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to the slash 'n burn marketeers above: a few words from tim bernars lee
Authored by: robg on Sep 11, '04 02:02:22AM

I'm not sure why you think that I'm gaining *anything* from this move!? If measured on a net worth basis, more than likely I will be taking a substantial *hit* to our net worth, not increasing it via the ads.

You do understand that I have reduced my salary by 40% in order to spend *more time* on the site, do you not? I am *not* trying to make "a lot of money" on the web. Ideally, I'd like to be able to replace half of what I'm giving up to work on the site more often -- in other words, I'm hopeful that I'll take only a 50% pay cut to spend more time doing what I love to do, while helping more people with OS X...

To quote from your quote, I agree with it basically 100%. In particular, "Core in my upbringing was a value system that put monetary gain well in its place, behind things like doing what I really want to do. " That's the entire reason I added some advertising -- I needed a way to spend more time doing what I love to do. But the reality is that houses, kids, and utilities aren't free, so there have to be some funds to pay the bills, too.

So now I've made a decision to reduce my net worth, to spend more time doing what I love to do, and spend less time chasing the "net worth monster," and yet you accuse me of selling out. Clearly we disagree on why the ads are here. I wish you luck in your search for a site that meets all your needs. I'm truly sorry to see you go, but we clearly have a difference in philosophy.

And for the record, I'm quite *proud* of the Microsoft ads here. I use Excel, PowerPoint, and Word on a daily basis, and I own several Microsoft Mice. They make some wonderful products. They also do some amazingly callous and thoughtless things. But then again, so does another company whose products I use and love -- Apple.

-rob.



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to the slash 'n burn marketeers above: a few words from tim bernars lee
Authored by: robg on Sep 11, '04 02:07:53AM

Typo -- "50%" should be "20%".

-rob.



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on Microsoft
Authored by: alec kinnear on Sep 11, '04 02:22:07AM

Microsoft lie through their teeth in both business meetings and in court. They have destroyed and pillaged more small companies built on the sweat and talent of good people, than they have bought lock, stock and barrel before discontinuing the competing product.

If you choose to buy and use their products, you choose the way of the monopolist, the corporatization of the public space, wholescale intrusion on personal privacy and the absolute rule of plutocracy where no one who is wealthy is held accountable for any of their actions.

But that is a separate topic which would require extensive referencing and footnoting.

I repeat Rob. Before you ran the banner ads, we were a community. You only had to ask us for support and you would have had it. With banner ads, we are not a community anymore. We are just your guests and victims of your banners and whatever other tripe you choose to inflict on us over the course of time.

And most of us won't support you, as you already have the banners. I paid to keep Macosxhints.com a commercial free zone and I feel betrayed.

I am glad to hear of the courage of your convictions. The regrets become less as one gradually realises the community never really existed and the banners never flew before more out of disorganisation than any particular conviction that the commons should be free.



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on Microsoft
Authored by: robg on Sep 11, '04 02:38:02AM
Sigh. I apologize to everyone reading this thread; I let my emotions and my beliefs in the site and its continuing purpose get to me in my responses -- I should not have replied to the first post, but I felt that my beliefs were being attacked, and that I had to defend. I should have just stayed quiet.

Everyone just needs to know that this site is extremely important to me, for it is what I love to do! I will do everything that I can to keep it community-oriented, keep it focused on useful information, make it available for free to anyone who wants to see and search the hints, and keep it online for as long as I can do so. Yes, we have banner ads now, but that doesn't change my mission, vision, or feelings for the site one bit ... and it gives me more time to work on it for all of you.

That's my commitment to the community, and that's all I have to say on the matter.

-rob.

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on Microsoft
Authored by: steeviant on Sep 12, '04 10:21:33PM

Rob, it sickens me to see people criticizing you for doing what seems to be the best thing for this site.

I for one, truly appreciate this site and don't mind donating a bit of bandwidth and screen real-estate in return for the incredibly valuable service of almagamating and editing the hints into this lovely site.

If I wasn't unemployed, I'd be happy to donate money to the site even though there are ads here. Some people like the idiot grandparent poster just don't know how good they have it.

Thanks for the great work so far, and I hope that your ads generate enough revenue for you to keep the site as useful and clutter-free as it is now.

You, and all the hint submitters do fantastic work Rob, and I hope that one day you can make a living doing what you love. :)



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