[LAU] poll : Advertising vs Linux Audio

[S. Massy]

On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 04:10:55PM -0400, gene heskett wrote:
> On Sunday, April 22, 2012 04:02:05 PM S. Massy did opine:
> 
> > On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 10:28:34AM +0200, Robin Gareus wrote:
> > > I'm not a member of the management-board; but my recommended reply to
> > > potential commercial businesses would be: "We don't want your money,
> > > we want your support, your cooperation and compliance. - We're happy
> > > to link to your site if it offers useful information, specs, software
> > > or supports linuxaudio - but we won't sell links."
> > 
> > I join in with the chorus in agreeing here. I don't think advertising is
> > particularly evil, but I do *not* think it belongs on the community
> > centre corkboard.
> > 
> > Another point is, if a company is Linux-friendly, it shouldn't have to
> > pay to be listed, it should pretty much be automatic.
> 
> Unforch, that doesn't pay the bills to run the server if its not 100% 
> donated.
My understanding is that it is, in this case.

> 
> > If we want random
> > "spots" on linuxaudio.org, why not compile a roster of friendly
> > companies, useful projects and websites and display one randomly on
> > every page load?
> 
> I would modify that by making the link to that list quite visible, but the 
> random display would be chosen to only show those companies or vendors who 
> have actually purchased a ticket to the show by actually supporting the 
> site with either money or materials.
Which would mean that a vendor with minimal Linux compatibility but
money would get more visibility than a potentially more involved (say
with GPL drivers), smaller vendor or a free software project (like
Ardour, for instance). This could easily mislead newcomers to the Linux
Audio world and IMHO should at the very least be counter-balanced by a
community-based "pick of the month" or some such initiative with equal
or greater visibility. 

Cheers,
S.M.