Dollars on Sanet: Cattler oiler or snake oil?

Raymond Weil (rw17@umail.umd.edu)
Fri, 3 May 96 19:12:22 -0400

Sanetters,
>
>Beth's question is an important one...and not quite as simple as it might
>seem. Why is it alright for a farmer or market gardener to use the
>information on the sanet "to make a buck" (i.e. improve the profitability of
>his/her farming operation), while it seems offensive to some that a
>consultant should want to use information on the sanet to "make a buck" in
>his/her consulting business? The consultant is selling information which
>he/she gathers here for free. Kind of like a person who sells wild ginseng
>roots that are gathered for free!
>
>I'm not sure what the answer is! It IS hypocritical to be offended by the
>concept of making a profit, and be an advocate of sustainable agriculture
>(which must be profitable to be sustainable, most people would agree).
>
> Advertisements for products and services? I find them VERY annoying on the
>WWW. But farmer-to-farmer networks often specialize in marketing spare
>parts, special products, etc.
>
>Anyway, there is certainly no excuse for anyone treating fellow sanetters
>rudely.
>
>
>Ray Weil
>

Beth's message was:
>
>>And I 'third' this one - as a matter of fact, I had been meaning to bring
>>this up to the group - with so much (valuable) information being exchanged
>>here, I think there needs to be some kind of ethical system in place.
>>
>>Some of you may recall my recent query about info on organic stats - a
>>fellow who works for an agricultural consulting company offered to do the
>>research job for me (at a price) and was very brusque when I said, thanks
>>but we have no money! - while he IN THE SAME BREATH was trying to get info
>>on compost starters (for free) from me! A bit cheeky, I though...
>>
>>So the question is, what do we as a group/community do about this kind of
>>thing? After all, they say that in the information age 'info is money' and
>>while we may be sharing our information in the best spirit of mutual
>>support, there are parasitical people amongst us who are NOT sharing in the
>>same spirit.... and are yet trying to make a buck off what we give them...
>>I for one am not into supporting more exploitation.
>>
>>Any thoughts?
>>
>>Beth
>>
>>
>Ray R. Weil
>Professor of Soil Science
>1103 H.J. Patterson Hall
>University of Maryland
>College Park, MD 20742
>USA
>
>telephone: 301 405 1314
>FAX: 301 314 9041
>e-mail: rw17@umail.umd.edu
>
>
>-------- End original message --------
>
>
Ray R. Weil
Professor of Soil Science
1103 H.J. Patterson Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
USA

telephone: 301 405 1314
FAX: 301 314 9041
e-mail: rw17@umail.umd.edu