This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago. Visit the Product Blog for more information on our products.

I’ve been meaning to ask.. doesn’t the newly injected promotional text (with grey background) at the end of your blog posts more or less directly go against the spirit, if not the letter (perhaps it’s not technically an ‘ad’, but with the yellow-highlight above and the grey background, it sure feels like one) of the Deck’s oft-stated mantra:

Only a single ad will be shown for each page viewed

I’m not sure how I’d feel about that if it were my dollar.

Deck members are free to promote their own products and services in any way they like…

JF,

What about the Authentic Jobs and 37signals job posting you see on other websites within the Deck? Are these people not receiving money for the job ads being displayed on their sites?

Either way I don’t think it matters because the Deck is a great ad network… I just think the wording about it being the only ad on the page is becoming more and more untrue.

Sorry if it seemed I meant to imply nefarious intent or anything of the like. Obviously the ‘Deck’ makes the terms and you both live with whatever the market can bear.

I just think the market might bear a little less on, say, a page full of product links above the content, beside the content and again below the content. It’s a design/decision question, really. Also, as the (relatively small) network expands, I would think the members all need to be able to rely on good faith of the others. Is their some structure for disputes?

And as Aaron says, great content which the Deck seems to seek out probably allows the market to bear a lot more.

I hide the deck on Yay Hooray. Ha ha ha {cough}.

Congrats on growing The Deck without diluting its value by adding crappy sites.