Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
What is reasonable about his opinion that people who give their work away for free are "as*holes"? What's the alternative, forcing people to charge for their work? If someone wants to give something away, shouldn't they be able to? He rails against amateurs, but the amateurs have every bit as much right to write and to distribute their work on their terms as he does.
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Well first he wasn't talking, in that instance, about amateurs. He was talking about professional writers. If every other person involved in the project he's talking about, from the truck drivers, to the office workers, on up through the head of the studio profits from it, why should the writer be expected to do it for free?
As*hole might not be the best choice of words, but I agree with his sentiment completely.
Also, he isn't railing against amateurs as such. He's ranting about people who are eager to give their work away for nothing other than a spec of attention. Again, I agree with that. And, of course people have every right to give their work away (Ellison isn't saying they don't). That doesn't automatically make it the smartest choice.