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Thanks, Thomas.

Thanks, Thomas.

Posted Aug 9, 2002 3:19 UTC (Fri) by Inoshiro (guest, #3070)
Parent article: Where has the pioneer spirit of LWN gone?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who questions their motivation.

I don't mind a fast LWN with a fancy layout, but I asked why their costs were such a Big Deal ( http://lwn.net/Articles/6621/ ) when they could take a day job and leave their hobby as a hobby (which paid well).

The closest thing I received to an answer describing why it was so hard to have a job, and do LWN as a hobby, was a post about how expensive the US is, why public transit sucks, etc.

I replied asking how this changes anything (as the minimum wage is the US is set so you can still work a job and have time, etc), as well as why they couldn't relocate. No one replied. Unless I see more open books behind this, I won't contribute any more for that reason. Vote with your dollars for the financial plan you want, I say. And, yes, I'd be happy if we had this strategy for Kuro5hin too.


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Real Money....

Posted Aug 9, 2002 5:10 UTC (Fri) by Kuric (guest, #3176) [Link]

I'm not the smartest person in the world but I run my own business
and I did some quick figuring it may not be 100 percent accurate
but I know that I'm somewhere close to the ballpark here..

If each person makes about $600/Week (gross) = 3,000/week = 12,000 Month
(If you take out taxes then you can figure that each person takes
home around 480/week) ( 600/week equates out to $31,200 / year)

5 people and families health insurance = 250/ea = 1,250 Month
(This is assuming that the company pays for it)

SSI Taxes paid buy the company 46/each = 230 /week = 920 / month

So far 12000 + 1250 + 920 = 14170 (pretty damn close to 15k per month)

This also does not take into account Utilities, Heat/AC, Phone, Internet Access, and bandwidth for the servers that LWN is run on, or if LWN is hosted then hosting costs...

Just some thoughts...

Editors: I've not been an avid reader of your site thus far but I'll
probably be a much more frequent viewer.... Thanks for giving so
much to the community... Many here do appreciate what it takes to
do a quality job professionally full-time...

-Mike Dollbaum

Right.

Posted Aug 9, 2002 19:17 UTC (Fri) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

"...but I asked why their costs were such a Big Deal ( http://lwn.net/Articles/6621/ ) when they could take a day job and leave their hobby as a hobby (which paid well)."

A 40-60 hour/week "hobby" (which does not pay well) is rather hard on one's family, health, and general well being. This is the kind of comment that, frankly, makes me want to throw up my hands, go do something that people actually value, and let the "hobby" folks show us all how it's done. If an LWN subscription is not worth your paying for it, then, by all means, do not pay. But if our readers do not value LWN enough to pay for it, we'll go and find something to do that people do value, and the arrogance of those who think we should work for free, move to another country, or whatever just so they can continue to get a free LWN will not slow us down.

(We would be deeply unhappy about disappointing the large number of our readers who have been so supportive and understanding through this whole thing).

-- jon (whose "hobby" is making him a little grumpy about now...)

Right.

Posted Aug 9, 2002 23:26 UTC (Fri) by barbara (subscriber, #3014) [Link]

Jon,

I can see why this type of response would make you want to pack it in and do something else.

However, I'm sure this isn't the attitude of the vast majority of LWN readers (like 99%!). Please hang in there -- we're pulling for all of you and we don't expect you to work 40-60 (or more) hours/week with *no* income.

All the best,
Barbara

So don't work on it so much.

Posted Aug 16, 2002 5:50 UTC (Fri) by Inoshiro (guest, #3070) [Link]

A hobby should be an act of love, not a means of staying alive.

I'm asking why the editors can't do it for 10-20 hours a week, at their leisure, and still not reap the benefits of participation in the community *without* being forced to deal with all the money issues that LWN says it's facing.

No one has yet answered why, until LWN can actually live off of its subscription money (as I'm sure we'd all like to see it do), you people behind it can't "go native" for a while and work a normal 9-5 while doing this on your slow Sunday nights.

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