23 Apr
2012
23 Apr
'12
11:05 p.m.
On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 03:33:56PM -0400, S. Massy wrote:
I do not think there is anything wrong with
advertising itself, nor is
there with combining advertising and Linux or Linux audio. If you and
some like-minded peopole wish to develop a site/platform promoting,
supporting, and/or showcasing Linux-related projects, businesses, and
artists and use advertising to both fund and promote it, I will not
complain and may consider using, recommending, and potentially joining
it. *However*, I do *not* feel advertising is relevant to nor belongs on
linuxaudio.org, its wiki, or its mailing lists.
There's advertising and advertising. There are some forms I'd
happily accept in some circumstances (e.g. ads for pro audio
equipment in a specialised journal) and there are some forms
I'd never accept - being forced to listen to ads in a restaurant
for example).
And I certainly don't want them in a context where I'm searching
for factual information rather than opinion. There's a good
reason why e.g. Wikipedia wants to remain free of ads.
A lot has to do with the integrity of who provides the information
on a channel that is sponsored by commercial advertising.
When I started reading 'Studio Sound' 40 years or so ago, it
had very strict editorial policies. At that time they also
published real equipment reviews (based on actually measuring
and testing the items being reviewed) rather the subjective
blablah and personal impressions that are presented as a review
today. I remember that this frequently resulted in conflicts with
advertisers whom often cancelled their inserts as a result.
Today you'd be hard pressed to find any journal that keeps up
such standards. Or a commercial TV network that has a critical
'consumer interest' program. Advertising has corrupted almost
everything, and the web has multiplied the effect thousandfold.
That alone is IMHO reason enough to oppose it.
Ciao,
--
FA
A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia.
It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris
and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)