Re: [DotGNU]third draft for FD press release

[Norbert Bollow]

I wrote:

> > I certainly have not made any promise of exclusitivy
> > concerning this press release.  Probably nobody did.
> > 
> > When the media wants an exclusive interview, or an
> > exclusive anything, they should pay for it (and thereby help
> > funding Free Software developement).

Grant Gross replied:

> Ummm, so what you're saying is the media should look
> like its playing favorites by paying for some
> interviews?

First of all, the point that I've been trying to make was not
that all interviews should be paid for.

In hindsight (from your comments) it is clear that I misunderstood
what Serge was talking about.  I thought that Serge was upset for some
reasons of principle that I had used an open process for creating that
press release.

You did us a great favor by holding back your article upon Tony's
request.  That's certainly adequate "payment" for getting some
exclusivity in return.  And we still owe you this exclusivity.  I'm
sorry that for reasons that were completely beyond our (and even the
FSF's) control we were not able to give you this exclusivity this time
round.  Details of how we can give you the exclusivity that we owe you
can be discussed exclusively in non-public email :-)

> I think there are a lot of reasons to give
> someone an "exclusive," including that the reporter
> asked first and the news site has done a good job
> covering your issues in the past.  But paying for an
> interview isn't likely to happen anytime soon,

It won't happen soon... but if/when the great visions that we're
talking about have become realities, then some media may be willing
to pay for some exclusive coverage.

> Isn't giving a project wider publicity essentially supporting Free
> Software development?

Yes.  But the question is whether or not giving "exclusives" results
in wider publicity.

If it is not possible to use an open process for creating press
releases because of the need to give "exclusives", then there will be
much fewer press releases and they will be of poor quality.  The net
effect would be less publicity.

That's why I think that if someone wants us to essentially write a
story for them, and also wants to have exclusive access to the story
for a while (which means that we cannot create the story in an open
process) then we should get paid for our hassle.  That's what I meant
in my response to Serge's rant.

> So all's well that ends well.

We certainly owe you one :-)

Greetings, Norbert.

-- 
Norbert Bollow, Weidlistr.18, CH-8624 Gruet  (near Zurich, Switzerland)
Your own domain with all your Mailman lists: $15/month http://cisto.com
Business Coaching for Internet Entrepreneurs ---> http://thinkcoach.com
Tel +41 1 972 20 59      Fax +41 1 972 20 69      address@hidden