On 9/5/07, Stan Shebs stanshebs@earthlink.net wrote:
Well, this is the same self-justifying drivel we've seen from professional photographers grumbling about the existence of free photos and Robert McHenry dissing WP itself. The best part is the attempt to suggest that it's somehow unethical to work for free, ha ha ha. I don't think we want any participants who think of the very concept of WP as fundamentally wrongheaded!
Some of the criticisms are more intelligent, though; they accept the validity of working for free (as they point out, pro bono work has been done by professionals forever), but they are down on contests; the point being all the wasted effort. It's one thing to work for free if your work is going to be used, it's another to work for free for your work to be thrown out.
Personally I think the amount of crap that a designer would have to take from fractious Wikipedians deserves pay. No matter what changes get proposed, someone loud is going to hate it.
-Matt