I’ve seen a few blogs recently with a donate button. One blog was about a family travelling around the world, home educating their kids and enjoying an idyllic existence. The donate button said ‘help us to continue our dream.’ At first, I felt quite affronted but then I thought, ‘hang on, am I missing a trick here?’ My dream is to have a beautiful, beachside house with a retro VW campervan parked on the drive, two Labradors gamboling happily in the garden and George Clooney* (clothing optional) in the kitchen popping open an iced bottle of prosecco. Should I expect regular readers of my blog (all 10 of you) to finance this dream?? Is it just a case of ‘ask and ye shall receive?”
I expect to pay for a published book, newspaper or magazine because – and whether this is true or not is open to debate – I presume them to be written by proficient authors (ok, let’s not include Jordan or Victoria Beckham here) whose work has been scrutinized, edited and improved. And, hopefully, if when I finish my book and it gets published (crossing all my fingers plus toes for good measure), others will also be happy to fork out money for it. In exchange for which, they’ll expect a decent return in the form of an enjoyable, gripping or educational reading experience.
However, when I’m surfing the Internet, I don’t have the same investment in a website as I do in a book. I flick from site to site, looking at the news, checking out Amazon or reading my favourite blogs. Some blogs are very amusing, thought provoking or informative, written by extremely talented authors and I enjoy lots of them very much. But any Tom, Dick or Harriet can set up a blog, often complete with spelling errors and ill thought out ideas (as you can see…). So if I had to pay to go on a particular site, I just wouldn’t bother.
Do you agree with me that blogs should be free? Or is it right to expect to pay for information, in any form? Maybe I should just go for it and install a ‘donate’ button and wait for the money to come flooding in? This time next year, Rodney, we could be millionaires…
* Really do think I need to update my choice of stud muffin for my fantasies. Am definitely too old for One Direction members (plus my daughters would be mortified) so who else fits the bill?? Any suggestions???
BARBED WORDS 