Question of Click-Ethics

[zsk_00]

A friend of mine clicked on couple of ads on a site not because he wanted to checkout the ads but because he found the needed info from the site and also because he thought the site looked very EMcool/EM.
This brings to mind two questions.
OLLIIf you like something (in this case the website), should someone else (in this case the advertisers) pay for it?LIShould sites with ads have a [tip-me-if-you-like-this-site] kind of a button, just like donate buttons] so that if someone likes the site, they can tip couple of bucks?/LI/OLI normally click ads if I am interested in the subject area, whether I am planning to buy anything or not does not matter. I don't have money for tips, or for anything else for that matter

Would like know how other people think ?

zafar

[mondine]

Interesting. So, you're talking about a scenerio, where a visitor (with no affiliation) clicks on ads just because he likes the site, and wants to support it?

As long as the visitor hasn't been induced to do this, I don't see that it would be unethical. The advertisers are paying to have their ads viewed, not guaranteed customers delivered.
(Of course, some advertisers would argue this point.)

The only danger I see is that some well-meaning person could overdo this, and leave a pattern of clicks that look invalid, and jeopardize the site's AdSense account. That's why people are advised to warn their friends against this sort of behaviour.

As for a straightforward "donate" button; as long as it is completely separate from, and in no way tied-to ads; I wouldn't think that would be a problem.