Advertising and me
Recently I received an email from a company that’s in the online advertising business; they run a network that places targeted ads on a collection of sites, and wanted to know if I’d be interested in running them here. I just finished writing a reply and, since I’ve gotten a couple such offers in the recent past, I figured it’s probably time to make a public statement of my policy toward ads on sites that I personally manage. It’s very simple:
I don’t run ads, and don’t plan to.
I don’t personally have anything against advertising in general: it’s true that in the course of doing my (philosophy) degree I did get to spend some time poking into the ethical consequences of various approaches to advertising, but I also work, willingly, in an industry which is almost entirely supported by advertising revenue. There’s no contradiction there, and I count myself extremely fortunate to work for a company which develops tools to help newspapers make money while providing useful information to their communities (see: Marketplace).
And I’m writing a book which, once completed, will be sold for profit, but that doesn’t bother me either: the folks who are publishing it are incredibly cool people who’ve released several important tech books under open licenses, and so I’m happy to have them charge for my book. We need more publishers like them, and I want them to stay in business.
But I’m not running this site, or djangosnippets, for profit, and I don’t incur any monetary costs to keep them online; the only cost is the time and effort I put into them, and I don’t really count that.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t run ads and just pocket any money they bring in, but that’s not really my style; part of the reason is simply that, even at their absolute best, online ads are a break from actual content, and have to take up at least some space on the page, and those are things I’d rather not have if I can avoid them.
And part of the reason is the simple fact that I am where I am today because of people who shared their knowledge and experience, for free, with anyone who was willing to listen. I didn’t learn programming or web development or anything directly related to my craft from a formal process; I learned it by reading and tinkering, and by asking questions and getting answers from people who are smarter than I am. And ever since I got into the Web in earnest, I’ve consistently been astounded by the ongoing willingness of its experts to openly give away their expertise, pro bono publico in the truest sense of the phrase.
I’ll never be able to repay any of those people properly, but I’d like to think I can “pay it forward”, in a sense, by sharing what little knowledge and experience I have, in the hope that someone who’s just starting out now will be able to pick up something useful and maybe go on to build something cool as a result.
By sheer coincidence, I was browsing around the other day and rediscovered one of my favorite posts from Mark Pilgrim which, given the consistent quality of Mark’s writing, is saying something, and which, in a few lines of dialogue, summarizes this feeling more aptly than I ever will:
Tom: “This is really good. You could probably make some money off this someday.”
Me: “Maybe, but I’m not going to. I’m giving it away for free.”
Tom: “Why would you do that?”
Me: “Because this is the way I want the world to work.”
Tom: “But the world doesn’t work that way.”
Me: “Mine does.”
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March 11, 2008
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Yep, that’s one of the things I love about this industry and that keeps me motivated, how open, friendly, and helpful almost everyone is. Good on you :-)
March 11, 2008
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Excellent quote from Mark Pilgrim.
March 11, 2008
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Excellent post. Excellent quote. I couldn’t have expressed it any better, and it’s just the way I feel about my efforts. I my world like this, and I usually am called things because of it, but it’s my world, and my happyness.
Kudos, Jeff!
March 11, 2008
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I wholeheartedly agree. I don’t have the greatest hosting in the world because of my choice not to host ads, but I’m fortunate enough to have a friend who’s willing to carry what costs I do incur. I don’t know how long that’ll last, but I’m sure I’ll always find one way or another to make it happen.
March 11, 2008
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I just became a bigger fan!
March 11, 2008
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Really well said, James. The point about “paying forward” all the amazing free help we all got when we were n00bs* is one I’ve been trying to articulate for years. As usually, you nailed it.
[*] “When We Were N00bs” would make a great movie title.
March 11, 2008
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Well said, and well done.
March 11, 2008
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An alternative is to run ads and then donate all earned revenues to charities or free software projects. Just a thought :)
March 11, 2008
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it really comes down to how you approach your world.
and personally, I really don’t see the harm in advertising, if it’s something subtle, like how CodingHorror places ads on his site, or The Deck employs their ads.
If you were to start randomly blogging in length about your advertisers, then I could see conflict of interest. Or if we started seeing Target ads on the site, then yes I could see cause for concern.
but if the ads were relative to your content, and subtle in their creative…then I woudn’t feel you’ve wronged us.
I created (and later sold to one of the publishers) an ad network very much like The Deck, but for .net programming, for the same reason you “pay it forward”. I know a lot of great bloggers like yourself and I thought maybe they could use an extra few bucks just doing what they do normally. And they blog just for blogging sake…to share their knowledge. So I created a network for just those programmers and they made an extra hundred a month or so doing exactly what they did before they were running ads. our policy was - everyone of the publishers had to agree with the advertiser before we ran the campaign.
And for that same ad network I also created a specific niche network to rotate open source project ad banners - solely for supporting those open source projects (no money involved there). the idea was that anyone could grab the js code and place it onto their site and those open source ads would rotate onto their site and support all the awesome open source project we all use.
so, I don’t think running ads is an inherently bad idea. all depends on how it’s implemented. the right ad network, or advertiser, with the best interest of the publisher and the greater ad network, makes for a better experience all around. it shouldn’t be about money…it should be about doing what you always do - write and write well. if the advertising confuses that, then its time to walk away.
March 12, 2008
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I am just starting out with web development and Django. Your blog is a great help. So as far as “paying it forward” is concerned I think you are doing a great job.
IMO the usefulness won’t be diminished even if you run ads on your blog. It will continue to be as helpful as it is now. For me what matters is the quality of your posts, ads or no ads.
March 14, 2008
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It almost makes me feel bad for building a Django-based app I plan to charge for, but I have become accustomed to food and shelter. If I could find out a way to make money while giving everything away that I create with the countless amount of free software I use every day, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
March 19, 2008
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I too have been contacted regarding placing ads on my personal site, and have simply ignored the request. I don’t envision my not-frequently-enough-updated site being worth the sacrifice of controlling the complete context of each page. When I write about a topic, I link to as many useful and related sites as I can to help the readers. Paid placement would be of questionable additional benefit.
But I am having a bit of a debate with myself over how to treat similar opportunities with a side project of mine that’s ready but not-yet launched. Like you James, my entire (though limited) programming repertoire has come from the charity of web communities. Bloggers posting tips, forum members answering questions, and IRC chatters supplying instant help when I need it most have all been essential to my learning. And then there’s the work of all the Django contributors and application writers without whom my ability to create complex websites would be severely handicapped.
I’ve been looking for a way to give something back to the Django community, and I finally have it. It has been created to solve a need, not to make me beer money. But as I currently have it set up, I may receive affiliate kickbacks from certain sources, though at absolutely no cost or experience detriment to the user. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. I feel a bit wrong building on top of all the work that people like yourself, James, have contributed to the community with no direct compensation as a result and then potentially making a few dollars myself.
I might open this up to a bit more debate on my own site once the new resource is live. Overall I do not see any conflict with the affiliate links since they do not in any way harm the user. I just want to be sure the community feels the same way.
April 5, 2008
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As ghandi said .. ‘be the change you want to see in the world’