[rokhayakebe]

Someone mentioned a while back that advertising is a business model for web properties just as much as it is for tv shows/sitcoms. The shows that make money have a significant loyal audience. The few that charge money to the end users have a content their audience can't seem to live without (read porn).

[patio11]

I'd be interested in hearing the definition of pornography which covered Basecamp, CrazyEgg, that WoW guild hosting app I heard about earlier, or for that matter Bingo Card Creator.

"But Patrick, that's not fair. You're talking about real companies that have paying customers. I'm talking about 'web properties' that aim for userbases the size of nation states, and accordingly have to aim for the broadest possible reach and the poorest possible customers."

But why are we talking of those? The model demonstrably fails when you can afford to throw hundreds of millions at it. The "We provide value to customers and all our employees keep their clothes on, thank you very much" model has worked for thousands of sales in a year, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, hundreds of millions, etc...