However, I see no conflict of interest if a FAQ maintainer mentions some
resource or other service that he personally may profit from, so long as he
makes it clear to people what his financial connection is.
I grow rather weary of the axiomatic assumption that it's evil to be
involved in a commercial venture. People who read FAQs are not stupid. If
a FAQ is nothing but a large advertisement they'll know it; if some small
part of the FAQ mentions a service or something the author is a part of,
there's not a thing wrong with it.
In most cases I would think the profit involved would be very small anyway.
Let's use the example of Red Dwarf. I would bet heavily that if Pat Berry
were to accept the offer that was mentioned to her, she would not make more
than $100 a month, max. I see no conflict with her accepting the offer,
either, so long as the only thing she does is mention this connection in
the FAQ itself, and not use it as an excuse to avoid mentioning any other
online resources that sell Red Dwarf merchandise (if any should happen to
arise).
Imagine by some wild fantasy that a news group of Horror fans were lucky
enough to get Stephen King or Clive Barker to maintain their FAQ for them.
Would Barker or King be out of line to mention their own books in the FAQ?
I think not.
-=-
Practice random acts of intelligence & senseless acts of self-control.
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