The Eye

The Writers Guild of America is on strike. Now, I have some sympathies with them. I wouldn’t want to spend time creating a web site, only to have multiple copies of it made for free, when I could have earned money doing just that. Thing is, particularly with anything on the Internet, we all want and almost expect everything to be free.

Why should movies and shows be free? We’ve gotten used to “free” network TV shows over the years. Of course there is no free lunch, and ultimately the cost of TV (and all other forms of) advertising is passed on to the consumer. In fact, it’s gotten worse on the Internet, where not only is the content expected for free, but we also don’t want any advertising, and where some folks go to some lengths to block it.

We’re not talking about pop-up ads here, but in-line banner ads, which can be blocked by Firefox plug-ins which anyone can install, and which had led to a number of companies refusing to allow their sites to work in Firefox. This is, of course, a great shame, as Firefox is far superior, safer, more secure browser than the other major alternative, Internet Explorer.

I’m pretty much against this myself, as I too, run some advertising on my sites, including this one. It helps to generate a little revenue for me to defray some of the costs of running the site and also as many ads on this site are context sensitive, they may be of use at times, if you’re reading something you’re interested in, and wish to know more about a product, so it can also be a useful service.

Anyway, I have digressed somewhat. Going back to that writers strike. I read a comment on Slashdot this morning from a guy that commented:

“Isn’t it great? My girlfriend started downloading documentaries to make up for the lack, and we’ve learned about a whole host of different things. It’s amazing how little you miss the crap they churn out.”

I can only reply, “No shit, Sherlock!”