Does work pay ?

[DirtyFinger]

The content of the internet is basically free (once you payed for internet access, of course).

This is in complete violation of the religious feelings of societies that worship money and pray to the stock market. Thus a war is waged against p2p platforms and the people who make or use them.

However, work deserves credit and creators of content don't get monetary benefit from providing free access to the fruits of their efforts (apart from gaining free access to other peoples work), be it music, movies, art or simply a place in the net to hang out.

What I want to know now is this: Does work pay ?
Do you acknowledge effort by paying for it, even if you do not really have to?

[chompy]

i don't think i have ever paid money to a website....i can't really see me doing so either....unless it was the only way ^^

or maybe to a site that NEEDED it because it was dying, but i would really have to like the site to care...

[SargonUnderclaw]

i know a far amount of people who own there own site so if they need help instead of anomunusly donating ill go up to them and help them that way or helping a friend throu a friend if needed

[Rubaka]

I would only donate money to a site if the site was very very x 10 good or if you get some sort of gratitude, for example a little symbol that shows that your a donator or something...

[CherryMilkman]

Am 14 so I dont have a credit card or what so ever....
I donated money to church and once some blood to my local hospital....
And giving out credit information to a website or orginazation that nots widely known i think that not safe...
So this is always why I have paypal...

[DirtyFinger]

never paid for a site, never paid an artist, although I did purchase stuff I after getting it for free (software and literature both).

I tend to buy stuff thats worth having around if it's worth having.

ps: added another poll option in case paying never crossed your mind. :)

[CherryMilkman]

i usually perchase crap off like online stores and eBAY (you can trust them sure sure)...
software i can get free from relatives...
just save your money for more important things... like instant noodles...

[clauz]

I never donated for anything due to the lack of credit card and PayPal account. =(

I would, however, donate for freelance artists and private MMORPG servers. It's expensive to run. I'll definitely donate to Hongfire once I have 1) a job, 2) a credit card, and 3) once I quit playing WoW. ^^;

[chompy]

well....to add to it...i guess, i prefer to buy things than to use warez and such....

i would also never download an eBook if i could get the real think (nomatter what the cost) same goes for manga. i like the touch of paper and the feel of reading form a page...

[briareos_kerensky]

Never paid to access a site "private" area and such, however I did bought whole software suites or registered shareware programs...videogames, books, models bought on various site are also common entries in my cc invoice.

[burnout]

i've only donated to HF. havent find any other site worth my money yet.

[whiteninja]

Never payed or donated to any sites but I would try to donate to HF if there was a way.
Since you can't just rent computer games from blockbuster or something, I sometimes try those free, but I would go buy the game if I liked it enough.

[b3ta]

I Have never paid but will click the adverts as a way to help the site

[orka]

I donated to HF, just cus I like it so much.

I've also paid to get hold of programs before, but that's about it.

[Renzon]

The content of the internet is basically free (once you payed for internet access, of course).

This is in complete violation of the religious feelings of societies that worship money and pray to the stock market. Thus a war is waged against p2p platforms and the people who make or use them.

However, work deserves credit and creators of content don't get monetary benefit from providing free access to the fruits of their efforts (apart from gaining free access to other peoples work), be it music, movies, art or simply a place in the net to hang out.

What I want to know now is this: Does work pay ?
Do you acknowledge effort by paying for it, even if you do not really have to?

On the job I'm paid for work, but I get to keep my job if the quality of my work meets the standards of the business. If it doesn't then I get the ax.

I've been downloading for a few years now and I like it because I'm able to decide what's worth my hard-earned dollar.

I've, so far, run across two games that were incomplete yet required half a c-note to be had. Had I paid for those games outright I would have been out $100 (US) and would be left with whatever they released. Anything that's considered crap is cleared from my computer and never touched again. I don't even waste trying to burn them on CDs unless I'm going to buy them later.

So in the end, I acknowledge quality. Effort only goes so far. Nowadays consumers are able to see straight through the glossy curtains and see the shoddy work done underneath. I have not the time to give companies monies for half-done jobs when they should be vested in always putting out quality work, period. If they can't make uses of the resources available to produce close to what they want to, then they should fold up and let someone else take their place.

[dots]

Donated to some sites here and there that needed the cash and
maybe cuz i like the site a lot... Usually small amounts like 5 bucks...
but i did pay around 50 bucks for a webhosting space i own...
It's holds 10gig and cost 50 bucks a month... i share it with my friends...
For FTP purposes...
Besides that i don't remember donating to any other sites or stuff...

[Dutten]

I've never donated cuse it's too much trouble. If I could donate to a site, for instance, by sending an SMS, I'd totally do that

[Rubaka]

Never donate money through paypal, here you can find several reasons why you shouldn't: http://www.paypalsucks.com/

[BruceKO]

Does paying for online RPG sites count?
Ya... that's the only time I ever paid for an site.

[eMKa]

I paid two years ago for a full version of eDonkey program,to get rid of that ads,and later I found that there is a program called eDonkeyLite:p

And once I donated for my favourite polish RPG forum,but it didn't helped since now that site is dead.

[antchuck]

never paid...
proly never will since money is a serious issue for me and if I have some i usually have better things to do with them :p
...
well, I did buy the cds/tapes with music of artists I like even though I had the mp3 files on my hdd before...
and I did bought a game or two but that's about it :p

[cheddar king]

I agree with DirtyFinger. The internet should be free aside from connection fees. Also, giving out money over the internet unnerves me, no matter how safe the website claims it is.

[msx2]

i think that all the problems with copyrighted contents could be overcome if ISP's would use part of the fortunes we give them to pay off royalties associations, like when you buy a blank CD... even if the ISP's were to handle just a small portion of that money artists wouldn't have to sell anymore... but then everyone would be an artist just to get into the cut :)

[sgb]

I will pay for things that I could easily get for free if I really like the product and want to support the author/company/etc. If everyone steals a good product, there may not ever be another.

I will almost never donate to websites though, the internet should be free. If someone can't pay the bandwith for their site, then they shouldn't have made it in the first place. It would have to be a truely incredible site in danger of closing for me for donate.

I'd never pay to see an artist's site though. There is no shortage of free material availible, I don't care how good they are.

[Kikklik]

i like the idea of people being paid for their work, whether that work involved moving stuff around or the creation of an art. the concept of free should only involve poor people. middle class and above should pay if they use other people's work. can't say this makes sense being on a torrent site and all.

on a side note, why would someone consider the net a free zone? free because you can get it for free? that if something can be aquired for free that it is free?

[msx2]

Free as in freedom! :) it's slightly different from free as in free-meal
http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/

[Heero Yuy]

I've never donated cuse I don't have the money, and even if I had extra change around to donate I don't own a credit card so I can't do online transactions.

[Kikklik]

most of this talk is about other people's stuff though so it is a question of free meal.

[demolitionangel]

Internet was never really consider or meant to a free item. Ofcourse you have to pay to get access, but this access was to get access to information worldwide initally. But because of the easy access to worldwide information or objects of amusement, its made it possible to extend it to a whole new degree of service. Service in a way that it pleases certain needs of us. Only because most things are simpel to provide, such as google, a search engine, is it considered free. But there certain cervices considered of higher value merely because of the fact that its harder to provide this service or it requires mentanenance. Some choose to satisfy people with this need by their own accord of paying through their profits, but some cannot afford to keep it steady, so why not support a group of creaters of a certain site by donating money so that they kan keep providing this service.
Donations is decided by your own accord, but i wouldnt start moaning if this certain used service ist accesable anymore because no money was donated ^^, i would find that a pitty. That is why, through a community of mutual service and entertainment i choose to sometimes donate my own money because i perfer to keep this service ^^. But i gues such matter of discussions are always based on self created opinions, everybody his own type of cookie xD

[zz2tommy]

i never have paid anything and besides theres ALWAYS ways to find the so called "private" access stuff" XD but donations are another thing, id donate if a site REALLY needed it, such as o.... lets say HF, not that itll ever get to that point right? :D

[Amyante]

I've bought a few games that i had previously downloaded... That was offline though. I never buy/pay for anything online, and i prolly never will too.

[radicaldreamer]

I use paypal and though I can't donate much a few euro now and then for monthly site costs I can afford and it's a good way to show people that you care about a community by helping keeping it alive.
This doesn't even have to be by donating money, it could just be idling in the forum or channel even when nothing new gets released.

I tend to read ebooks, because I don't have the time to visit a bookstore and read a few pages of a book to get a feel for it and nowadays there aren't even that many stores left that let you do that anyway, so I just get the pdf and if i like it I buy it.

Programs are another thing though, normally I just search for a good freeware or shareware alternative and ignore any ads instead of buying commercial ones.
Because in most cases it's just not worth it and many programmers get greedy and want people to pay again for any minor version change.

[Zeuz]

I don't mind donating at all if its to keep up with site upkeep and costs. Anyone who's ever tried to run anything on the internet knows it takes money to get it up and keep it running. I like to donate for maintence costs, upgrades etc. besides money even better is if I can help out anyway, ie donate unused hardware, do misc programming or site management etc. I'm ok with donating so long as its NOT used to make a profit, once it goes into that area it gets shady.
reguarding warez, and any pirated software/games. I download to try and try to buy what I like. Being honest I haven't purchased all my downloaded games, but I try to do so w/the really good ones ie ps2 MGS3/GT4, xbox Forza/halo2, PC Halflife2/CS so on and so forth

[waxx66man]

Even Torrents aren't free. It is more effort to get a torrent downloaded and working than it is to hit your local Wal-mart. We just pay different prices, including for example effectively donating HD space and upload bandwidth to re-share a file.

It is this extra step which makes piracy not the huge problem for media and game companies that they claim it is, much like the extra step of going to a library doesn't mean that authors are begging on the streets for rocks to boil for soup.

In the case of Japanese games, piracy (of at least the try-before-buy type) is almost a necessity because no Japanese importer is going to refund your money if the game doesn't work on your U.S. machine (it's not really designed to!).

[backbraker]

A good artist deserves my money:D especially when his paysite is well done and updated regularly....it's already hard to eat has an artist...so I would pay a artist who is professional and love his work and has a bisness way of things....why not :cool:

[Kikklik]

Even Torrents aren't free. It is more effort to get a torrent downloaded and working than it is to hit your local Wal-mart.

please stop taking drugs


We just pay different prices, including for example effectively donating HD space and upload bandwidth to re-share a file.


that cost almost nothing. you make something and let me pay by donating hd space and uploading to other users. i'm sure that puts food in your belly.



It is this extra step which makes piracy not the huge problem for media and game companies that they claim it is, much like the extra step of going to a library doesn't mean that authors are begging on the streets for rocks to boil for soup.


libraries generally only have old junky books. they also need permission from the authors.



In the case of Japanese games, piracy (of at least the try-before-buy type) is almost a necessity because no Japanese importer is going to refund your money if the game doesn't work on your U.S. machine (it's not really designed to!).

other than the fact that you are playing the full game and not trying anything. if you want to make sure the game works on your system look at the game's documentions.

[nutuku]

I think that if you only wanna get things without giving something, that thing you are screwing someday it will perish, for example love. Thats how the world is moving

[TheException]

I think that it's hard for me to pay for anything "not physical". I have bought DVD's of animes i illegally downloaded, I have purchased software that I deemed was worth the money but not things like extra privilege on website. Somehow it doesn't feel real.
However, I believe in sharing on the internet. Like nutuku says, you need to give back,there needs to be a two-way flow.Give and get is the golden rule for internet, just know that what you give doesn't have to be money. Of course, there are exceptions ;)

[Rai_11]

never pay for anything...there are always loop holes :p

[Denamic]

Not so far. I already pay too much just to have internet. And I don't even have any money to spare at the moment, because of the update-project on my computer(s). But you never know what will happen in the future.
Oh, but if I somehow 'aquire' a game, and happen to like it, I'll buy it. I like the boxes. They smell good.
I have some other software on my computer that I actually paid for, but more often you'd encounter software that I did not. I'm naughty.

[-UnKnown-]

A good artist deserves my money:D especially when his paysite is well done and updated regularly....it's already hard to eat has an artist...so I would pay a artist who is professional and love his work and has a bisness way of things....why not :cool:

that's definally true.
I wouldn't mind donating to an artist if I liked his work.

[KidSteel]

The only time I paid for internet services was for a website that specialized on fantasy and scifi. It was a registered asscotiation, so it was kind of a member fee. I paid for it because I supported their objectives ... and because it came with free webspace. :p
I certainly have "not so legal" software on my computer, but I try to get freeware-substitutes, if available (that are often as good as or even better than the commercial programs, anyway).

But generally I don't see why someone who put effort and time in services he offers on the internet shouldn't be free to expect a service in return (this rules out people who just want to rip you off, the internet is full of them). It's not so different from the "real world" ... e.g. you don't go into a gallery of an artist, take some pictures from the wall and leave without paying. This "internet is a freezone"-thing is a bit of a delusion ... just admit that we are all pirates. :p

[fluid]

Hmm... if you ask me I wouldn't pay or donate for any site, i'm buying orginal software, games etc. and that's good enought for me :p

[Sosseres]

The only site I ever paid for was an online game, they had a subscription benefit that basicly made you about 30% stronger than the nonepayers. So after playing it for two or was it three years I subscribed for a few months. So my anwser was for certain benefits.

[Mai Tokiha]

I never did, and I would only do it if it was a super-duper-special site (like HF :D), and if it offered good donation possibilities - no GayPal crap, and no credit card either (whoever uses their credit card on the net needs their head examined, anyway... far too much fraud going on).

[Skecchi]

Well, i never donated or gave money to any website because i lack the methods to do so. Otherwise i would have donated to lots of websites lots of times and be poor right now. Although i do try and contribute, the best i can, to those website in exchange.

[eek-1]

>(whoever uses their credit card on the net needs their head examined, anyway... far too much fraud going on).
Does that mean I need to get my head examined? lol
I've used my credit card for years but never been caught by a fraud.
The secret is safe browsing &total awareness.

[grimace30]

There should be a way to run 2 polls simultaneously. It'd be interesting to see the ages of those who voted.
Teenagers, in my experience, barely ever think about paying because they can't or don't care about the content providers. Older adults (25+?) are more likely to cough up cash for something they use regularly IMO.

EDIT: No offense meant to teenagers ofcourse :P

[DirtyFinger]

Well, I think I spotted a trend in here : Most people who have paid for something they can basically get for free cough up their money voluntarily.
However, this doesn't say anything about the amount of money that gets donated.
And donations usualy do not cover a website's upkeep .

But it's the thought that counts. :)

[FenrisLoki]

I never pay for anything I gan get for free legally. Ads are annoying but I'd rather go through those (or block the ****ers) than pay money. However, I never resort to stealing programs or music; I only take what's put in the public domain.

[milkmandan]

i wouldn't pay to gain access to something unless it was really bazzard...for example..
you donate like 10 dollars to macromedia and they open up a private download area for you to download Flash or Fireworks or Dreamweaver for free, with liscense. Hell ya i d do that :)

but if a site is really helpful and just full of good info and friendly people and a helpful community, i feel very obliged to donate, i wanted to donate to hongfire, but it seems they are more than well off to do, duno how, but oh well.

donating is easy its good and EVERY little bit counts

[Catgirls]

Yep. I've given money to a web-site that I enjoy using.

[L4mE]

well i have no credit card yet so i can't do that but maybe soon after i get the chance to do it.

[gamma99664]

well I'm trying to get legal versions of software but it'll have to wait untill I get some money

[hyde69]

i've never had the chance of doing it.
but i would if i did had a Credit card or paypal account just to help out on something i enjoy Downloading.

[TiAn]

i will surely pay websites i like for support them, i already did on some^^

[Necrolyte]

i didn't have any credit card yet but if i have i'm not going to give my credit card number to any website in reason that i think that it risk to be stolen

stolen !!! someone may think that "stolen then what ? they use my credit card to buy something ? then i just tell my bank i'm did use my credit card to buy that and i not going to pay and i don't care what happen to bank couse i won't wrong!!" yeah it's true but u think too easily

what will happen if stoler use ur credit card make criminal ? u'll suddenly become defendant. yeah u didn't do any think wrong but u have to prove it in court and even u prove u're right but u'll lose much time for that.
u think waste ur time in court to prove u didn't do any think is funny ? i don't think so.

so next time u use ur credit card on internet think again

[YueHorrishino]

I think that if you pay for more than the subescription of your net, no one would ever use the internet anymore, unless you would be very rich... Imagine that you have to pay for every site that you log, and every time that you log... that would be a lot of money... even if the price was very low.

[Engaged]

No, I never before. Most people now a day misunderstanding about "donate". Donate is for distribute or spare what you have, depending on how much you got and your will to give.
An yeah, I really hate the site that's use(or you have to) donate for something like gain access to the room or downloadable some extra file. Why didn't they just use paid instead? (Don't worry, just another opinion)

[Kham]

The content of the internet is basically free (once you payed for internet access, of course).

This is in complete violation of the religious feelings of societies that worship money and pray to the stock market. Thus a war is waged against p2p platforms and the people who make or use them.

However, work deserves credit and creators of content don't get monetary benefit from providing free access to the fruits of their efforts (apart from gaining free access to other peoples work), be it music, movies, art or simply a place in the net to hang out.

What I want to know now is this: Does work pay ?
Do you acknowledge effort by paying for it, even if you do not really have to?
Not really,no .

[Serpoo]

No, I don`t think I have to pay for visit, or continue visiting a site... only if it is "necesary" to pay..

[Eiken]

Yeah, I did it once-... 50$ and I still think it was the right thing to do.

They oweed their host 300$ and they had given so much...

[ChrnoCrusade 4ever]

I'l give to all of you an advice if you like site them spend money on i other way don't do it

[Hayeate]

Some people would prefer to donate as a sign of good will for sites distributing free content such as this one (and I know several others that do across the internet).

[Thyran]

Yeah I've donated money plenty of times, back when I had a paypal account and did my business using paypal transactions.
I don't have one now, and I'm too lazy to make one just to donate.

I've also bought Age of Empires series even though I had the warez version.
AOE is just the greatest line of strategy games ever. I still LAN it sometimes.

[wintypes]

However, it's always the question of emotional bonds to a certain site...
for example I think I'd be positive about donating to HF if I only knew how to do so...

btw, Thyrz: :d this thread suits you somehow :kakashi:

[Denamic]

I pay to be ON the internet already. Once behind all those fees I pay to just be on the internet, I won't pay any more.
I will however donate, if I have spare moneys. I have barely enough for noodles, after my financially poorly planned hardware upgrade, so no donations for a while from me.

[Miliardo]

I agree with Denamic....I'm thinking the same way too

[Michel000]

If i like a game i download the i'll buy it.. sooner or later :p

[zuhex]

Sorry I never doneted before. :P

[Sturmvogel Prime]

I Hate the "Pay for stuff" in the web.

[shindol]

I never payed for website access, but I have bought things I could have otherwise dl'ed.

Since I've begun selling stuff online, I've begun to wish more people did pay though..but I can't complain.

[Fayt42]

i bought stuff and donated just for fun....
i think its the right thing to do....
that is unless they use the money unwisely....

[PersephoneFlower]

I think the only sites I would donate money to would be a site that was dying and was very important to me in one way or another, like a friends site. Or Kingdom Of Loathing; I'd donate to that :D

[lordo]

only to buy things that i want other wise....

[Finale]

I would most definatly donate to hongfire and mirrormoon.

[moogleking]

When i earn more money hopefully i can donate something to hongfire.

[ChaozXIII]

yup i consider the net is a free zone. but you pay for the internet bills

[HeavyMetalLucidity]

no. internet is my free loot
...
.....
......
really im considering buying some of my stuff now because im just getting tired of finding finding the cracks/keys---upgrading the software---finding the cracks/keys again etc etc. i been doin it for years and now its just gotten tedious.

<note> maybe when i actually have some money to spare it can go to hongfire since i like this place :)

[Blankman]

Things that I really like to use are worth paying. Otherwise I put up with any nag screens or limitations that may compromise the free version.

[Shiroki Okane]

Hmm, I may have not done any money transaction across the net before(since I can't, for now), I wouldn't mind donating to sites that really needs it or pay for things that's worth it. However, I will never EVER pay for access to sites though... I just never liked the idea of paying for access.

[Radeonator]

it would be wise to donate to free translator website, because the content of the internet is free, but the bandwidth is not free. :p

[Lumoco]

I've donated to websites that I really used.

[CindyLou]

I pay for shareware software that I truly use.

[Larry Laffer]

If I don't feel comfortable enough to stop using a specific piece of shareware software, then it is important enough for me to register.

[Yates]

I've brought stuff from the stores, but I've never brought anything over the Internet.

[Gaylord Focker]

What I liked, I've paided for.

[Brenda Starr]

Whether it's software, music, or art; if I really like it then I'll buy it.