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  • From: Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] It's free on the web
  • Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 20:54:18 +0100

From: "GlobalCirclenet" <webmaster@globalcircle.net>

One of those free places is the big list of PC links at
http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/Links.html . I rather imagine that people
getting $700 a pop don't advertise all the free PC information out there.
But if they can rake in that kind of money, no concern to me, I can't
afford it.

Cool, nice to know my links page get a mention.

Its a tricky one for us putting free stuff on the web.
Its taken a lot of time to produce that info, probably about 10 man
years for the whole pfaf site. A lot of it has actually been funded by
the government through income support, housing benifit
and my day job which allowed me to create the site in my spare time.
Yet the project is absolutly skint with vast debts so if anyone fancies
making a donation it will be much appreciated. If you wish to do so you can click on this link
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=webmaster%40pfaf.org&item_name=Donation

Sometimes I wonder about the free web culture. Really a historical
acident as the web was spawned by academia (paid for). There was no
system of micro-payment where people could pay a few cents for the pages
they see, so it was inpractical to actually charge for the info.
It has created a culture where people expect things for free
and get pissy if they have to pay. If the web was reinvented today I think it would be a very different thing.

Is it sustainable? Is it the best way to encourage more quality content
on the web? I'm not so sure, without a way for the info providers to
actually get some reward (so thay can eat) by putting things on the web
there is a disencentive to actually produce more info. Have a look
around the PC web today (as done by PC people rather that other great sites done my other orginisations with external funding), is there really that much quality info?
Lots of discussions and brocher sites, plus a few noticable exceptions.
Compare that to the various book you can get and the detailed info you
can get there and the web seems to be pretty rubbish.

Anyway the pfaf site is going to move hosts soon (our gov funded
university host has pulled the plug). So we are going to have
advertising on the new website to make it financially self sustaining.
Probably the best of the options as the information is still accessable
by all.

Do I really have a point to make? Not really, just spare a thought to
the people who have created all the "free" web content next time you
browse and maybe think about creating some content yourself.

Rich

--
Plants for a Future: 7000 useful plants
Web: http://www.pfaf.org/ same as http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Post: 1 Lerryn View, Lerryn, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0QJ
Tel: 01208 872 963 / 0845 458 4719
Email: webmaster@pfaf.org
PFAF electronic mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pfaf








  • Re: [permaculture] It's free on the web, Richard Morris, 09/13/2004

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