What's that on the right side of this page?

posted by Sten Westgard

As you can no doubt see, there's more than one new feature of the Westgard Blog. In addition to the new look, new features, and new organization, there are some Google AdSense text ads along the right column.

That's right, the world has ended. There is now some advertising on Westgard Web.

This doesn't mean that visitors to Westgard Web will be deluged with pop-ups, pop-unders, and other attacking ads. But it does mean that Westgard QC is continuing to look at different ways to fund the website. As we commented many years ago in the essay Quality and Commerce, it's not possible for us to give everything away. We have to find ways to generate revenue to sustain the website, to allow us to continue to add to the website's offerings.

For now, ads will be confined to the blog. We will watch and see if limited advertising in limited sections of Westgard Web enables us to sustain the website. Given the omnipresent marketing in all the other publications and events in the laboratory marketplace, we think you will probably survive the exposure to a few more ads. We continue to believe that the best policy is to allow as many people as possible to have access to the important lessons in Quality Control.

If you see an ad that is inappropriate, or most importantly, offensive, do let us know. We have some ability to block what ads Google decides to place on the blog.

As always, we welcome your comments on this. If you think we've made a major error, or broken faith with you, do let us know.