regarding advertising

If you're reading this via syndication, you'll notice that in the last few days, small ads have shown up at the end of my posts.

I'm experimenting with including some advertising in my blog, including my RSS feed and on my actual site. This experiment will run for about 90 days, when I'll run some numbers and see if it's worth it or not. I hope to keep it as non-intrusive as possible, and there will never be pop-ups, pop-unders, annoying blinky flashy animated bullshit, or anything like that. The experiment has two main components: how much do I personally hate having advertising sitting next to my blog posts, and does the income generated by that advertising make sucking up that distaste worthwhile.

I know people don't like ads (I am one of them,) but I'm trying to strike a balance between writing for places that help me support my family, and writing in my blog. The reality of my life is that I have a child going to college next year, and I have to do every single thing I possibly can to ensure that he never hears, "Sorry, I know you want to go there, but we can't afford it. How about here instead?" If I'm leaving money on the table (as they say) when I could be helping to put it into that college fund -- even with handfuls of change every few days -- I don't feel I'm being a responsible parent and provider.

If this works, the end result should be good for me and my family, and
presumably good for people who enjoy it when I write frequently in my
blog, because if my blog is helping to support my family, I can justify
writing in it more and more. I'll be able to work harder to write quality stuff, and that should be good for everyone.

If you don't want to see ads, try using Firefox + Adblock + filterset.g. Of course, I'd appreciate it if you'd whitelist me, because that lets me charge higher rates for fewer ads, but I totally understand if you don't want to.