Aside from ripping off a great David Bowie tune for the title, there have been some changes around here. For one thing, I’ve been restraining myself a bit in terms of what I want to say and how I say it as businesses were advertising at this site.

Effective immediately there will be no more advertising here at Musings from the Coast. A little Q & A section is listed below if you want to know more about this decision. I hope you’ll like it, the pages should load faster and the topics may get a little more interesting. If you are listed on my links (now updated to reflect things I read routinely) and you don’t wish to be, drop me a line and I’ll drop the reference to your site.

Q: – Dude, don’t you want the money advertising generates?

A: – Admittedly, there was a little money involved, but in the end, I decided unrestrained free speech was a better model for this venue. And, it’s not like I was going along the path of being PopSugar or something anyway, so there’s no real loss from my perspective.

Q: – Would you consider taking ads again?

A: – Sure, you never say never. Drop me a line at mike (at) montara ventures (dot) com and I’ll read your proposal before saying no.

Q: – But seriously, isn’t there money involved?

A: – Yes, but not serious money. The display ads from local businesses were by far the most profitable ads on the site. Many of them became increasingly uncomfortable with my political and religious views and asked me to tone it down lest it reflect badly on their businesses. As they were my customers, I felt compelled to take their perspective into account.

Q: – But, I liked your ads. Can’t you bring them back?

A: – Glad you liked them. No I won’t bring them back.

Q: – OK, so what does this mean to me, one of your three loyal readers?

A: – 1) Page load time should be faster without all the javascript and extra images. 2) I will feel free to explore more varied and controversial topics that may have violated prior terms of service. 3) Perhaps you’ll see a bit more borderline humor and images.

Q: – Will this change your comment policy?

A: – No, I will continue to moderate comments to prevent spam from appearing in this venue. I will continue to post non-spam, comments, even comments that are objectionable to me personally, in the interest of free speech. The only exception to the “no moderation for content” policy is if the content of the comment is of the hate/neo-nazi/crazy whacko vein; in which case it will simply move to the spam bucket. Controversial responses to posts that stay away from the stuff mentioned above will be posted as submitted and are encouraged. Dialogue adds to the richness of the discussion and often more can be learned from disagreement on a topic.