Quick update on what's going on behind the scenes here. I finally put up the tagcloud I've been pining for since I heard about them. I would say about 75% of past entries are tagged (and in all honesty my old entries are fairly useless so I'm not going to rush on that too much). Ever since I started blogging I was never satisfied filing away my entries in the categories I had created (and was always unsure if an entry warranted a brand new category). I think this fits my free-form style much better. My tagcloud is powered by Tags.App (a Movable Type plugin that makes use of the keywords field)
So I've kinda been wanting to make money off of my website for awhile, but the thing is, I hate ads. I really like the way Kottke is reader supported. While I know I am not to that point yet, I think I can find alternative ways to generate some income. While Google's Adsense seems like an obvious choice, I never partook because I personally hate textads, especially on blogs. Then while reading Russell Beattie the other day, I discovered he used some code to only show ads to people coming from other sources (and not his own blog). What this means is if you have gtmcknight.com bookmarked, or type it in the address bar you will never see google ads. If you come to my site by searching backpack hacks on google then a few ads will be inserted. I think this is a fabulous compromise because I don't want to see them any more than my usual readers do.
All you Secret Service Volunteers seem to have drifted off. Daniel and I are getting closer everyday for what we consider a suitable public release and would really appreciate it if you could come back and add a few more bands.
As you know there are RSS feeds galore, but if you aren't into that, or less tech savvy, I'd like to point out that you can subscribe to updates to this blog with the wonderfully free Feedblitz service. Just add your email address below to get a single daily email (no matter how many posts are made, and only if there is new content added) with the latest gtmcknight has to offer. I am subscribed to it and really like that they don't put ads in the emails either!
Let me know what you guys think of the changes.
08:02 PM on 12.07.05
i like the tagcloud a lot, and i don't think the google ads for indirect hits is a bad idea. i'll add bands to your little web site when i'm feeling well, i promise.