I have received hundreds of requests like this one:

My name is xxxx and I’m reaching out on behalf of a major client. We’ve come across your blog and believe our client’s product/service would be a great fit for your audience.

We’re interested in collaborating by providing a tailored, high-quality piece of content for your site. Could you let us know the cost of adding content to your blog?

Companies want to add a link or content to this blog in exchange for money. While I don’t think this blog is very popular, it has been around for a long time – more or less since 1996 – and maybe that makes for a decent Google/search rating? Just like the population of a town hitting a magic number that triggers multiple nationwide chains to suddenly want to open stores there, perhaps a certain rating triggers automatic requests such as this one. I don’t know.

This blog has always been free AND ad-free. When I started this website and blog I was under the impression that we would all eventually communicate and exchange ideas via personal blogs. Long thoughts, short thoughts, content of any kind… In 1995 that was the vision of the world wide web. Then came along (so-called) Social Media and changed everything. Biz Stone told me I should try Twitter, when I met him after a show at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga (Summer of 2007, I think). I was able to get the handle @ottmar. A year later I thought it was taking up too much time and deleted the account. A couple of years later I tried once more. By then @ottmar was taken and I took @ottmarliebert. Then I tried Facebook but that only lasted a few months. Deleted. A friend convinced me of opening an account on Instagram. That lasted a little longer but was also deleted. Since then I have tried Bluesky – deleted – and Mastodon, which I have kept but rarely look at (once every two months?). Social Media is not a good fit for me.

This blog, however, makes sense to me. It’s how I can communicate with you, who went through the trouble of finding this little spot on the web instead of following several people on Facebook who call themselves Ottmar Liebert, but aren’t. :-)