Hi, Cary,
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<br>I'm sure Andy's a nice guy - you sound nice, and your word's good enough for me.
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<br>Lots of nice people run "for profit" businesses everyday. Whether they are nice or even Ghandi-esque isn't the point.
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<br>They are in busines; to make a profit. Their only relationship with a publisher should be to buy an ad or to *ask* for publicity, citing the interest that publsher's readers might have in their product.
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<br>Andy is, admitedly, making these rings for profit. God bless him; the profit motive is the incentive for everything that is innovative, fun, marvelous or in any way worth having in our economy/culture/marketplace.
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<br>There's nothing in the world wrong with having a for profit product. I buy 'em all the time, and I hope the guys who invented my boat/car/sail lube/etc all make a million dollars; I'm that glad they make the products they do, at the prices I've paid.
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<br>But Rick and other publishers have to eat, too, and pay their suppliers! Therefor, they charge money for a subscription, for a classified, and for a display ad, too.
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<br>If Andy wanted a free ride from Rick, on the grounds his invention would be of value to all of us, the polite thing, I maintain, would be to ask. I draw no conclusions about why he did not, and I appologized already for my initial rather strong castigation of him for the brevity and commercial nature of his original post.
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<br>As to your point re:posting adresses/phone num's etc of manufacturers and dealers where a person could find his answer or buy some needed product. I agree, it sounds so reasonable. The difference is, IMHO, when "John" asks a question, and "Bob" directs him to "Janes" company, that's one thing. But let "Jane" start spamming her own praises up here, and a line has been crossed. Nevermind good netiquette, which demands active spam control, simply to avoid attracting miore, like graffiti.
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<br>But, just for the heck of it, why don't you ask the sailors who paid to advertise their boats for sail on this site's classified page, if it's okay for anyone to post the name of somebody else selling a boat here??? I'd like a new mylar main for a N5.0, would it be okay for me to ask on this forum, seeing as how neither buyer or seller is "out to make a killing"?
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<br>Rick is, as we all point out, extremely cool, and warmly interested in sailing as a sport, and possibly, too mellow to get all excersised about this. He's chosen to view Andy's post as a valuable contribution to our collective world. That's his call to make, and for the record, if Andy had sent Rick a letter and Rick had chosen to allow Andy to compose a few paragraphs on his product for inclusion in the magazine, I'd be the last reader to complain. New aproaches for old problems are exactly what this "place" is for!!!
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<br>My point remains, for the record, that IMHO, people outta ask first. Clearly, Rick isn't some profit-driven grinch, I think people coming here with a genuine contribution can expect fair consideration.
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<br>Absent this simple convention, how would you crreate a rule to keep your favorite sailing publication funded, while treating all comers with impartial fairnes? Where, in short, would you draw the line?
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<br>Sail fast,
<br>Ed Norris<br><br>