-or- How could we ever forget?
This will probably make me unpopular with certain folks and factions here, but that is okay with me. I need to write this, if for no one else, then just for me.
Just make sure you remember, none of us pay to be here. Okay? We aren't customers here, just free-loaders leeching off the generosity of Brad.
As if we could possibly forget.
Maybe it is just me. Maybe I have some sort of weird radar for picking this stuff up. Maybe we are just being reminded of this fact on a painfully frequent basis. Whatever the case may be, I have noticed comments from admins (and some "guests") to this effect running rampant in replies lately. And to be quite honest I cannot for the life of me understand why.
It usually seems to pop up when folks start whining about "freedom of speech" or some such nonsense. It also often is dragged out when some "guest" questions Brad or vilifies him for some reason. Don't get me wrong, I quite agree that this is one person's site and should run according to his rules. And yes, bashing and saying malicious things about the admin on any site is just poor form and downright stupid. So, you see, I don't sympathize with idiots who seem to feel some sort of entitlement in their being here.
But what good does it do? Reminding those same idiots that they blog here for free isn't going to do anything. Simple fact - you can't reason with the stupid. And reminding them you are providing a free service to them is going to simply fall on deaf ears.
And speaking strictly for myself, as one who understands fully that this is a free service and is both grateful and respectful of that, such comments only come across as insulting.
After all, as we have so recently been reminded, JoeUser doesn't need any of us, and the admins don't care who comes and goes, stays and jumps ship. Again, that is fine with me. If I really wanted to blog that bad I could always go to one of the many other free blog sites and post my mental excrement there. But that seems to beg the question why even open it up to the public? If having folks here is such a burden that we have to be put back into our place on nearly a daily basis by being reminded that we are free-loading scumbags who have no rights because we aren't paying to be here, why even bother?
It most certainly cannot be due to some sense of altruism, as the numerous comments discussed in this entry would really argue against that. People who do things for altruistic purposes don't normally feel the need to remind people of the service they are providing, demanding gratitude for said service. Is it because such a service opens up the opportunity to interact with and read about interesting people? The general attitude of many here actually seems to argue against that point as well. And since this service is free (and don't you forget it!) capitalism doesn't seem to be at the heart of it either.
So I am at a loss.
I am also tired of being reminded that I am a leech. In my stay here I feel I have done a pretty good job recognizing that and respecting the powers that be who provide this service to me. I am grateful for it, but to be quite frank, beating me over the head with the fact that this is free for me doesn't help cultivate and/or deepen my sense of gratitude.
And I sincerely doubt the idiots who do act as though they have forgotten that fact even bother to listen to the reminders.