I was doing some reading befrore about a craze in the uk (possibly the world) which really isnt a good thing, and then i thought of a site which wouldnt condone the craze but wouldnt make it seem bad either and could possibly even help it become further known - my question is do you think people would advertise on it, as it would more than likely get a fair amount of media attention - albeit very controversial attention. (Its not something im going to do, it was just something i thought of and was wondering do you think people would advertise?, i also dont want to mention what it is as again i dont want to promote the idea of it)
You and many others may stick with their principles but many greedy advertisers won't give a monkey's and just want to buy the ad space and convert the traffic, regardless of the topic. If you have traffic you can sell ad space, no problems. Unless what you're thinking of is illegal of course - you might find it hard to find advertisers in that case.
the website wouldnt be illegal (i dnt think) but things on the site would be - if that makes sense. basically doing what the site would be about is illegal but showing it isnt i dont think
do you think the attention will go beyond driving initial buzz from your site? If yes then go for it. If the effect is temporary then why bother with controversy?
Also remember they will find out your name etc. Do you want to be associated personally with what this is about? Sounds to me like there's too many question marks to get into it comfortably.
There's plenty of sites which host things on the legal borderlines and get advertisers, such as the torrent sites (www.torrentspy.com / www.isohunt.com), hacking sites (www.astalvista.com) and probably a bunch more. All those sites would argue that they're not breaking any laws, but I wouldn't call them 100% legal. As far as media attention is concerned, probably not I don't think small sites can really 'plan' for media attention, I think it's a 'who you know' kind of thing when your site is on a small budget. You've got me trying to think about what it could be now... happy slap video hosting?
Websites are like magazines or newspapers. They put out content to attract readers/advertising. Some have different standards. Do what you are comfortable with. We all have our interests and our standards.
thanks for the feedback, as i said i dont want to advertise what it is but blitz your in the right area there