I don’t take advertising on this site. I never have, I don’t intend to.
If there’s a link on this site, it’s because I thought it was a good idea. I don’t get paid to include links. I write about stuff I like, stuff you might like and people that I like.
The only affiliate program I belong to is Amazon. All my proceeds go to charity.
I don’t take PR pitches. If you send me a press release, I will go out of my way not to mention you here.
I’m a principal shareholder in Squidoo.com, a company I founded. I don’t get paid a salary by Squidoo and all my Squidoo royalties go to charity.
I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m trying hard to make this as pure an exercise as I can. I’m very fortunate to have your attention and (possibly) trust, and I’m certainly not going to blow it for a few bucks. But I’m not naive enough to believe that there are no conflicts. There are plenty of them. People and ideas that I have an irrational attachment to, or habits I’ve got that are hard to break. I’m hoping that won’t get in the way of provoking you to think a little differently.
There are plenty of bloggers and online writers who have far more significant conflicts of interest than I do. And that’s just fine. I have no issue with people selling ads or links or affiliate programs. I think, though, that it’s essential that you make it clear to people what those conflicts are. Most of the great bloggers I read do just that.