What Happened
It's no secret that my web server and my internet connection have been getting pummeled. This is bad because I have had to take down some test sites that I'd been using to evaluate for my actual job. It is also bad because I regularly access my home system from work for the extra tools that I have on it, and it hasn't been very available during the day while I'm at work. It also means that I unable to play the only game that I ever play, Natural Selection, the most incredible Half-Life mod ever. But more than this, it means that my cable modem may suddenly disappear when Time Warner realizes that I am seriously screwing with traffic in this neighborhood.
After careful consideration of this, and the many encouraging emails that I'd received, I decided to continue to host the Orange Man Project, but add a single ad to generate funds with which to set up another internet connect should this one get cut off. If my internet connection doesn't get cut off, at the very least I will recoup some of the costs of the project.
Let's be realistic, I've probably spent close to $200 on food and equipment alone for this project, not to mention the 2+ hours per night typing up pages (I'm a slow typist). I am thinking that I've already seen the most of the traffic, so the number of page views and clicks are likely to drop very dramatically in the next day or two. This is never going to be even close to profitable to me. And considering the fact that my life has old just ended a 2 year streak of operating at a financial loss, I can't really afford to lose out on money. You may read my spending of money as me being well off; in fact I am quite poor. I'm just horrible with money and have several credit cards.
How I Felt
I really don't want anyone to feel like I am trying to take advantage of the situation of so many hits coming in. The truth is that I'm just happy that I brought a smile to a few other faces. And as such, I originally resisted any suggestion to place revenue generating content on my pages. I do stuff like this all the time, I just never write about it. This site was originally intended for a very small audience of people that I knew, and the project was for my own personal interest.
Maybe some day I will make a site dedicated to projects like this, and try to make a profit from it. Maybe someday. But it just feels weird to try and get money from something you're just doing for fun. Just not right.
Weight Measurement
In the end my nervousness about lost work won out. Well, that and curiosity as I have always wondered what having an ad was like. I picked Google AdSense as I've noticed many relevant ads from them while browsing. I've even clicked on a few when they are what I'm looking for. So if you see something (anything) interesting, please click on it. You won't be making me rich, but you will be making me just that much more of a financial idiot.