There has been a flurry of commentary and controversy surrounding yesterday's post (Blog Shills) over what Shelley Powers is calling the Marqui Effect. I haven't had time to assimilate the comments and postings from Marc, Robin, Mitch, and Alan, but I will collate their observations later on. In the meanwhile, Shelley makes sense and displays a number of cool photos from the quiz games of the 1950s (hawking Geritol and perhaps the game rigging scandals of the time?) as a visual metaphor for what we may be getting into with Pay-For-Mention:

Shelley Powers

[from Burningbird » Weblogging is for Winners]

Sponsorship isn't the Titanic event of weblogging; our "purity" is not compromised because some people are selling some space and words in their weblogs. Still, those webloggers who protest that being sponsored in this way will have no effect on them whatsoever are being idealistic and even a little naive.

Becoming sponsored does impact on you. You will be made aware of it each week as you write your little thank-you note to Marqui. You will see it every time you access your site and the first thing you see is the largish "Sponsored by Marqui" graphic. Your readers will be aware of it, and it will, even subtly, alter their perceptions of you and your writing. This may not be bad -- in fact, you may get increased respect for swinging such a good deal. But your relationship with your readers will be different.

Eventually, the Marqui Effect could impact how you perceive your own space. Being hired to write an article for O'Reilly or weblog posts at a Marqui weblog, still leaves you your space to do whatever you want in it: to write obscene material, and be hateful all you want; or write your most intimate thoughts, which could eventually be equated one in the same. You may find yourself hesitating, even a moment, before you put down those words.