Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I had not posted anything substantial on there such as recipes etc. - but what I don't understand is why those who have are not doing anything about it. If I had posted recipes there I would be absolutely incensed that my efforts had been abused in such a way, and indeed I would be seeking legal redress.
The admin of bircurries ("Cory Ander") should reflect very carefully on the fact that his or her forum is only made possible because of the valuable content which users submitted. I understand that they probably want the forum to be filled with high-quality, heavily-engaged members who add real value to the place, but speaking as someone who manages other online communities, charging a fee is absolutely not the way to do that (quite the opposite, in fact).
The admin clearly believes that users who don't engage with the forum - or rather, those who don't pay the fee - are "entitled" or "freeloaders". After all, the admin did all the hard work! *They* set up the forum. *They* pay for the hosting. *They* spend all their spare time moderating and organising and cataloguing the content. So they should get all the rewards, right? Wrong.
He fails to realise the irony and hypocrisy of that attitude. An accessible, open community is the true value of a good forum. Without that, you could have the best-looking most functional forum ever made, but without any meaningful content. The people who generously give their own free time and knowledge are the ones who deserve the reward. The admin should be infinitely grateful to them; not the other way around.
When I set up my own online communities (which are of a similar size to the bircurries forum) I didn't do it so I could build up a website good enough to start charging for. I also didn't expect every member to contribute or "add value". I did it because I love my hobbies and wanted to spread as much knowledge and experience about those hobbies as possible. The people who "hit and run" my websites are not leeches; they're the audience.
YouTube pays its creators. Spotify pays its musicians. And even then, those massive multi-national services can barely convince customers to pay $5 a month for access to unlimited music. What madness has made this admin believe that a niche curry forum will succeed where global corporations have failed?
In addition, the admin is not even attempting to host a dialogue about these controversial changes; any negative posts (no matter how polite) are simply being rejected/deleted/not published. This, in my opinion, will be the death knell of the forum. A good admin should be intelligent enough to realise that when (sensible) people have something to say, there's usually a reason for that, and it's worth listening to them.
If the admin wants to keep his forum locked up, the only moral thing to do would be to make the historical content of the forum available for free and restrict any new content going forward. That way people could choose to pay if they wanted to, and users who have already freely submitted content will not have their work subject to (likely illegal and definitely immoral) profiteering.
Ultimately I feel like the admin doesn't have any respect for either their users or the craft of BIR cooking. If they respected their users, they wouldn't have hidden freely-given content behind a paywall. If they respected the hobby of BIR cooking and actually wanted people to get into it, they would want to share the content with as many people as possible. Instead they've done the complete opposite.
And I think that's what really bothers me. How did Cory Ander get into BIR cooking? How much freely available information did he use to teach himself how to cook? How many people took the time and effort to help him, expecting nothing in return? What if all the resources he used were locked up behind a paywall?
Cory Ander would do well to think about that and reflect on whether he actually cares about BIR cooking.
I've seen it before: this situation will embitter old members (like me) and completely deter new members. Mark my words; the membership of that forum will dwindle and decline within the coming months unless they reverse this horrible decision. Or they'll get sued. Either way I guess.
Anyway, sorry for this rant. The philosophy of online communities is (obviously) a subject very close to my heart.
Topic: Is it legal for a forum to start charging for access to user-provided content? (Read 19227 times)