[book seller makes offer snipped]
> So far, I haven't done anything about it. But I'd love to hear what other
> FAQ maintainers think of this sort of thing. Mr. Al-Herbish has certainly
> made his feelings known, but what about the rest of you?
I think in the area of books, you can do one of two things: point to
a bookseller who compensates you and disclose same (I think if
you added a small disclaimer "Buying thru this vendor helps
support this FAQ" would remove the "stigma" that Mr. Al-Herbish
feels commericalism brings.)
Or, you can point your readers to bestbookbuys.com or some
other comparison service. With the ISBN numbers of the boks,
you can send the reader to a page that does the comparison
shopping for him and he chooses the vendor.
Or, you call align yourself with many vendors and let them choose
that way.
I am not sure why capitalism or taking money from selling books
(unless maybe your faq is about bookstores or something) is such
a big deal. We all gotta eat. Who cares, really? Why does my
objectivity as FAQ-maintainer diminish the moment I put an
"Amazon Associate" link on my page?
Kinda like the old lawyer trick... they say prostitutes make bad
witnesses because of the habit of discrediting the prostitute as a
witness because she is a prostitute -- regardless that she is a
person with 20/20 vision who saw what was going on. :-)
"I" am being discredited because I am an Amazon Associate (I'm
not, BTW) ... but why? What is this "netters for netters" slang? I
am not charging someone for my work; I am asking that if they
wanna buy a book tanentially related to my subject, buy it from
me.. or don't. Buit you're gonna think less of my for trying to make
a buck?
I should just point them to Amazon.Com and let Jeff Bezos get
richer? :-)
Or I should just not point them anywhere and be of no help?
> >I don't know: I might be wrong. But really, if you're going to sell
> >something that you can promote anywhere near your FAQ, just pass the
> >FAQ onto someone else. Let's keep this by netters for netters.
>
> I agree that this is, at the very least, a gray area. But what if the
> items for sale are hard to find, and providing a way to order them is a
> service to readers of the FAQ? If the maintainer gets paid for the
> service, of course, that could be a conflict of interest.
It's not a conflict of interest -- youy have no interest in anything!
I maintain the adult movie faq, a collection of facts. Now if a video
company wanted to sell videos on my site I should say "no"
because why? Because my facts lose value with an ad at the top
of the page or a "If you like this video you can buy it from here" ?
You like the Red Dwarf. (At least I assume you do -- I dunno I
would maintain a FAQ for something I hate) Selling Red Dwarf
videos would then make your affinity and knowledge on the subject
somehow less so?
I think I understand where Mr. Al-Herbish is coming from -- they
idyllic days when the net was a giant cooperative. I remember
those days, they were great. Life was a lot easier then -- newbies
only came around in September, etc.
But now, the Net is largely about money. Now I suppose I can
eschew those values and say "No, keep your evil dirty money
away!" but why do I want to? I'm not so rich I could afford to turn
down a few extra bucks here and there -- in fact if I knew my hobby
was starting to generate some revenue, I might devote more time to
it!
I just don't see the point in lagging behind the money culture.
Someone's making money out there... I don't see why one wouldn;t
want a chunk. I do not think it automaticially makes someone a
shill and therefore an unreliable source.
Jeff
Keeper of the Adult Movie FAQ
Adult Movie FAQ: http://www.rame.net/faq
r.a.m.e. reading room: http://www.rame.net/
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