Ads

I am experimentally activating ads on this blog, not out of avarice (I'm only getting a couple hundred hits per month), but in the interest of exploring alternate means of funding scholarship in pursuit of my Academic Busking project. I know some other biblioblogs are on ad-supported platforms, although I don't know if the bloggers receive to proceeds, and Bart Ehrman, of course, turns the tables by keeping his full content behind a charity-wall, making his blog into something of a scholarly benefit concert.

Advertising certainly raises ethical questions, not so much in terms of affecting my content (especially for a few pennies), but whether the ads might conflict with the message I'm trying to communicate. If Amazon's suggestions are any indication, the targeting algorithms have a hard time distinguishing between scholarly discourse about religion and popular (often conservative) religious expression. I would not want my page sullied with links to sloppy apologetics, hot Christian singles,¹ conservative politics, or even worse, Dan Brown books! We shall see once Google approves my application.




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¹ I once got a targeted ad while Googling "soteriology" that read "Meet hot soteriology singles!" I also get occasional ads on Facebook saying "Do you like Plotinus? Consider a career in Homeland Security."