I&#x27;ve been working on news sites for 7 years. I rarely comment here, but that&#x27;s a good question.<p>1. No, I think the opposite. One of the reason that Internet advertising has gotten to this point _because_ smart people don&#x27;t want to work on it.<p>2. The history of mass media is tied to the history of advertising. I know its trendy to say things like &quot;the market will innovate&quot; followed by no new ideas. This isn&#x27;t the answer. The answer is to fix web advertising&#x27;s problems.<p>3. I love the writing. I think it matters. I meet people who read my sites all the time and they agree. The survival of this depends on solving a series of really difficult, interesting problems.<p>Maybe it&#x27;s just me, but I think that&#x27;s cool.