I hope I don't get really flamed for this, but I actually like the idea of the sponsored tags. Not so much the fact that they are sponsored (I don't care if somebody's paying for them or not) as much as the fact that some tags have icons.
I'd like to see more of these: a windows logo for windows tags, a penguin on linux tags, the Python logo on Python tags etc. I think it adds to the site (no pun intended), and gives an additional visual cue regarding the scope of the question.
I wonder if people would be bothered by it if:
- it wasn't advertising, just the first in a series of icons that are on the way, unrelated to advertising.
- it didn't appear on ignored tags.