[Scummvm-devel] GOG-Affiliate program, recent additions to website

[clem]

timofonic <timofonic <at> gmail.com> writes:

> I think you are looking into it too seriously.

Maybe I am; But I have spent a lot of time thinking about the way the forum
looks today, so it might be understandable that I see things in a more narrow 
way.

> > I am not happy that my post miraculously vanished over night.
> 
> It was a polemical post that is better discussed directly to the project
> involved people. I see nothing wrong there.

Maybe it was polemical, but the aim was to get people to read it and to make my
point clear.
Since the post was made on the forum I assumed that the forum is the correct
way to reply. Moreover, I doubt all the people frequenting the forum
read -devel.
Had the announcement been made on -devel, I would have posted here
and left the forum alone.

> 
> What's wrong with having revenue? A project like ScummVM costs money and some
> efforts are limited because lack of resources, like buying games to developers
> or necessary utilities for their work (like IDA Pro licenses, books...). The
> ScummVM Team needs money for make the project progress, if donations are not
> enough there must be other ways of get it and a GOG.com banner is totally
> licit.
> 

Yes, but is money needed right now?
I might have reacted differently if I knew that there are some pressing bills
to be paid. 

> If you know a better way for helping the ScummVM project in a monetary way
> or a way where they don't need money and have everything they need (totally
> utopical), please explain your plan.
> 

There used to be a fundraiser which worked out quite well.
Again, if the need for money had been discussed beforehand and the ads were
agreed upon I wouldn't see that much of a problem. But putting bold text on a
website without any apparent reason to create revenue reminds me more of a
privately owned company than of an open source project.

> > Again, more provocatively asked: people sending out bulk email could as
> > well claim that their message otherwise could go unnoticed. That does not 
> > make them right. But at least I can delete/filter unsolicited email,
> > whereas I'm stuck looking at the link at the forum.
> 
> Even more provocatively?
> 
> The ad is totally related to the project. It's a DRM-free, fast and cheap
> service for getting classic games so it helps stop warez and makes more
> people to enjoy the ScummVM supported games in a legal way. What's wrong
> with this if even helps to the ScummVM project get some bucks for paying
> the tools for it?

There's nothing wrong with GOG. You need to distinguish the idea (GOG) from
the medium (advertisement). I just don't like to be reminded of GOG each time
I look at the forum.

> 
> In other words: Do you know some philantrophic millonaire that loves
> ScummVM and want to pay for all the project costs so the ScummVM project
> can avoid this kind of way you personally don't like? ;)
> 

Sadly, no.
But again, is the money needed so much? If the ads were necessary my opinion
might be different.

> > >> Moreover, the gog banner on the main page also doesn't fit the design.
> > >> In my browser window it is a different size than the sf.net banner and
> > >> the position is also seemingly arbitrary.
> > 
> > > Give us a replacement. Or provide the button size which I could request
> > > from GOG.com. Give us replacement of PHP code which generates the page.
> > 
> > Ditto to above. Remove it.
> 
> Aren't you a bit obfuscated about this? Please see the bigger picture.
> 

I am not sure which bigger picture you mean, please elaborate.

What I see is that
1) changes were made to the website
2) I raised my concern
3) I was told to "make it better" if I don't like it that way
4) my answer was to go back to the state it was before 1)

> > It might well be that I'm the only one thinking like that, but I still feel
> > I need to voice my opinion on this matter. Any opinions from other readers?
> > 
> 
> It's OK to express your opinion, but it's OK to respect the opinion and 
> actions of others.

You are right, and I respect your opinion and that of all the other posters.
But please keep in mind that there was not much of a consensus before I wrote
that forum post.
One person made changes without (visible to me) discussing it and
for reasons I didn't understant. That's why I posted - to see what others have
to say about it.

> Maybe being too provocative is not helping this project.

But maybe keeping quiet is not helping the project either.