[LAU] poll : Advertising vs Linux Audio

Hi, Some of you may know that we are having a discussion on the Consortium mailing list at the moment about the role of advertising in the Linux Audio Community. Specifically the discussion is focused around the possibility of having some paid ads on a *couple* of the subdomains that are hosted at Linuxaudio.org. The views for and against appear to be very polarised. I would like to know what other people who may not be monitoring the Consortium list have to say about this topic. One camp feels that advertising is an evil blight on humanity and should be avoided "where ever" possible. Although that appears to be a flexible "where ever" due to having supported advertising by some supportive companies in the past. The other camp thinks that advertising can be a useful way for the Linux Audio Community to promote brands that support Linux Audio and by association increase the general public awareness of the viability of using Linux Audio as a business platform and another way to potentially raise funds which can be used to advance the entire platform. Do other people here have any strong opinions on the usefulness of advertising in the Linux Audio community? Should it be avoided like the plague or does it have some value that can be integrated provided we set some boundaries? Cheers -- Patrick Shirkey Boost Hardware Ltd