I never thought I’d be grateful to a pop-up ad.

The automatic ad software here on WordPress is particularly irritating, and it finally drove someone to the extreme of kicking me a little cash, which I’m using to kill the ads.  For this month.  As more donations come in, the ads will stay gone.

Yes, this is extortion.  WordPress started it with all the intrusive pop-ups, and now I’m just a corporate shill, paying your hard-earned money to some faceless corporation for the privilege of not having to suffer their evil clickbait.  The other way of looking at it, of course, is that WordPress accepts the costs of hosting not only me but tens of thousands of other people writing blogs on a no-frills no-headache platform, and this is our way of giving back.  Even faceless corporate entities deserve consideration.

I don’t want to chase down a rabbit hole all day, so let’s just focus on this:  Thanks to a single moderate donation from a regular reader, The Not Fake News is going ad-free.

This is a big step for us, and I won’t lie:  It’s pure speculation.  I’m gambling that other people will also donate, if only to keep those irritating surveys from taking over their screens when they click.  By “other people”, of course, I mean you.  Yes, you.

After all, you’re reading this.  You must enjoy or appreciate what we do here at The Not Fake News.  And you must especially enjoy not having to close all those irritating ads or pop-ups.  The question is, how much do you enjoy it?

That’s for you to answer.

Money donated here will go first to pay to take the site ad-free, second to buy the odd coffee or meal that’s not ramen noodles, and third to underwrite further research or writing projects. On the off chance this venture ever actually becomes profitable— but no, never mind; a massive meteor strike would be more likely.

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You can use this link if you don’t like PayPal or fees; it’s cheap and convenient.

Alternately, I’m delighted to accept PayPal donations using this email address:
TheNotFakeNews@gmail.com

(I don’t answer much that comes in over there.  Sending me a mail is a crap shoot.)

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Update:  The money has run out, but I’m an optimist and went six months in advance.  Let’s see if my optimism is justified, shall we?