Re: Cloudy Nights vs. Astromart Articles

From: Stephen Tonkin (news05footfrommouth_at_astunit.com)
Date: 06/18/04 

Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 07:04:20 +0100

tritium4ever <tritium4ever@hotmail.com> wrote:
>There is something fundamentally flawed about the new Cloudy Nights
>system. I see no reason why a popular site, with tens (or hundreds) of
>thousands of page views each month, has to charge a subscription fee
>for any reason other than sheer profit.

I see no reason why someone who does not have access to Cloudy Nights
accounts should make such a comment.

In common with several other excellent web resources, CN was a victim of
its own success and began to cost its owner a great deal of money to
run. The situation was discussed, openly, here and elsewhere, before it
changed from being a completely free resource, with various options
offered. What was not an option was that it continued as it was. I see
no reason why someone else (in this case, the site owner) should have to
pay for *my* desire to access reliable information.

There have been several other excellent internet resources that have
begun to be a financial burden on their owners; often a few stalwarts
make voluntary donations to enable them to continue. Others have folded
for financial reasons.

The myth of a "free internet" is something that needs to be exploded. It
*always* costs something to someone when information is provided. The
only choice is in *who* pays this cost. It can be the provider, the
consumer (via advertised products or "loss-leader" information of
commercial concerns), or the recipient of the information. If you don't
want to pay for reliable information, that is entirely your choice --
no-one is forcing you to access it.

Where CN is concerned, I stumped up my sub for the reports a few months
ago. Small price to pay for excellent information; it would have cost a
great deal more had I bought it in, for example, a series of magazines
or journals as articles. I deem it to be a small amount of money very
well spent. And by far the majority of information on CN is still free.

Best,
Stephen

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