Looking to get something for nothing? Read on; but first, let me extend a note of congratulations to the various members of TheCarConnection team. TCC swept the Internet category-again-in automotive editorial as part of the 2001 Society of Professional Journalists' Excellence in Journalism Award.

Individual kudos go to TCC Executive Editor Marty Padgett, Associate Editor Bengt Halvorson, and to contributors Jim Burt, Jerry Flint, Lesley Hazleton, Ian Norris, and Joe Szczesny, as well as your humble publisher. Each claimed individual and/or team honors in the various SPJ award categories.

Perhaps more significant was TCC's selection as the best overall Web site, a category that put it up against some very tough competition that extended beyond the virtual publishing world. Second place honors went to the very fine Web site of The Detroit Free Press, which has, of course, millions of dollars in resources and a massive, full-time staff to draw from.

This was just the latest in a string of awards TheCarConnection.com has collected over the last twelve months. The site dominated the International Automotive Media Awards and again swept the Wheels Awards, considered perhaps the most prestigious and competitive of all automotive editorial competitions.

Not bad for an organization that is run by less than a half-dozen full and part-time employees, and two score more freelance editorial contributors and technical contractors. When we hear the folks in the auto industry talk about lean management, we know precisely what they mean.

And that brings me to the second-but no less important-topic of this month's Publisher's Letter. Regular readers know we recently redesigned the site, switching servers and upgrading our traffic management software. We're sticklers for privacy on TCC, but the new software allows us to get a sense of what visitors look at, and also what banner ads they see. I had to gulp hard when I realized that a significant number of our readers have put in place ad blocking software. In other words, they effectively block those small banners that currently appear on the top of each page.

We're not talking pop-ups, or billboard ads planted in the middle of the editorial section, like you are seeing on more and more Web sites. TCC has consciously refused to run them. These are banner ads that are well removed from editorial content, and which roll off the page as soon as you scroll down more than a few lines.

How many ad "impressions" TheCarConnection is losing each month is hard to tell, but I've got to admit to you, dear readers, we feel a bit perplexed and are trying to figure how to deal with the problem. This is not a charity Web site. We don't pay much, but our payroll is sizable, and reflects our revenue stream. That, in turn, is largely derived from advertising, since we've also made a conscious decision not to turn TCC into an e-commerce site based around selling you cars and other products.

I'm sure readers using ad-blocking software wouldn't walk into a bookstore and steal a copy of Automobile or Car and Driver, yet that's effectively what we're talking about here. To receive TCC without a subscription or usage fee, the price is the appearance of those inconspicuous banners. When they're blocked, we don't have "inventory" to sell, we don't make money, and we have to make hard choices.

Should TCC start charging a subscription fee? Many sites do. Others are starting to offer readers a choice: if you don't want ads, you pay up-front. If you take the ads, it's free. We have considered implementing software that automatically shuts out readers who block our ads. I'd like to forestall such a move, but should the use of ad blockers expand, we may have no choice.

ZDNET Editor David Coursey, no friend of online advertising, summed it up recently. He'd written several harsh columns about such techniques as pop-ups, but the bottom-line, Coursey emphasized, is that if everyone uses blocking software, the fundamental business model of the Internet collapses. We at TheCarConnection.com want to continue to keep our site free and open-to everyone-but we can't do it without revenue. If you're using, or considering, ad blocking software, please keep that in mind.

Yours truly,

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