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mac spirit ?
Authored by: robg on Sep 10, '04 04:43:32PM
Please let me clarify this one, as it's very important to me that it's understood...

First and foremost, accessing the hints and the search engine for the entire database here will remain absolutely, totally, free for as long as I am the owner of the site. I think that's an absolute requirement, given that the site contains the community's knowledge. I would never take the database away from general public access! I'm sorry that the original poster feels this marks a "change" in my direction; it does *not*, other than that it reflects my need to make a living :). My commitment to everyone is that the nature of macosxhints will not change: it's a community-driven site with a large database of freely searchable hints, and fresh, new, completely free content every day.

Second, I'm now running ads in an attempt to spend more time working on the site, making it better for everyone. If, for some reason, that doesn't work out, I have considered other revenue sources. One of those considerations is a "Mac OS X Hints Gold" (or whatever) account. Such an account would *not* be created by removing features that everyone today has for free -- anything that's here now would stay just as it is, free and completely usable. In addition, other changes that I'm planning would also be free -- enhancing the search engine is near the top of that list.

The "Gold" account would simply add tangible benefits to the site that people could, if they wanted to, choose to purchase. What might those things be? Things such as so many "tech support" calls with myself per year; the ability to create your own "favorite hints" page within macosxhints; perhaps blog zones on the site, etc. Whatever; those are just some rough ideas. I haven't given it a ton of thought, but I had to think about it at least a little bit before deciding to cut back on work -- I had to have a fallback plan in case the ads don't work out.

Is such a subscription account anywhere in the immediate future? No; it would take some major structural work to Geeklog to support the model, and it would be more difficult for me to administer. I sincerely hope the ad sales work out, as I think it's easiest on myself and everyone else. If sales go well,it also means I can work to add as many features as I can and keep them all free -- this is clearly my intent and personal preference. I don't want to have to deal with subscriptions, reminders, renewals, etc; it's much easier if every feature is available to everyone. I am still not motivated to make a ton of money from the site; I just need to generate some cash to cover some portion of the drop in my salary, and ads seem the best way to do that.

So, in summary ... if for whatever reason the ads aren't working out, I will do what I have to do to insure that (a) macosxhints.com remains online and keeps its wonderful community intact, and that (b) I can feed myself and my family while still achieving (a) :). But, to say it one more time so it's perfectly clear, I will never restrict access to the hints or the searchable database of all hints for as long as I own the site. And if I ever decide to sell the site, I will insist on a rider that releases the existing hints database into the public domain, so that no new owner would be able to "privatize" the database. They could, of course, change things going forward, but that would be their decision, and they couldn't touch the 6,000+ hints in the database. This would substantially lower the value of the site to a new owner, but there's no way I could consciously allow the purchaser to take away that which rightly belongs to everyone.

Hope that helps clarify things a bit!
-rob.

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