I appreciate those who do donate a few bucks via those donate buttons, but they don't produce much revenue or cover the costs. On the other hand, I'm not trying to make money at this. Also, much, if not most, of what I do is for my own purposes -- like the current 9800 project. The information and profiles generated in that process don't cost me anything to post. That said, the 3880 setup was done strictly for the market in general, and the donations do help pay for things like the carts from Cone that were needed. (MIS eventually sent some carts, but it was way too late; I'll be sending those back to MIS [at my expense - a net loss]. I passed the damaged 3880 on to another forum member for the cost of shipping.)
Although I do sell prints, that too is not really to make money. (I'd starve.) Sales are more a validation that what I do mostly out of passion for the medium and art is not something that no one else can appreciate.
I also print for (a few) others, but those who have me do printing for them are usually high end artists from whom I learn. (Eboni-6 was the byproduct of a [";failed"] project for a Guggenheim winning painter.) The connections I make in that process are probably more important than the money they pay for the printing.
When it comes to the costs of this effort, my strategy -- probably like most people on this forum -- is to hold costs to a minimum. As long as the ship is not sinking, I'll continue to do what I do and try to find the best and most cost effective way to accomplish my B&W photographic goals.
I, for sure, am not bothered by the Lula guys trying to monetize their efforts. I wish them luck. I, personally, have not paid and rarely do for the paid sites. This is usually due to the fact that there is so much free information out there, it's just not necessary. I'm sufficiently specialized that, frankly, there would not be much or a market for an article that had the information I'm interested in. It's their forums and the group of very knowledgeable posters they have that is where I find occasionally useful and new information. (Their B&W forum, however, is very weak.)
Paul
On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 8:29 AM, homershannon@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Well this has turned into a lively conversation and that is always good!
I'm sure Paul Roark has some experience with trying to earn a few dollars from a web site. He has certainly given away many of the best techniques for producing outstanding black and white prints. Yes, his site does request a donation, which I have done from time to time - though I'd confess I've donated far less than what his information is really worth. Does voluntary contribution actually cover a significant portion of the site's costs?If Paul charged $10 per PDF download, I'd say it was a good value, but I wouldn't know that unless I read and tried the processes he describes first. For $100 I'd probably never read one. Monetizing the web is still in its infancy and its going to take another ten years before we settle on better models. Ask the newspaper publishers - they're still scratching their heads.Homer