If
you’re reading this, it means one of two things: One, you’re the unfortunate
family member[i] who has just
been handed a red pen and a printout with the command of “Proof this!”
Alternatively, you’re online, and you’ve browsed over to Heartless Bitches
International for the latest installment of… well, whatever it is you’re here
for. Me, I come to be exposed to new ideas, to be entertained, and to feel smug
about seeing my text up on someone else’s server.
I
get around on the Internet. Because, you see, I love the Internet. I love
reading the online comics, reading the paper, looking up a word at the Oxford English Dictionary online,
giggling to myself over the latest at Tomato
Nation. And what makes it so great is how little of it I pay for. Oh, it’s
not free, and I have sent or donated money to a site or two in my time, but
most of it is free to me. I’m not the one picking up the cost of web hosting,
donating my time to the site, responding to e-mail. Kind of like the people
reading this column. Oh, I don’t mind. I’m doing to for my own reasons, but the
time that I spend writing and researching and proofing and paying for the
electricity and going through e-mail is worth a great deal. It’s time I could
spend doing other things. And there’s someone else behind the scenes paying for
the site itself and proofing my work to ensure I don’t get too esoteric. The
readers aren’t the ones picking up the costs. It’s a labor of love.[ii]
Not
all of the Internet is. Many aspects of the internet are only available via
subscription, including periodicals such as the Wall
Street Journal or the Boston Globe,
and some databases, especially genealogy sites or online encyclopedias. Online
porn certainly isn’t free. Commercial sites like Amazon or E-bay
aren’t creating content out of joy; they’re trying to turn a profit.
I’ve
been on vacation, so when I got back and checked out a couple of the web comics
I read regularly, I was a little surprised by what I found. Something Positive creator R. K.
Milholland, in response to complaints about spelling errors and sporadic
updates, has invited readers to “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is,” and has
promised to quit his day job and devote himself to the comic if collectively readers
can raise enough money to match his current salary. It looks like it may work.
Given the time lag on these columns,[iii]
it probably already has.
It
was less of a shock to me to see that PVP
creator Scott Kurtz has issued a similarly-named but different-goaled
challenged entitled “Put Your Money Where Your Mouse Is,” in response to
Macintosh fanatics urging him to switch platforms. The premises behind this is that
readers who like Macs better than PCs can give money to Mr. Kurtz so he can
purchase a second computer. This isn’t a new idea for Mr. Kurtz, as in the past
he has solicited donations from readers when his dog needed surgery, and he was
short on funds.[iv] It’s not a
“need to make a living” thing. But it is a “shut up and quit whining” thing.
I
think Mr. Kurtz has a valid point. If you’re not paying for a service, if it’s
free to you, then what right do you have to complain, either about the content
or the manner in which it’s produced?[v]
You get what you pay for. So pay up or shut up.
When
you get down to it, don’t we all deserve to get paid to do things we love, like
write, or draw, or design? Shouldn’t that be a worthy goal, no matter how we
get there?
Not
that many people can make a living though web-based content. It usually takes
years, and I’ve read about more people who can’t make a living doing it, and
have to work another job, than those who just make money off of their Internet
ventures. There are different ways of making it work: through donations, through
subscriptions like Modern Tales
offers, or through the sale of prints of the original content, or the sale of original, yet related, content. Again,
however, more of us are doing this for free than are getting paid for it.
The
notable exception is pornography, or porn. I mentioned it earlier, but it’s
worth expanding on the topic. I can’t even do a ‘net search for “X-Men[vi]”
without being assaulted by promises of hot teens, sexy coeds, and other, more
explicit photos, sound bytes, and streaming video. It seems to sell better and
faster than things I consider more worthwhile such as humor or advise columns.
See,
I don’t like porn. I’ve heard the arguments, that what goes on between
consenting adults is just fine, am I repressed, and would I just loosen up
already, but I don’t like it. It doesn’t do anything for me, it even makes me
sad and angry some days. You’re not going to change my mind. I’m going to
continue to not like porn, and some kinds I’ll even go so far as to say are
evil. Child porn, snuff, bestiality… not okay. Evil. With the capital “E.”
But
it sells. It sells better on the Internet than anything else I’ve heard of. It
outsells web comics, newspaper subscriptions, the works. It even out sells genealogy
sites, which are a huge craze right now in the ‘States. There are certainly
more sites dedicated to it than to any other single franchise:
§
3 million
hits for “web comic”
§
17
million hits for “genealogy”
§
22 million
hits for “newspaper”
§
134
million hits for “porn”
I
think there’s a lesson in here somewhere. I’m hoping that the lesson isn’t “Everyone
online is a pervert,” but that could be it. Maybe it’s “Give people what they
want, and they’ll pay for it.” I could go with that. Except… what if you don’t
want it enough? Maybe Elf Life will have
to go offline. Maybe someday only Sluggy
Freelance will remain as the model of online success stories. Maybe someday
I’ll get so busy, that I won’t have time for this, because the pay off won’t be
enough anymore. It’s hard to say.
I
think that much of what’s available online is superior to that which is
available in print, especially in terms of cartoons and editorials. And the
sense of community, when I see readers rallying behind an author, or rushing to participate in a
charity cause, just because of people they’ve met online… well, it’s
awesome. The way awesome was before it was applied to pizza. Only time will
tell if this will last, as people strive to make it pay, or at least break even
on the hosting costs.
Just
because you[vii]
don’t pay for it, doesn’t mean that the Internet is free.
