Larry Ribstein is thinking about taking ads ... or maybe not. We have not taken ads here, and I have never been seriously tempted. But I was interested in one of Larry's points:

The ads also have a negative signaling effect: even if I’m not tempted by the commercial aspects, my readers might suspect I am, which reduces credibility.

Is this true? Last year, I visited the Top 50 blogs and found that all but three had revenue-producing advertisements. If advertising is linked to perceptions of compromised credibility, why are so many top blogs taking advertising? I suspect that Ann is right: "having high traffic makes you more likely to accept ads, because you can charge more for them." The point is that you build credibility with your readers, and that credibility survives the taking of ads.

Speaking of ads, how is Pajamas Media working out? I spent a little time this weekend trying to figure out whether the venture capitalists are getting something for their investment, and I am confused. The site looks nice, but what is its purpose? Their website says this:

PJM’s mission is to expand the influence of weblogs by finding and promoting the best of them, providing bloggers with a forum to meet and share resources, and the chance to join a for-profit network that will give them additional leverage to pursue knowledge wherever they may find it.... We also plan to provide a bridge between old media and new, bringing bloggers and mainstream journalists—more and more of whom have started to blog—together in a debate-friendly forum.

Hmm. I don't understand most of that.

"Finding and promoting the best" blogs? Ok, that makes sense. Indeed, PM seems to have become sort of a Huffington Post for conservatives, except with very little original content.

"Providing bloggers with a forum to meet and share resources"? No idea. The word "forum" implies that people are having some sort of conversation, but PM is not that. As for the sharing of resources, is that a reference to ads? See more below on that topic.

"Provide a bridge between old media and new, bringing bloggers and mainstream journalists ... together in a debate-friendly forum." There's that word "forum" again, this time tied to "debate." But as far as I can tell, there is only one place on the site for comments and that's under the "Mondo" of the day. As for the need to bring bloggers and mainstream journalists together, that train has left the station. Even the W$J has blogs!

I know that Pajamas Media inspires outrage in some quarters, and I am not attempting to align myself with that crowd. I just don't see the value proposition. Initially, I understood the venture as a variation on Gawker Media, gathering high-traffic blogs into an advertising consortium. But where are the ads? I don't see a single ad on the PM portal or on Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, LGF, or any other PM blog. So are they being paid not to advertise?

Now that's a form of advertising I would be willing to accept.

UPDATE: All of a sudden, all of the PM blogs have ads! I may have missed the sole ad on PM's portal, which appears in the right margin, but I am quite certain that the PM blogs did not have any ads when I was visiting this morning. Now they all seem to have one ad (in addition to lots of PM PR). It's a big ad, to be sure, but I wonder about the economics of substituting one PM ad for a gaggle of Blogads. Whatever. Good luck to PM and to the PM bloggers.

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