spoilt brat syndrome [LWN.net]

spoilt brat syndrome

Posted Aug 8, 2002 5:16 UTC (Thu) by ringerc (subscriber, #3071)
Parent article: Where has the pioneer spirit of LWN gone?

The key difference is that LWN is edited and written at professional quality across the board. I don't know about you but I'm never going to ask somebody to do that and spend that much time, for free. I'm certainly never going to get stroppy about if they don't. Sure, if somebody does thats wonderful - but just because there are people (think KT by Zack Brown as just one of many) who will doesn't give anybody the right to ask, let alone demand, it.

Just because its been free so far and that's what you've become used to doesn't mean it _must_ stay that way. Its the choice of those running LWN, and they've said that the current model doesn't work.

Sometimes I wonder why people are still willing to deal with the "Open source community," given that we seem to have such a vocal and offensive component to whom everything must be free (beer) just because they believe thats the way the world should work. Its a model thats worked well for software, though even then I am amazed at some people's willingness to demand that something be open-sourced "because proprietary software is wrong." People write OSS software because they choose to and want to - don't confuse that with a moral/ethical _requirement_ to do so.

This comment probably reads like a flame - it isn't really meant to be but I don't mind if I convey a _lot_ of irritation about the attitudes expressed in the letter.

So, thanks all you guys at LWN, for the hard work esp in such difficult times. I hope it works out and I, for one, will gladly subscribe, and I support your choice to try to make lwn less of an "on-the-edge" affair.

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So we should expect everything to be free?

Posted Aug 8, 2002 7:19 UTC (Thu) by athird (guest, #1052) [Link]

You don't see a contradiction in the following two statements?

"It would appear the problems are solely related to manpower and
compensating individuals for the "pro bono" work they have in the past.
How did LWN do this back in 1998?"

"Please accept the fact that LWN has become
more than that little online e-mag you pioneered back in 1998."

It *has* become more than it was in 1998, which answers your own question about the increased costs. As I've seen lots of people say since all of this came out, professional quality journalism is worth paying for, and I fully intend to subscribe when that option becomes available.

Your comparison with the Mandrake Club also seems to miss the point. Yes, those who donate to Mandrake probably are those who never bought a boxed set in the past. That's actually what Mandrake want. When someone buys a boxed set, how much of the money do Mandrake actually get, and how much goes on packaging, shipping, manufacture, etc.? The profit margin isn't very large, and each user needs to buy the boxed set of *every* version in order to keep up Mandrake's income. Far better, for both user and company, if you can pay about $5 a month, or whatever, knowing that pretty much all of that is going straight to them.

Too many people have complained about companies "trying to turn themselves into charities", without realising that mechanisms such as LWN subscriptions and the Mandrake Club are *not* donations. They're payment systems, to allow us to reimburse companies who provide a service to us.

spoilt brat syndrome

Posted Aug 8, 2002 15:13 UTC (Thu) by mogul (subscriber, #3163) [Link]

I completely agree with this comment. I'm stunned that the writer of this letter believes that the LWN staff are being greedy, and his suggestion that they do it "for the love of it" shows that he does not understand that that is the situation *right now* and has been for a long time. I'm disappointed to think that this might be indicative of the typical feedback LWN receives.

I challenge Thomas Wardman to show us all just how cheap all this should be by tossing PostNuke up on some hosted webspace, and instantly creating the most thorough and thoughtful Linux coverage on the web. It shouldn't cost him anything, right?

LWN is the highlight of my week, and reading it gives me confidence that I'm fully aware of what's going on in the Open Source world... The only other way to satisfy that gnawing, constant hunger to keep up with and understand *everything* would be to spend all my waking hours surfing and cogitating. I know that I couldn't afford to live if that's all I had time for each day. I know how valuable my time is, and I'm thankful that others are doing the heavy lifting for me. This service (and that's what it is in the end) isn't something that should be free.

Count my vote in the subscription camp. I will happily pay magazine-level rates to continue to receive such high quality Linux coverage.

(As a suggestion, the LWN editors might try speaking with Randy Cassingham, author of the This Is True and Heroic Stories mailing lists: http://www.thisistrue.com. Randy faced the same problems when his popular free mailing list outgrew his ability to support himself. Eventually a very reader-friendly subscription system was created and he is now solvent. He travels to lecture about his experience as a successful online entrepeneur in the syndication realm.)