I will let the perfesser make the blanket statement and do the planning. (something he is superb at doing)
As an administrator I received a more significant blast at my sign-on. The days of internet wine and roses are over!
It had to happen. I knew that internet advertising was a significant joke and that those poised to perpetually sell "air" to advertisers and do nothing for a living would come crashing down around their collective ears in time.
That time is upon them and, by defualt, upon us.
You will probably be polled by the perfesser and plans made to continue this forum in some fashion here or elsewhere. Some of you may wish to consider just how fusion and fusor oriented you are as some small fees may be involved at some point down the road. We could perhaps escape to another haven of "free" service only to have it collapse in a rash of "free" site abandonments. Ultimately, it may come down to just where you position yourself and what you hold dear enough to pay for!!!
The great American dream of internet freedom, or more notably, free stuff on the internet, is slowly sinking into a warm, cozy and more sane american "for profit" mechanism which just might see a lot of the bull shit (pardon my french) content of the net slide off into the dung heap where it belongs. Discussion group gadflies will have to belly up to the bar and pay to speak their minds with other like-minded folks.
In a way, I never looked at the internet as a God given right, but a place where information and associations could form based on real people sharing and ultimately paying for the privilege which would warrant a form of at least economic "fire discipline". Unfettered freedom of speech is based solely upon congregations within ear shot of the orator. Non-gratis print mediums, television, radio and the internet sites are run by capitalist entrepenuers. They provide a service which can extend free speech to ever larger audiences. Assuming they are not philanthropic, they must charge to offset costs and feed their own and employee families.
Get ready at some point down the road to pay or be silenced beyond earshot. We have accepted Mail or postage communications costs. We accepted phone bills, it is now time to let the internet fall into this pay for all services catagory and rid ourselves of unwanted noise generated by advertisers.
Again, the perfesser will tell all and figure something out. Basically we have until June 30th to payup, to continue here, move to another free, but "iffy" site for however long it takes them to loose there advertising support. Or have this four year, running amateur fusion forum sink beneath the internet waves.
Richard hull
Created on Tuesday, June 05, 2001 11:48 AM EDT by Richard Hull