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