What I've started doing is cutting and pasting posts which interest me, such as the Quicken font thread I started in the Other OSes forum. That information was valuable, not just the information that pertained to my current purposes, but the history that some of the posters knew. Should that knowledge and information being given away online for free? That knowledge has come from hard work.
My own knowledge of computers has come through decades of learning on my own, largely by trial and error and my own experience and wits, not from school or from a teacher or friend—and of course from this web site. For how many years? Going back to Macfixit? Even in those days I never knew anyone near me who used a Mac except eventually the public library. There was no one I could talk to, whether for help or pleasure. Just me and my magazines, magazines I paid for and learned from. I even read the ads, dreaming of the day I would have money. I'm still dreaming.
Sometimes I wonder about people putting their knowledge online without getting paid for it. That goes even for people who make comments at the end of an article on some site. There's nothing to keep the writers on that site from using the end comments for story ideas. I don't want to get into copyright, but my understanding is that once you put your work online anyone can claim it and use it. Even it's illegal, it's going to happen. I believe everyone ought to be paid for their efforts. The acquisition of knowledge takes effort. Disseminating it in clear language takes effort. But when an author puts his work online, anyone can cut and paste it.
If I were a writer of any kind, I wouldn't want to put my stuff, esp. my best stuff, online without getting sufficient pay—or no pay. I wouldn't want to write a joke or comic sketch only to see it show up on Jimmy Fallon without my having earned a dime.
