Ah - twitter raised $30+ million.. Is that is what you mean by larger problems :-)

Regarding CPC. People have to buy something is the VAST majority of the txt ad market. There is near ZERO brand awareness in that market. If an advertiser is buying txt ads on IRC and hoping for conversion, I would be really, really surprised that they re-buy. (aka - you are getting filled by a network)

Your example text tells me how you are really getting revenue. You are using context for affiliate deals. That actually might be viable.

Re: since 1999... cool, what sites were you involved with before?