard, Mouse @slhck. a KVM switch is a piece of hardware that switches the keyboard/mouse/video from one computer to the other, so this is a software solution that switches the keyboard/mouse from one computer to the other.
    – studiohack
    Aug 21, 2011 at 21:58
  • 2
    @studiohack I personally know, I've used Synergy before :P I just put it under quotation marks to imply that people might wonder what it is when looking at the app.
    – slhck
    Aug 21, 2011 at 21:59
39

Paint.Net - Get it now!

10
  • 7
    I like this ad; the only problem I have with it is that saying "it costs a lot less" might imply that it does cost something, just less. I would consider changing it to say "(and it's free, too)" or something like that
    – nhinkle
    Apr 14, 2011 at 3:43
  • I'd suggest you use an image you actually have permission to use. This one belongs to Getty Images, apparently.
    – Joey
    May 12, 2011 at 19:57
  • @Joey I didn't realise that, I just found it via Google image search, I'll replace it as soon as I can.
    – Mokubai Mod
    May 13, 2011 at 7:27
  • 5
    Now with a legal image! Background photograph by Flickr user Easylocum. Original photo licensed as CC BY 2.0.
    – nhinkle
    May 18, 2011 at 8:22
  • Paint.net is one of my favorite Windows apps. Very polished and excellent. Aug 26, 2011 at 19:05
  • I think we need to replace the image...
    – evan.bovie
    Dec 7, 2011 at 21:58
  • What do you want to replace it with? Or do you have any ideas for updates?
    – Mokubai Mod
    Dec 7, 2011 at 22:11
  • 1
    Well, since the image was removed from imgur.com, perhaps just re-add the old image?
    – evan.bovie
    Dec 8, 2011 at 2:07
  • 1
    The link has died again.
    – Wipqozn
    May 15, 2012 at 13:14
  • I currently have the image for this but do not believe there is reason to a) bump this topic unnecessarily or b) post this to the 2012 Community Ads as it got quite a bit of airtime last year. Let me know if you feel differently.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Jun 12, 2012 at 19:52
30

Wireshark • Go deep.

4
  • Nice-looking and descriptive, and a useful program. Jul 13, 2011 at 22:48
  • 1
    Always thought WS's tagline to be... well.. dubious at least...
    – Pylsa
    Aug 1, 2011 at 20:33
  • Perfect for shark week!
    – ckittel
    Aug 11, 2011 at 2:32
  • "Go deep." ... Hmm.. Dec 23, 2012 at 0:26
28

Get Libreoffice, Liberate your Office

2
  • 4
    The icon is too generic.
    – LaC
    May 4, 2011 at 13:07
  • 4
    @LaC: agree. Also, the font for the subtitle is messed up. Jul 13, 2011 at 22:47
27

Empower the world's poorest children through education

3
  • 1
    Who needs shoes when you can have a laptop. Jul 6, 2011 at 9:23
  • 6
    Education is a fundamental right that these children are sadly not given easy access to. OLPC aims to help them in that regard at least @slo
    – random Mod
    Jul 6, 2011 at 16:55
  • I agree, it is worthwhile. I was being facetious. Jul 6, 2011 at 17:25
26

America's online censorship bill could close down sites like Stack Exchange. Click here to learn more about how SOPA impacts you, regardless of where you live.

7
  • 2
  • @Sathya are you asking or providing the link for reference?
    – nhinkle
    Nov 30, 2011 at 7:36
  • bit of both actually.
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Nov 30, 2011 at 7:42
  • @Sathya one thing people abroad can do is contact American elected officials and tell them that if this legislation passes, it will cause foreign customers to stop using American web services, which are responsible for a significant portion of the US economy. Widescale censorship in the US will lead customers from overseas to use alternative products, which will negatively impact US businesses. Additionally, you can help educate American friends and relatives, who can influence this more directly via their elected officials.
    – nhinkle
    Nov 30, 2011 at 7:46
  • Minor annoyance: I saw this ad on the Super User homepage, but when I moved the mouse pointer to the red text that says "Click here to learn why this matters", a black bar slid up with the "16 votes - comment - stats" text preventing me from clicking the red text. Although I know where to click instead, it seems wrong to have text inviting you to "click here" that you can't actually click.
    – Bavi_H
    Dec 3, 2011 at 3:44
  • Thanks @Bavi_H for the tip. Unfortunately, that's an inherent part of the design of the community promotion ads, so I can't personally fix it. Do you think it would make more sense if I edited the text to say "Click to learn why this matters"? (instead of "click here")
    – nhinkle
    Dec 3, 2011 at 4:44
  • @nhinkle Sure, that seems okay.
    – Bavi_H
    Dec 4, 2011 at 0:51
26

Have Joel explain it to you.

2
  • 1
    Basically, "copyright owners" would be able to ban a site from Google, all US traffic and all US payment services for having just a few "bad" links here and there.
    – badp
    Nov 29, 2011 at 21:45
  • Lol @ "What the hell?" Dec 23, 2012 at 0:27
24

Process Hacker

6
  • 2
    Need to change a process's I/O priority? Write garbage to its pages? Inject a DLL into it? You can do pretty much anything with this tool. :)
    – user541686
    Mar 27, 2011 at 8:16
  • Is this perhaps starting to get a bit redundant?
    – nhinkle
    Mar 29, 2011 at 21:47
  • @nhinkle: Huh? Not sure what you mean...
    – user541686
    Mar 29, 2011 at 22:07
  • 1
    We already have a process explorer ad, now this. I guess it's fine to have them both, I just wonder how many different process exploration software products we need to advertise. Then again, we have three blog ads, so maybe I shouldn't talk :P
    – nhinkle
    Mar 29, 2011 at 23:42
  • 2
    @nhinkle: Oh hahaha... well IMHO this is better than process explorer :P so it's worth mentioning, but I see your point. :)
    – user541686
    Mar 30, 2011 at 0:28
  • 2
    Indeed. Competition is good, even in community ads, IMHO. That's why we have an ad out for Chrome and Firefox. If it weren't for this ad, I might have never found out about Process Hacker. @nhinkle
    – oKtosiTe
    May 17, 2011 at 19:42
19

Every week, the Super User community selects an interesting question to be highlighted in the Community Blog as the "Question of the Week". Vote now on the next QotW, or submit a question you liked!

3
  • 12
    I'm so used to seeing the vote/accept icons that I automatically mentally separated the left and right parts of this ad. Which left me wondering what "OTE" stood for.
    – Pops
    Sep 9, 2011 at 14:54
  • For anyone still baffled even after reading @LordTorgamus's comment, it reads "VOTE" with a V stylized as an accept mark.
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Dec 10, 2011 at 7:40
  • 1
    The check and "OTE" are not visually linked—in fact, the (lack of) kerning, differences in aliasing, and the vertical alignments suggests that they're unrelated. Even after having it explained, it's magic-eye level of hard to keep seeing the word "vote". Colour by itself isn't enough to make them visually joined. Jul 9, 2012 at 18:40
16

FreeBSD

16

Xperf is important for anyone doing performance analysis on Windows, it provides a complete system-wide view over long periods of time. It fully processes all events in something that makes sense...

3
  • 1
    Mouse-over: Xperf is important for anyone doing performance analysis on Windows, it provides a complete system-wide view over long periods of time. It fully processes all events in something that makes sense... Mar 10, 2011 at 18:02
  • 2
    /me can't read.
    – Hello71
    Mar 12, 2011 at 20:00
  • 1
    @Hello71: Glad that you reverted it, or it would remain invalidated. Thank you... :-) Mar 13, 2011 at 0:29
14

Daemon Tools - Virtual Blu-ray for Windows

7
  • we shouldn't advertise paid tools
    – kinokijuf
    Dec 4, 2011 at 20:07
  • We don't. Yes, there is a paid version of daemon tools. There is also the free version. That's FREE. Free to download. Free to use.
    – Majenko
    Dec 4, 2011 at 20:15
  • @Majenko, it's only free for non-commercial purposes.
    – avakar
    Dec 26, 2011 at 23:08
  • There's always WinCDEmu, thats free and open source. Jan 2, 2012 at 3:28
  • @WilliamLawnStewart And causes constant BSODs. I recommend Virtual Clone
    – kinokijuf
    Jan 25, 2012 at 14:19
  • @kinokijuf I've never had a BSOD or any other issue from using it on various Win 7 x64 machines. That said, I haven't got the latest version, so possibly something went horribly wrong in a recent update. Jan 26, 2012 at 0:30
  • @WilliamLawnStewart Yup. Trying to unmount all images in version 3.6 causes constant reboots.
    – kinokijuf
    Jan 26, 2012 at 12:41
13

Ask Different Podcast

3
  • 2
    Upvote for linen. Aug 9, 2011 at 16:22
  • The images aren't centered, or is my vision off? :P
    – slhck
    Sep 26, 2011 at 15:11
  • @slhck It's not just you, the width on the left is 23px and the width on the right is 29px. Sep 26, 2011 at 15:40
8

PortableApps.com: Your Digital Life, Anywhere™

3

Minitube is a YouTube desktop application. With it you can watch YouTube videos in a new way: you type a keyword, Minitube gives you an endless video stream. Minitube is not about cloning the original YouTube web interface, it aims to create a new TV-like experience.

4
  • 18
    Perhaps this needs a tagline. Personally I would never click this ad unless I had a clue to it's purpose/message/destination.
    – oKtosiTe
    Mar 24, 2011 at 11:25
  • 4
    Mouse-over: Minitube is a YouTube desktop application. With it you can watch YouTube videos in a new way: you type a keyword, Minitube gives you an endless video stream. Minitube is not about cloning the original YouTube web interface, it aims to create a new TV-like experience. Jun 21, 2011 at 0:55
  • 1
    -1 for this being a commercial product, and a whopping €9 no less (despite it being open source, apparently). See also Should we allow commercial products in the community promotion ads?
    – Arjan
    Nov 12, 2011 at 10:16
  • @Arjan It is open-source and the only requirement for an ad is open-source and necessarily free beer.
    – Lincity
    Nov 13, 2011 at 4:27

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