Some time ago, I signed up for the Google AdSense Web advertising program. The system is supposed to be pretty straightforward: you place a Google ad on your Web pages, the ad is context-sensitive and places paid banner listings based on keywords it sees on the page.

I then promptly forgot about it, because apparently not many advertisers buy ad keywords relevant to my site (words like “polyamory” bring up ads for PI services that specialize in tracking down cheating wives, for example–which says something about society, I suppose.) I watched the numbers for a little while, noticed that the ad results were nothing if not underwhelming, and calculated it would take four or five years to reach Google’s minimum payout of $25.

So imagine my surprise when I got a check in the mail from Google the day before yesterday. For rather a lot more money than I expected.

*blink* *blink*

Either the ads that Google’s advertisers buy have suddenly become a whole lot more relevant to the content of my site, or there are a lot of people in the poly community who are suddenly hiring PIs to track down philandering partners.