I mostly agree with this. It’s a toss-up between Google, Facebook and the US government (and the ties between these entities probably run much deeper than most people realize).
This conclusion is not supported by the previous statement and I do not see the “tentacles” or the “strings attached” here. If other community members do see a practical problem here (i.e. a way in which accepting Google ad credits would grant Google influence over the direction or goals of the ClassicPress project), then that is something we should discuss here in public.
This is undeniably true. I hope this growth would bring us new developers who can help move our platform forward, and we could certainly target our message towards that goal.
Google literally removed “don’t be evil” from their brand a few years ago. Despite that, they appear to still support nonprofit organizations in some genuine and powerful ways, which as far as I can tell do not include influencing governance or project direction, or distributing funds.
Personally I use an ad blocker and will continue to do so regardless of the outcome of this discussion. All ClassicPress sites will also remain ad-free.
This is also an excellent point. Unfortunately ClassicPress cannot pay for the services we need without using inflationary money that is printed by predatory central banks, which frankly goes against my principles or at least my ideal of what the world should look like. In that case we can either use money and continue to exist as an organization, or shut down entirely. In the case of Google ad credits it is more like taking a chance on a multiplier for our growth.
Again, if community members believe that accepting ad credits would somehow in a practical way compromise the integrity of the work that ClassicPress is doing, then I think that is something we should discuss here publicly, starting with an explanation or an example of how that could happen.