Seriously, what is with all the hostility?

eriksangel15:Seriously, what is with all the hostility?

Seriously? It's more exasperation.

Alkanadi:

erinja:It won't be monetized, ever.

I agree that some things aren't worth monetizing. But why not dream big just like Icarus. Be like Icarus. Don't be like my school teachers that were always telling us to be realistic. Carpe Diem (seize the day).

I made a short Esperanto comic just for fun and I am now making about 5 dollars per month.

Did you make a comic? I believe you said you didn't do the illustrations at all. So where did they come from? You should be giving at least half (probably more) of that $5 to the person who did the real work.

You do remember exactly what happened to Icarus don't you?

johmue:

Alkanadi:

johmue:To me it would be way more interesting if contributing to Esperanto was linked to making money. If we were to find ways to pay people who teach, proofread, make music, podcasts, videos, movies, write novels, plays ... you name it.

Yah. That would be better. Like if there was a big demand for Esperanto content then people would want to learn Esperanto for more than just friendship.

That was not actually my point. My point is that nobody will learn Esperanto out of an economic insentive. So nobody will learn Esperanto because there is a demand for Esperanto content.

What might happen is that more people will learn Esperanto because there is interesting content. For more interesting content to be created it would be good if we were to find ways to support our content creators.

Exactly.

Vestitor:

johmue:What might happen is that more people will learn Esperanto because there is interesting content. For more interesting content to be created it would be good if we were to find ways to support our content creators.

Exactly.

Yes, and as memorably noted by Kabe, "Esperanton plej necese devas lerni la Esperantistoj mem!" You need to learn the language before you can create content, so if you want to promote the language and create new content, you need to actually learn the language.

Alkanadi:We were not talking about what is better. We were just talking about possibilities.

For me, Esperanto is merely a hobby at this point. Have I thought about making money with Esperanto? Yes, if I ever attain a state of fluency in the language. I've thought about writing things in Esperanto (or translating some of my English stuff) and possibly offering it for sale in print and/or electronic form. So yes, I can imagine myself trying to monetize Esperanto. But do I imagine making a profit at it? No, not really. As they say, "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." I would not spend any money on the project that I couldn't afford to lose. Likewise, I would probably never invest serious money into someone else's Esperanto projects for the sake of profit. I can see making a donation to keep certain projects alive (like lernu!) but that's about it.

I have nothing against capitalism, but I don't think we can count on capitalism alone to keep Esperanto thriving. I'm sure I don't need to say it, but some things in life just aren't about the money. I'd imagine the average Esperantisto has made peace with that long ago.

Vestitor:Did you make a comic? I believe you said you didn't do the illustrations at all. So where did they come from? You should be giving at least half (probably more) of that $5 to the person who did the real work.

I translated a comic and paid someone to edit it (another example of monetization). The illustrations are in the public domain, which were provided by the United States Government.

You do remember exactly what happened to Icarus don't you?

Yes. Icarus flew too low and his wings got wet from the ocean. The modern version of the story is different from the original.

Alkanadi:

Vestitor:Did you make a comic? I believe you said you didn't do the illustrations at all. So where did they come from? You should be giving at least half (probably more) of that $5 to the person who did the real work.

I translated a comic and paid someone to edit it (another example of monetization). The illustrations are in the public domain, which were provided by the United States Government.

Well good luck with cashing in on the back of free, government-supplied material. You can be the Donald Trump of Esperanto, you already share with him the gift of talking nonsense at length.

Alkanadi:

Vestitor:You do remember exactly what happened to Icarus don't you?

Yes. Icarus flew too low and his wings got wet from the ocean. The modern version of the story is different from the original.

Which 'modern' version of this myth is that? The one in Ovid perhaps? The warning was 'not too high or the wax will melt, not too low or the waves will get you'. You can't alter this just to suit your needs.

Vestitor:Well good luck with cashing in on the back of free, government-supplied material.

I am not trying to cash in on it. This project was for fun and to test the market. I will be giving a portion of the money to an Esperanto project (as I promised to do within the book itself).

It is not free material. It is paid for with taxes. That is why it is in the public domain. The people paid for it, so the people own it. I even received permission in writing just make sure there are no issues.

If you don't like it, you don't have to buy it.

erinja:

Alkanadi:I meant, what if the situation in the world was such that Esperanto speakers have a financial incentive for learning the language.

But the situation isn't like that and I can't imagine it ever being like that so I don't see much point in spending a lot of time considering that particular "what if".

What if the parking and traffic around my house would magically get better, would I drive to work instead of using public transport? What if my office went to a 20 hour a week schedule at the same pay, what would I do with all that extra time? So many things in life are just not worth spending too many brain cells over because they simply aren't going to happen.

"A failure of imagination is not an insight into necessity."
-- Patrick Barrow