Q&A: Ads on the Site
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Ads on the Site
Question
Does the Rabbi have a principled position against ads? Because there aren’t any here on the site, and I assume there are reasons beyond the prosaic ones, while seemingly money is lying on the floor. I can think only of rather weak reasons, like that it annoys readers or distracts them, brings in uncontrolled material, opens the door for naggers to accuse every opinion of chasing ratings, etc. Are there any others?
Answer
I don’t know. Oren handles all of that. Of course it’s best without ads for all those reasons, and the financial consideration is his (I don’t assume we’re talking about significant money).
It’s a huge amount of money, but ads definitely can affect the desire for ratings at the expense of content—for example, preferring political columns over more scholarly ones.