Paying for Web Services: A brief, but thoughtful discussion over at Loosely Coupled revolves around a question near and dear to my heart--"How do we make money from the Web thing?" Amazon is exploring the ways that they'll price their new web services offering, but what caught my eye was the line from John Dowdell's blog where I picked up this thread.

It's a question that we here at CommunityMX get asked a lot. Well, the question is more like, "Why should I subscribe to your service? There's all sorts of free stuff on the web." True enough, but take a look at those free sites. Do they bury you in advertising? Is the content up-to-date? (He asks, knowing that he has a web site with Dreamweaver and Fireworks 4 tutorials for free.) What else is being sold along with those free assets?

Of course, we think we give great value for the dollar, and that for someone in pursuit of the profession and craft of designing for the web, CommunityMX is a sound investment. Over 800 articles to date, and a very active newsgroup where our clients get quick answers to their questions and are never shouted down or patronized. Do you get that professional treatment in the free newsgroups? In some you do, but in others its a total crap shoot if your question will ever be addressed, and along the way you just might be called an idiot. Or worse.

I understand the temptation to get as much as you can for free. But really, is it realistic to expect to get everything for free? Even the tools and knowledge that it takes to do your job effectively? For some, especially in the on-line world, everything is expected to be free. I just don't see how you can reasonably expect for the content creators of the world to spend their time creating tutorials and software and sample files for your use, and then pay to serve it up to you.

By the way, welcome back to the aforementioned John Dowdell. As a web professional, if you only read one blog then make it JD's.