One More Reason I'm Skeptical of Money-Making On The Web

For awhile, it seemed as though the internet had figured out pop-up ads and spam. Remember in the days when email finally caught on there was this period where spam became basically out of control? I had to close 2 early hotmail accounts because of it. For the past several years, we basically fixed the spam email problem with filters, although it is still a minor problem. At one point there was a problem with pop ups and other stuff on internet explorer and netscape and then by the time Firefox came around, it seemed as though that problem was solved as well.

No more.

Today, I notice more and more pop up ads on the internet and many more on established sites like newspapers, etc. You cannot avoid them, even with Macs.

Herein lies the rub: there just aren't that many ways to make money off the internet. Everyone talks about ad revenue, ad revenue, etc. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer tells Jerry the corporations just "write it off." And Jerry calls him out and says, "You don't even know what a write-off is, do you?" Kramer responds, "No. But they do. And they're the ones writing it off."

And so is this idea of ad revenue via the internet. I don't think there is as much money to be made out there. And I'll tell you why - the more ads that I'm forced to look at directly impacts in a negative way - how much time I spend looking at the internet. That is to say, the more ad revenue, the less I'll look, and the less incentive there is for ads to be put up. It strikes me as a doomed endeavor. Or at least a lot more limited than we think.