Re: What is annoying in the flattr buttons?
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 19:24, Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> wrote:
> Tshepang Lekhonkhobe <tshepang@gmail.com> writes:
>> Didier 'OdyX' Raboud <didier@raboud.com> wrote:
>
>>> For a simple reason, the DMUP [0]; which every user of Debian resources
>>> must follow. It says (in its introduction, point 1).
>
>>> * "Don't use Debian Facilities for private financial gain"
>
>> I'm sure this is just a guideline of course, else the following should
>> be adhered to:
>> "Don't mention a book you've just written if that piece of writing
>> will show up on Debian Planet, even if the book is about Debian."
>
> Indeed, and therefore there's already been a lot of discussion on this
> thread about how the boundary is fuzzy, we don't want to be too literal
> about it, some amount of incidental use is fine, and so forth. But
> because the boundary is fuzzy, that means we sometimes have to have these
> conversations, and it means that the topic is legitimate.
>
> I probably come to this from a slightly different perspective than some of
> the people here since I work for a non-profit educational institution,
> which has similar requirements around use of university facilities for
> personal gain for tax reasons. If someone at Stanford used Stanford
> computing facilities directly for personal financial gain, Stanford could
> get into serious trouble with the US government because it's a violation
> of our tax-free non-profit status.
An attempt at an analogy: the worry with Stanford is legal issues with
USA; the worry with Debian is that money can corrupt (undermines the
volunteer foundation on which this great OS if founded upon) and
"gimme money" icons are annoying to some? Just wanted to be clear.
Anyway the arguments against flattr sway me towards them, but maybe
that's not ok since Raphael, according to me, isn't at all abusing
Debian project resources (and flattr is a great way to say thanks, and
more meaningful than those words if you ask me). That little green
button at the bottom of his posts isn't intrusive at all, and I am
ever impressed by a person so bold to ask for financial support. Most
others are embarassed, since money is so taboo.
But I guess we have different opinions on what "intrusive" is. I
personally dislike sites where you get an ads in the beginning or the
middle of an article (such arrogance!), while someone else will find
that okay, even sympathizing with "author gotta eat".
--
blog: http://tshepang.tumblr.com
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