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Whew! May 2011 has been quite a ride, and with all the business travel I did, cash was very tight around here. But I managed to keep the Supporting Free project going, albeit in a small way.
Both Amy and Carina sent me links to Sandra Juto’s photography blog this month. Sandra recently opened a really interesting online store, where all the items are related to supporting her blog.
I love, love, love this idea. What a fun, concrete way to give readers an opportunity to support the content they enjoy for Free in a meaningful way. Sadly (so sadly), Sandra encountered some strong resistance from a subset of her readers. In fact, although the meanest comments have been removed from her post announcing the store, many of the remaining missives are just heartbreaking – especially since Sandra was so careful to characterize this as a wholly voluntary effort.
…This is why, even though I’d never read Sandra’s blog before, I bought her a roll of film and some processing. It cost me exactly two lattes from my monthly budget, which I won’t miss even in a tight financial month. The small amounts make a difference, too. And nobody should have to endure such negativity for taking a positive step toward making her blog sustainable.
As always, thanks for witnessing this project.
I donated to Sandra too because I felt sorry that she’s had such a nasty backlash. Goodness knows how mean the comments she deleted must have been, considering the bitchy tone of some of the ones she left! The only way our community is going to become sustainable and healthy is if we reward peoples time and energy – it’s like trying to grow seeds without water, sunlight or good soil.
That’s beautifully said, Kirsty, as always. And, Amen!
I have thought a few times of doing something similar, but stopped so far because i thought i would get the same backlash that she did :/ its sad that people just saw her asking for money and don’t realize the effort she must put into the blog. She did say to think about donating before supporting her.
I think the important message here is not to be deterred by the possibility of negative feedback. The consuming public needs to see more opportunities like this so they can get comfortable with the idea. The backlash, to my mind, comes mostly from people not understanding how much work it is to maintain a good blog.
yes, people often don’t realize how much work keeping a blog can be. i think a lot of the time people have gotten use to certain things being free on the net, so when someone asks for monetary help, they get a little annoyed. sadly i think a lot of people would rather stop reading something interesting and helpful over donating even a few cents towards the person writing the info.
ugh i am having a hard time trying to write what i mean lol hmmm ok, for example i have no problem at all helping people with the art related questions, i will encourage anyone that they can draw. I really like seeing the look on some ones face when they see that yes, they can draw that object that they never thought they could. and because i have helped people in the past for free, now that when a person asks me in person, i say sure i can help, but i need a few pounds for supplies, that person changes their mind and gets upset. they don’t understand why i can not help them for free now, they don’t realize that supplies are not cheap. i am not charging for my time because i still want to help people, to share knowledge, just asking for a few pounds to spend on pencils. i find a lot of the time, the people that ask me or more willing to go without the help, which is sad as i do like helping people. people expect things to always be free that were free before :/
i do wish that more people were willing to help other crafters/artists/bloggers in the field. if people stopped helping others, all of them would disappear :/ I know that not everyone is able to help donate money, but they are different ways to help :)
ugh nope, still can’t write exactly what i mean…need more caffeine to wake up :p
I get your meaning, definitely! These are such complicated times, and there’ no clear road for anyone. I love helping people, too, and drawing boundary lines around that has been really tricky and sometimes painful. But you’re right – there’s a point where a little compensation in some form isn’t too much to ask!
Great idea on her part. And very interesting. I keep wondering how much of this is gendered? I’m having a hard time imagining a big, negative discussion on a free software guy’s blog about his “buy me beer” button.
That’s a really interesting question!
I was thinking the same thing. The double standard raises its ugly head. Grr.
I think her idea is awesome and contributed too. I love her twist of humor too. Go Sandra!
This gender discussion is really interesting – I didn’t even pick up on a gender bias when I read through the post originally.
Hi Diane, it never ceases to amaze me that people get turned off by those who are just asking. Sandra did nothing wrong, and whatever feelings of guilt, etc felt by others are their own problem (maybe doing nice for someone else would help!). She never said that she wanted anything out of it — but if people wanted to buy her a cup of coffee as a small way of saying thanks, heck why not?
I told her I would love to buy her coffee if I was in her city, but since I’m not, I’m buying her one right from my desk. ;)
Hi Diane, :-)
Sandra’s idea was great and I feel it’s a shame that some people didn’t consider it. :-/ What is so bad about trying to make a little bit of money with something that you like? *sigh*
Considering the cost of a blog hosting, domain + time and ressources, we all know she is certainly not getting rich out of this. :-/
The feminist in me have been wondering the same thing as Elizabeth. You certainly don’t see things like this happening very often in the blogs communities where there are mostly mens. I’m not saying this is never happening, but to me, it seems like it happens less frequently. They seem to support each others more toward the goal of “monetizing” their blogs. Something to think of…
I’m really loving this serie you (and your mom!) have going on, on your respective blogs. I really would love to do a similar post like that on my blog. Would you mind if I join you two in this? :-)
We would absolutely love it, Fanie! I’d love it if lots and lots of people joined us. It’s a really fun project, and it feels great to participate in the community this way. And I’d love to link to your posts!
Love Sandra’s idea! I hope she’ll get the things she want to achieve.
I really like her idea and I keep wondering why there is the lashing out at her attempts to sustain herself?!
I know it’s been talked about over and over again, but for some reason people just don’t seem to respect the fact or understand that even creative people need to make a living. It makes me so angry to see comments that are so spiteful… why the hate?!
And I have to say it’s something odd ingrained in all of us. We feel somewhat ashamed to ask for money… it boggles my mind…
It IS a stew of old habits, I think. Most of the consuming public is still using beliefs and attitudes formed by decades of advertiser-supported media. That stuff will take time to erode. And, in a predominantly-female community, I agree that we crafters tend to have issues around asking for support. I see so many of us putting stuff out there and waiting to be noticed. Heck, I did that early on, too.
…But these two factors will never conspire to bring meaningful support to the bloggers we enjoy. All we can do is keep bringing this issue up in hopes of changing one person’s understanding and actions at a time.