I have not accepted any compensation for anything I’ve done on this blog. But folks keep offering to pay me to put their ads on this blog. I wonder: am I being too prudish? Presumably the more money I make blogging, the more I’ll blog.
So let me ask you all: how many readers would think less of me or my writings if had a special Ads sidebar, but promised that ads would not influence what I blogged? How selective should I be; am I implicitly “endorsing” the advertised products? And how much should I charge?
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By Robin Hanson · Hundreds of paid subscribers
This is a blog on why we believe and do what we do, why we pretend otherwise, how we might do better, and what our descendants might do, if they don't all die.
Now that you bring this up, I would actively encourage garish ads here on OB if we got unintended, humorous juxtapositions on a consistent enough basis.
Robin, now that you've asked, I'd only really care if ads significantly hurt your page load time and browser stability. By this I mean: please, please use flash sparingly. Please.