There’s nothing wrong with writing something positive about a company that is or was one of your sponsors. When, however, does the coverage go from being merely positive to being a form of commercial advocacy?

I’m not sure I have the definitive answer, but I think some of your coverage — involving companies from which you derive or stand to derive financial gain — is open to conflict-of-interest questions and criticisms.

I know you disagree, so let’s leave it at that.

In answer to your question, I think you’ve been guilty of such a bias in your coverage of Zoho, which has been a regular advertiser on your site.

You’ve openly advocated that somebody buy them (http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/08/27/google-makes-its-move-office-20/) and generally shown them favoritism in your coverage.