4 ms·

The internet is based around people doing things for free for the good of the larger internet community. We all benefit from the free contributions of others.

by shaddi 17y ago

The internet is based around people doing things for free for the good of the larger internet community. We all benefit from the free contributions of others. While I can't tell for sure, it seems this person is unhappy with giving out his insights for free to the public. That's fine. However, I don't know why anyone (or at least I) would give money to someone for their broad Internet insights. There are plenty of smart(er) people already doing that for free, so I don't know what makes this (or anyone's) advice so special (I'd willingly pay for real consulting, but that implies the advice will be based on a thorough understanding of my specific situation).

_pius 17y ago
That's definitely not the impression I got. The internet is based around people doing things for free for the good of the larger internet community .... While I can't tell for sure, it seems this person is unhappy with giving out his insights for free to the public. The author, Dave Winer, helped invent RSS and personally invented OPML, so he has no problem with giving out his insights for free to the public and helping the internet community. In fact he says as much in the article: "I figure if I'm not going to make any money off my work, then I'll work in an environment where no one does." This is an allusion to standards and open source work (though I guess if you're not familiar with the author, that wouldn't necessarily be clear). What he's talking about is when businesses approach him to work for free while they're planning to make boatloads of money from that work. From the article: "People don't work for free. They don't pour out their passion in the cause of making you wealthy."
- davidw 17y ago
  > People don't work for free. They don't pour out their passion in the cause of making you wealthy. Which is true. They are doing it for 'free' because they obtain some other, non-monetary benefit. Think about this site, for instance, where we sit around churning out content for free.
- ErrantX 17y ago
  THe impression I got was he was, rightly IMO, ranting about the kind of people who: a) pop up and demand X feature and whine loudly that it doesn't exist b) then often go on to use the product/software in a commercial way. And the poor dupe who wanted to please a "user" ends up doing the guys work for no reward. Or something like that. It happened to me a few times (not in a major way; but enouh to leave a bad taste)
- shaddi 17y ago
  Thanks for your clarification -- I was a bit unclear about exactly what the author was referring to in this post. Given what he's created I can definitely see now how companies would try to exploit his expertise.

by shaddi 17y ago

_pius 17y ago

That's definitely not the impression I got. The internet is based around people doing things for free for the good of the larger internet community .... While I can't tell for sure, it seems this person is unhappy with giving out his insights for free to the public. The author, Dave Winer, helped invent RSS and personally invented OPML, so he has no problem with giving out his insights for free to the public and helping the internet community. In fact he says as much in the article: "I figure if I'm not going to make any money off my work, then I'll work in an environment where no one does." This is an allusion to standards and open source work (though I guess if you're not familiar with the author, that wouldn't necessarily be clear). What he's talking about is when businesses approach him to work for free while they're planning to make boatloads of money from that work. From the article: "People don't work for free. They don't pour out their passion in the cause of making you wealthy."

davidw 17y ago
> People don't work for free. They don't pour out their passion in the cause of making you wealthy. Which is true. They are doing it for 'free' because they obtain some other, non-monetary benefit. Think about this site, for instance, where we sit around churning out content for free.
ErrantX 17y ago
THe impression I got was he was, rightly IMO, ranting about the kind of people who: a) pop up and demand X feature and whine loudly that it doesn't exist b) then often go on to use the product/software in a commercial way. And the poor dupe who wanted to please a "user" ends up doing the guys work for no reward. Or something like that. It happened to me a few times (not in a major way; but enouh to leave a bad taste)
shaddi 17y ago
Thanks for your clarification -- I was a bit unclear about exactly what the author was referring to in this post. Given what he's created I can definitely see now how companies would try to exploit his expertise.