We are no longer accepting banner ads.

We are however willing to post your institutions courses and programs for free. See our home page for listing instructions.

= Why we are not accepting ads - The short version =

The short version is that the costs of accepting ads are far more than the returns.

= Why we are not accepting ads - The long version =

There are a lot of little administrative things involved in getting banner ads. There's calling people up. There's sending out invoices. There's tracking down checks. There was the very bad thing that happened when one of the people we hired to handle advertising deposited checks into their own account. There are also the legal and tax issues involved when a non-profit does unrelated business.

ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

So the costs involved in ads are huge, and the return is small. The problem is that banner ads aren't very effective so that you need a huge number of eyeballs to make any money. The Washington Post and the New York Times can do it, we can't.

= So how do we stay afloat? =

Our costs are miniscule. Something like $200/month which is easily doable as a hobby. We get a lot done because we've done a huge amount of automation and what we can't automate, we outsource to India.

But having miniscule costs means that you have to set priorities. The thing about coding automation is that it is fun. The thing about calling people on the phone to track down a check is that it is not. So why do it?

But the fact that our funding is miniscule means that we will survive no matter what. The collapse of the dot-com bubble has caused a lot of companies to fall. This has had knock-on effects into academia, and funding for distance education incentives are getting axed. But it doesn't matter for us. We spend less money in a year than most organizations spend in a day.