Being online at least 50% of my waking days and nights for maybe the last 7 or 8 years has taken its toll.

There are certainly some positive aspects to this;  I can’t recall the last time it took longer than 2 or 3 minutes to find something.. ANYTHING, I may have been looking for.

Whether a faked picture of Jessica Biel in a compromising position, a code snippet I can hijack for work, or some uber-rare vintage postcard from an obscure Pennsylvania town that would make the perfect gift for my dad, I’m king of the mutha phukkin search.

One negative aspect of all this information overload though is that at this point, I almost completely filter out online advertising.

Don’t get me wrong; for the most part, this is obviously a good thing.  It makes me more efficent and saves me from jumping down every corporate sponsored rabbit hole demanding my attention.

But what about the flip side of it?

Sites I love and visit every day, especially those that feature minimal advertising (text links, etc.. no obnoxious pop overs or unders) are bringing value into my life.  I try to repay the favor when possible, by commenting, or sending links to friends or via UM, but what about cold hard cash, directly into the publisher’s hands?

This is something I haven’t done in ages.  It’s easy to forget that everytime I click an AdSense ad or whatever the publisher (aka site owner) is getting paid.  It doesn’t cost me anything, since the advertisers are paying the site owner via Google or whatever.

Even if it’s a few pennies at a time, like everything, it adds up.

Now spending time on the other side, running paid AdSense / Yahoo Search / MS AdCenter campaigns for sites and other online ventures, I sure as hell wouldn’t appreciate worthless leads clicking my ad all over the place just to ’support’ the site’s owner.

But if what I’m advertising holds any interest for the reader whatsoever, and their clicking on it not only gets them checking out my product, etc, but also helps them give something back to their favorite sites, it’s a win win for everyone.

Some immediate candidates for this for me?  WWTDD.com, Passiveaggressivenotes.com, and LiquorSnob.com.

(Those Natalie Dee / Toothpaste For Dinner / Married to The Sea peeps have already received some of my moolah for their sweet tee shirts.)