Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Copying Electronic Pomonas

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Copying Electronic Pomonas
  • Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:50:20 -0600


How do we control the Mullah so he sends only to people who can't honestly afford membership? That is one problem. There are also just as many, maybe more, dishonest Americans than in allthestans.


Personally, I think you're worrying FAR too much about this hypothetical band of rogue fruit-lovers who can't wait to get their hands on a bootleg copy of "Pomona." Are you also that worried about libraries? Or about members who pass their copy on to a friend after reading it? Most organizations - and even some businesses - consider this to be good publicity.*

And if you think about it, these fruit-enthusiast thieves would have to be current members of NAFEX, people actually dropping their membership because they can steal a free issue, before this would do NAFEX any harm at all. Assuming some mastermind actually bootlegs "Pomona" to fruit-lovers all across the world (the mind boggles), that actually means that he'd be fulfilling NAFEX's goal of education even better than we're doing now. How would this be a problem, even in the unlikely event it would happen? Are we just that obsessed with the idea that someone, somewhere might be getting something for nothing?

I don't know how many people are on this email list, but with all the great information available here, I suspect that it furthers NAFEX's goals even better than "Pomona," especially considering that the archives are available online. And I'm sure some people on this list aren't members of NAFEX. I wasn't, at first. But why is that a problem? Most of these people no doubt have a far more casual interest in fruit than our typical member, at least right now. If you kick them off the list, they won't join NAFEX. They'll just get their free information elsewhere. If the list stays open to them, they might get hooked on fruit, and THEN they're likely to join.

If you want to share your love for fruit, then share your love for fruit. Why the huge concern that someone might be getting information free? Or the really bizarre concern about bootlegging "Pomona" to the rest of the world? I just don't get it. Do you really think that increased restrictions within the group will *increase* membership? That was the whole point of this original discussion, that membership in NAFEX is HALF what it used to be. I suspect that the vast majority of the world - the vast majority of people even in North America - have never heard of NAFEX. Maybe we actually need a bootlegger to get the word out for us.

IMHO, making NAFEX more secretive and less open to prospective members is exactly the wrong direction. We don't join NAFEX because information is not available elsewhere. There's more information already available online than any of us have time to read. No, we join NAFEX to support the organization, to share our love of fruit-growing, and because we like the group and the people in it. There is *way* too much concern here that someone else might be getting something for nothing.

Just my opinion, of course. Things are different in the Internet age. We must recognize that and evolve, or die out like the dinosaurs.

Bill
Lincoln, NE

*PS. Many publishers post full copies of their books online - entirely free. Check out Baen Books, for example. ( http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm ) Sure, a lot of people probably read these for free and never buy the book. But they feel that the publicity is worth it. If you try a book online, you might become a loyal fan of that author. And most people WILL buy books. I've read these, because it's a great way to discover new authors. These are commercial enterprises, for-profit book publishers, who are posting these. Why would we worry more about disseminating free information than they do?

--
Men have a much better time of it than women; for one thing, they marry later; for another thing they die earlier. - H. L. Mencken




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page