Dave Chatier responding to Merlin, who is responding to Marco:

Most people don’t give a crap about where they get their laughs or information, so long as it’s free. “Because so many things on the Internet are free, everything else should be free.” I admire Mr. Mann for spending tons of cash on the things that he loves. I often do the same. Most people don’t and—thanks to the current culture of the Internet—won’t.

Some people are willing to pay a ton of money for stuff they love and others are going to give least possible and/or settle the bare minimum—and this isn’t limited to the Internet or online content. It’s the reason people buy particle-board furniture that falls apart within a year from Target.

Target is in a very different business than the carpenter down the street who crafts furniture by hand. Target knows that and so does the carpenter. The national chain thrives off razor-thin margins and an economy of scale, while the craftsman makes his living off of enthusiasts who are willing to pay a bunch of money for something they really like. The Internet isn’t somehow exempt from this rule and I think a lot of content providers are losing sight of this.

You’re never going to be able to please everyone, so you have to choose you’re battles. Are you going to do whatever it takes to squeeze an extra penny out of the window-shopping masses or are you going to make something that delights a small group of obsessives with their hands on their wallets?

I argue that unless you really think you can scale to the size of Amazon or Google, alienating hardcore users who’d love nothing more than to spread your ideas and content out to anyone and everyone who hasn’t gotten tired of hearing them speak yet, is a short-term strategy at best—and not a particularly good one.

The content publishers that are truncating RSS feeds, forcing visitors to click “next page” four times, and otherwise needlessly making life difficult are alienating the people who would—more than likely—give them money in order to make a slow, painful buck from those not particularly interested in paying.