Rebecca Allbritton wrote:
"...you're turning your web site into a commercial enterprise."
The GERBILS web pages is a non profit making site and it will remain that
way. The amounts that the books will make is pin money compared to the
thousands we have spent - and continue to spend - on setting up and
maintaining the site.
"You're setting up all these other topics so you can make money off of book
sales, so why not be up front about it? Doing it in this "for the general
good" attitude is annoying to others besides myself..."
When set against the thousands that the GERBILS site is costing the pittance
that the books will raise is nothing! The Books section is historically one
of the least popular parts of the site and we do not expect large sales as
you are slanderously insinuating. We are just trying to extend the service.
"Look on Julian's or Karin's web site: they give ordering information on
books *and they don't make any money from the sale of the books.*"
The site that Julian Barker maintains is The NGS site. The NGS has amended
its aims to major on Educational, to allow itself the possibility to
register as a charity in the future. Organisations that are registered as a
charity are allowed to raise funds and make an operating surplus, but they
are still non profit making organisations. In effect the NGS could offer
different items in this way in the future, but it would not leave itself
open to the accusation of being a profit making body.
We do not want to follow the same path as the NGS - all the money that comes
into this site is freely contributed - by the members of our small group -
without any chance of a return. If we wanted to make money there are many
ways to do it that are far more effective than a web site on Gerbils. One
would be stupid to assume otherwise!
"Your greed speaks for itself."
What greed? Where is the greed in setting up a large web site without any
chance of a return? The hours and hours that have happily been spent
designing and adding to the site - where is the greed in that? The
thousands of email enquiries that the site has generated that we have
happily sat there and replied to without any charge - where is the greed in
that? We constantly carry on projects through schools and with parents and
students in the United Kingdom and the United States to bolster their
teachers efforts - without any charge. Any rational person can see that the
Books section is merely a service.
I am very sorry Rebecca, that your bitterness blinds you to our desire to
give, not take...
David Hinsley,
www.gerbils.org
