I was recently linked to this
http://www.finalredemption.com/beta# which as I understand is Kon's new site. Congrats, Kon. However, I saw that this requires registration to see some of the art. Though it striked me as an odd thing to do, I guess a few webmasters want to follow their target groups statistics and so on. Then I saw that certain assets in the site, like Video Tutorials not unlike the ones we have in this forum free for use, require paying money to see.
I want to discuss and gauge reaction to this attempt from the userbase, and hopefully get Kon to explain the rationale behind this.
Obviously, running a website takes money, and a webmaster is free to ask for compensation on any thing for his site, and whomever is willing to pay for it, that's their choice. Nobody should be able to make them stop. In the end, if there's a demand, people will pay, if there's no demand, Kon will likely remove the service.
However, there is an issue in my mind. Many people in this forum have posted video tutorials for free to promote learning and helping each other, as this board is made to do. I've put hours of my life in promoting this and trying to get other people to contribute, and a lot have. It's a well of knowledge that I think anyone can benefit from and can only hope will grow. However, Kon decided to share his wisdom for money. Now, Kon is a moderator on this board. If it was a matter of paying for webspace, we have a part of Pixelation on which to upload videos so nobody's personal server is swamped by requests and bandwith sleeching.
Am I the only one who sees the conflict of interest here? Are we or are we not supposed to promote free learning? Would you pay for tutorial videos? If not, why? If yes, why? Finally, where is the line drawn when free enterprize on the 'net and the supposed attitude of a non-profit institution like Pixelation collide?
Please discuss.