Arc90 launched Readability in March of 2009. Since then, it’s made tens of millions of pages readable, all for free. Starting today, we are using Readability’s huge popularity to try to make a difference in Haiti.

Now when you view a Readabilitied page, you’ll see a new “Help Haiti” link on the left that will take you to Google’s Haiti Crisis Response page where you can donate, volunteer, or provide or seek information on missing people.

Please understand that we don’t take this step lightly. Strictly speaking, we promised that Readability would remove extraneous junk from web pages, and now we’re violating that promise to suit our whims, however benevolent they might be.

We hope that you will forgive the betrayal. We’re keeping the link small and unobtrusive, and we have no relationship with the organizations listed other than deep appreciation for their work. We simply feel that, even in a difficult world, this disaster stands out in its scope and human cost, and we’d rather make Readability a little bit worse if we can make the situation in Haiti the tiniest bit better.