With a deep bow to PetConnection, whose blog posts I was catching up on this morning, I feel compelled to address this timely issue: Why there are no Google ads on Dolittler.

Though I’m grateful to Google for all the traffic it sends Dolittler’s way, I will never use their AdSense service to populate this site with revenue generating advertising—not unless there’s a way for me to weed out the nasty bits…and there’s lots of unsavory material lurking in the Googly world of advetising—yuck!

Puppy peddlers, fly-by-night pet vitamin shops, online pet outlets of dubious designation, etcetera.

It’s my opinion that sites like PetPlace.com, whose medical content can be soooo good, disgrace themselves by offering their white space up to the highest bidder, regardless of its provenance.

Not only are the ads graphically unsightly, chopping up the meat of a site with the dexterity of a five year-old wielding a blunt cleaver, I think they insult my readers’ intelligence by pandering to the lowest common denominator pet person.

How can I write a post about how pet medicine is increasingly populated by cheap products and dangerous ingredients while turning a buck off the backs of my readers’ occasional forays into the world of Internet filth?

OK, so not all Google ads are bad. But there’s no easy way to control what winds up on your site. And I’m not playing that game.

Here’s what I wrote in my comment to Gina’s post explaining why Google ads don't appear on PetConnection:

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. My developers are always trying to get me to use interstitial (halfway down the page) Google ads. I keep explaining that I will not fence for scumbags. They can’t completely wrap their heads around why I’m willing to forego *free* money. As you’ve explained nicely with your examples, “free” money often comes at a hefty price—to my reputation, my readers’ having to look at the dregs the Internet has to offer, the animals being peddled…need I go on?