Since I've started raffling off the Phil Mill II, I've gotten a few questions along the lines of "What's in it for you?", so I thought I'd take a few moments to explain.

I've been using the Internet since 1985 when the university I was attending got their first UNIX system. Back then we had email, but a lot of it was 'bang-path' addresses. That meant you did not only have to know who you were sending to, but also had to include full details on how to get it there! We used to have FTP downloads back then, too. But the entire university campus was connected to the Internet with a single 9600 baud modem, and they only connected once per hour just long enough to transfer data back and forth. So to download stuff you had to send email to an FTP autobot with a list of commands in the body of the email. On the hour your email would go out, and eventually you'd get email back with attachments for the files you requested.

Those were the days! Not.

The point here is that I was weaned on an Internet that was used primarily as a research tool. It was adamantly free, and everyone cooperated with each other, and shared the information they had. I even recall one guy who for years openly advertised that he did not have a password on his account, and that the Internet was such a great place that he did not have to worry that someone would log in and mess anything up on him. That was the spirit of the Internet back then.

Back in those days I used to buy and sell things on USENET (the real name for 'newsgroups') in 'forsale' groups to people across North America, and even in Hawaii. I never thought for a second that someone would rip me off. Three years ago I made some transactions on Ebay for the first time, and someone ripped me off. I'll probably never use it again.

I clearly recall in the early 90's when the Internet went commercial. There was no such thing as ISPs before this. I distinctly recall what a foreign concept that was, and recall thinking that it would be a good thing because now more people could access this wonderful tool, but I also thought it was a bad thing because a piece of what the Internet was would die. And largely it did. More than just a piece.

In 1994 when I moved back from Germany a co-worker showed me the World Wide Web. In the spirit of the Internet it was invented in Switzerland as a research tool, to allow scientists to share information around the world. I recall trying to explain it to my brother on the phone. Wow! This really was new and exciting! Around the same time I started making beer, so put 2 and 2 together and my website was born! And of course being an old-school Internet geek, I thought of it as my contribution to the Collective Knowledge which was and still is the Internet. I was able to give something back.

Fast forward to 1999 when I first started thinking about ways to fund my site. As we've already established, the Internet isn't free anymore. And running a server that a lot of people visit is even less free because of the high-speed connection required, the server hardware itself, as well as the bandwidth charges. That all adds up - to the tune of thousands of dollars over the years, if not 10's of thousands by now. All out of my pocket. For a good ballpark figure on what's involved, check out the HBD's ledger. And of course those estimates do not include the time I've put into it. I thought long and hard about how to fund it. Well over a year, in fact. At first even thinking about it made me think I was 'selling out'. After 5 or 6 months of pondering it in my own head, I finally approached some of the guys in our club to ask what they thought of the idea. They were very supportive.

So I pondered some more. And some more. And some more. This wasn't an easy decision, and it actually took me a good couple of years to make. I came up with 3 possible ways to fund it :

• ask for donations (much like the HBD)
• charge users a direct subscription fee (several homebrew sites do this)
• sell ads

I ruled out the 2nd option without even giving it much thought, because that would be selling out in my opinion. The Internet is afterall supposed to be free, even if it has been commercialised now. No user has ever paid for the info on my site, and if I have anything to say about none ever will. Asking for donations is a nice thought - that's how Open Source software works. But that's too much like public television for me. Nobody wants to be constantly pestered to pony-up some dough. That's just annoying.

The final option of selling ads worked well for two reasons :

• the users still get all of their information for free
• if the Internet is to be commercialised, then let's let free enterprise pay for it

Hey, works for me!

So what's in it for me when I give away a free mill? Two things, really. The biggest part of it is that I am able to keep the spirit of the Internet alive - not only do you get free information, but you also get a shot at free stuff, too! It's my little contribution to the Collective. I've benefitted immensely from the Internet over the years, and all of it was free. This is my little way of giving something back. But secondarily it will hopefully attract more users to the site. That will hopefully keep the advertisers advertising, and in turn I'll be able to keep offering free stuff you guys!

That's about all there is to it, really.

ADDENDUM : 2005.05.06. I just wanted to point out that while 2003 was a pretty good year for advertising on my site, and the money I took in more than paid for my costs, it has by far been the only year I have not been in the red. I still have a few advertisers, and thank goodness for them! But I'm still very-much in the red with running this site. And it doesn't bother me one single bit because this is a labour of love.

What really bothers me is when some a-hole comes along and says "What's in it for you?", as someone just did they other day.