Mind you Tom, to be fair, most ads are tacky. I don’t think it is about purity, and earning money, maybe it’s asthetics for me.
A cheque every month wouldn’t be satisfying, I don’t feel I’m losing out, or it’s an idea I have to be part of. For others the money could be what helps keep them going.
Darren makes a good point, placement matters.
I don’t think ads/no ads are a measure of spirituality either, I’m not going to trash your opinion.:^)

I guess I am countering with”is our blog really dedicated to God? Is it really about Him? Or are we really blogging for ourselves, and if for ourselves, then why not try to earn while doing it?”

I think honesty before God must be the driving force of everything in our lives. I don’t think there is a problem with ads per se, again, so long as we are honest about the reason for them. Then again, I know a lot of blogs who claim to be about God, and couldn’t be further from that. So what’s worse, a blog ad, or a blog who advertises God without ever really meaning it? Hmm…

Seems to me that to use God as a crutch to call attention to ourselves would be far worse than being honest about trying to earn a little cash. I talk about God on my blog mostly as He pertains to my life. Yet I know, and admit openly that my blog is about me, not about God. My blog is not a temple, it’s a messy house with one really screwed person living there.

That’s just my opinion. Feel free to trash it. It’s okay, I don’t mind.

I think the long blog rolls are about getting links. I keep repeating myself about this, but some of these links are self-looping to drive up rankings.

Maybe long blog rolls are about making your blog look important.

And maybe bloggers with long blog rolls are very nice people who are welcoming and inclusive and don’t want to hurt peoples feelings.

Bloggers aren’t professionals, they may focus on content and not image and presentation.

What is an ad? Anything you permit on your blog from someone else that is used to sell something.

I agree we’ll see increasing growth in biz-blogs, company blogs, and commercial blogs. It’s inevitable. If there is money to be made, build it and they’ll come.

There are non-gain ‘ads’ - identifiers. Flags, maps, counters - blog knick-knacks.

Like a map of the Sudan to point out the tragedy unfolding. A counter of the number of deaths in a war. A flag identifying your country or political party. Graphics advertising something that the blogger wants prominent. No monetary gain for the blogger or an advertiser.

Yeah, the new Babelfish is too big. It’s a self-identifier and a bit delusional. Must be that French-English Canuck thing going on…:^)

- ’subtle ads’ - i guess what I was meaning was that you can make Google ads bright red and yellow when your site is pastel colour or you can make them blend in and fit with the theme of a site. The advertisers have no say in this what so ever.

- ‘I don’t think the growth of blogs are because blog ads are available though.’ - no argument here although I suspect that you’ll find that there have been quite a few commercial blogs started over the last few years purely as money making tools. These are the minority - blogging is growing mainly for other reasons…

What are ‘ads’ anyway? Not sure where this argument is going but I wonder if there is such a thing as a non financial gain type ad in blogging? I look at some bloggers sidebars and am sometimes so overwhelmed by the huge list of links there that I wonder if that sort of thing is more offensive than a long list of ads. I’ve got nothing against blogrolls if they are used to highlight some quality links that the blogger actually reads, but more often than not I think blogrolls are more about the blogger themselve than anything else. In a sense they are ads without financial gain in that they try to get the blogger some attention or credibility. Hmmm - and then there are paypal buttons, merchandise selling (buy a t-shirt with my name on it), amazon links, links and buttons to other services that have given the blogger something for free like design, a blog platform, translation services etc….

Maybe I’m taking things a little too far now but where do you draw the link between what is an ad and what isn’t an ad? Just thinking out loud…

I can’t argue cost, I don’t think the growth of blogs are because blog ads are available though.
Computer hardware prices may be going down, but being on the web is not cheaper.

I’d hate to see a blog fold because of costs too…BDBO came close once. But I’ll fold this blog before I’d put up an ad. Our lives are already so bombarded. I’d like to give my readers some respect and keep whatever dignity I have.

And I have to say I think many bloggers that can afford this hobby have ads anyway.

“subtle ads” is an oxymoron. How does a blogger place ads unobtrusively - and not have the advertiser upset? And let’s be honest here Darren, most ad designers don’t do subtle.

(gee, can you tell I don’t like blog ads:^)

1. the content of the blog - there are some topics of blogs that I believe are more suited to ads than other. Personal blogs and ads to me don’t really mix. For one you can’t make too much from the ads but the main reason is that the ads often don’t relate to the content. If the topic is something of a commercial or tightly focused niche topic nature I don’t have a problem with them as long as they are clearly marked ads.

2. the circumstances of the blogger - some bloggers just cannot afford to keep their blogs going because of bandwidth issues and the cost of traffic levels. I don’t mind a few ads if it helps a blog continue to run. I’d rather see a few annoying ads than see a blog fold.

Having said all this - some ads are not subtle - there is an art in ad placement and design that many bloggers do not practice.

Richard…you’ve been tempted?
Repeat after me…I don’t need ads, I don’t need ads, I don’t…
Yes, to each his own, I really hope connexions doesn’t go there. It would be a bit like having graffiti sprayed all over a lovely home.