[semperfaux]

There are two main points for a programming blog - to keep your own notes in one place, and to try and raise your profile / build an audience to make the next contract or pay review a much happier experience.

If one subscribes to your extremely limited view of what a "programming blog" should be or aspire to be, and what its author(s)' goals are or should be, then maybe this is reasonable. But I don't find that at all convincing.

If you are a contractor or can build a network from the blog that 1700 pa is going to get wiped out in one deal.

No... it'll still be there. And it'll be there if you have a bad month -- or year -- and you end up depending more than you'd want on that otherwise paltry sum.

I'm not saying this is without merit. I'm just saying it's incredibly short-sighted. I like to look at the big picture as well, but to suggest that money you might bring in with minimal impact is necessarily useless in the face of the potential to bring in more money in other (largely or totally unrelated) ways strikes me as seriously out of touch with the lows reality can drop on your doorstep.

Stick a mailchimp form on your blog and keep writing interesting stuff.

This is at least much more reasonable than making blanket statements that start with "No."

[lifeisstillgood]

Well the No was a direct answer to a direct question. :-)

And I think that putting ads onto an otherwise nice and coherent personal site sends out all the wrong signals (it makes us judge this not as a personal site but as a commercial entity - which demands higher production standards (and oddly lowers the trustworthiness of his opinions on Intel die layouts etc). The small amount of advertising income is unlikely to ever pay for that trust loss - and if the OP is ever likely to find that income vital then they should fight for a pay rise today.

I am negative on the value of broadcast style advertising - I would say that going for advertising dollars when you don't think they will pay for the young graduate you really ought to be hiring to do ad sales by phone is a bad idea. I really cannot see advertising being democratised by giving tiny slices to smaller and smaller outlets. Maybe affiliation sales will work at those levels but probably not.