The Problem with Web Ads

I know that some of you are complaining about the pop-ups. When I came to Patheos, I negotiated no pop-ups on my blog, so they’re working on turning them off. You’ll still see them on other Patheos pages (even if you have a pop-up blocker, it seems).

There’s another problem with ads: they sometimes do not represent my views. I’m guessing you already know this, but I want to make it clear. Here, for example, is one ad that was on my blog this week:

“Liberal Melisa Franzen Is Out Of Touch” it proclaims. It’s paid for by a PAC, and is in a rotation of ads served up by Google on my blog. That is, this ad was not sold directly to Patheos; it’s in a slot of rotating Google ads.

Here’s the thing: I’m voting for Melisa Franzen. She is not out of touch with Minnesota values (whatever the hell those are). Franzen is a centrist, business-friendly Democrat who is running for State Senate against a right-wing Republican. She’s just the kind of person I want representing me.

So please, when you see political ads on my side bar, or ads for the LDS Church (cough, cough), please be discerning.