As you may have noticed recently, I have removed Google advertising from my site. This was not of my own accord -- Google disabled ads to my site, calling it "pornography" and thus a violation of their terms of agreement. There was no possibility for appeal. Once the decision was made, it was final, I was told after asking for an explanation.
This of course destroys my only revenue stream for this blog. Google ads didn't bring in huge sums of money, but they did bring in just enough to cover my hosting bill. I now face having to pay my that bill out of my own pocket, which as a graduate student is a tall order.
I'm writing this entry today to seek your assistance. Since I began blogging in 2005, I've managed to keep this site afloat through funds of my own and ad revenue on the side. But since then the site has grown tremendously to over 10,000 monthly readers, and alongside that my hosting bill has quadrupled in just the past two years. Google ad revenue grew alongside that bill, but now that I cannot rely on that funding source I must look to you for help.
I want to continue this crazy idea of a project -- but I just can't afford the hosting bills on my own. I think this blog is a resource for folks out there who are interested in sex, gay men's health and HIV/AIDS. That's why I keep working on it. There are surprisingly few resources out there like it. Here you can find "The View From the Bottom," interviews with scholars in the field, and a heaping pile of gay analysis of the issues of the day. Trevorade doesn't just serve up "curated news" in the style of most blogs out there -- we generate original content that you can't find anywhere else.
And that is why I'm presently looking to you, our readers, to help us continue that mission of providing frank, incisive gay analysis on issues that matter to you. Donations of any size are welcome and wanted, from $5 to $50. I know that there are folks out there who want to see this blog continue for years to come, and it is to those readers that I am now asking for help. Everyone who donates has my gratitude, and if you include your shipping address when you do I'll be sending along a real, live thank you note. In the mail! (I know, so 20th century.) Thanks for reading. And thanks for helping.
xoxoxo
Trevor
It appears you are a victim of prudish anti-gay Christian-Republican groups that are exploiting Google's complaint system to suppress positive gay messages on the internet. The Google complaint system that is used to detect "pornography" relies mostly on counting the number of complaints from unique IP addresses. Google supposedly has a "human" review any site that is to be censored, but I bet they do not have very many reviewers who are educated in the difference between gay pornography and serious gay ethnography. Many of these "reviewers are probably contract employees in Indian.
I believe this is true because colleagues of mine have had Google censor their academic blogs that discuss gay issues in a positive manner without having any so-called porno in the blog. One colleague was forwarded a church email alert asking their members to report his Google Blog to Google by clicking the "report abuse" to Google button.
What worries me is that we may be going back to the days of the homophile ONE magazine that required the sponsorship of the FTM millionaire Reed Erickson to be published. At least the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to publish back in the 1950s, but Google as a private company can do anything they wish in censoring gay writing. There are not enough rich queer people around to fund the level of gay internet communication that we have become accustomed.
Yes, Thomas, it seems to be the case. Although I will say that I've been blessed to have several generous friends donating money over the past two days -- almost enough to cover my yearly hosting fees! So I'm relieved about that.
Although I'm not sure donations are a longterm solution, I know I can figure it out down the road. Perhaps Blogads (the other advertising clearinghouse on the site) will pick up. Perhaps Google will relent. Or perhaps some other, unforeseen option, will emerge.
In any case, thanks for being a longtime contributor, Thomas. It helps keep the spirits and energy levels up!
How about intersitials like Linkbucks.com or Sharebee.com, that would also make for a shorter url.
Best of lucks, google should be ashamed.