Airliners.net selling out.........

[Rifleman]

Anyone else get an e-mail announcing their intentions to allow themselves to be bought out ?

From the e-mail
[quote]Hi all,

As you probably know, Airliners.net keeps growing year after year with
more photos, more forum posts, more visitors, more users and more
photographers. This is fantastic. I could never in my wildest dreams have
imagined this success when I started the site ten years ago.

And what comes with success?? Managing it. And I know you have felt some
of the growing pains. There are infrastructure issues

[dcunning30]

Seems he has a passion for airliners, not running a large and growing website, and all that it requires.

[Wing Nut]

Not really, considering he asks people to donate photo's, then sells them for a profit...  The quality of pics at Airliners has been slipping for years; hopefully it will pick up again a bit now...

[dcunning30]

[quote]Not really, considering he asks people to donate photo's, then sells them for a profit...

[expat]

Not really, considering he asks people to donate photo's, then sells them for a profit...  The quality of pics at Airliners has been slipping for years; hopefully it will pick up again a bit now...

Your'e kidding???!!!???  

...so it's all about the money, then?

Today, when is is not  :-/

Matt

[alrot]

I hope never disapear , many designers depends on this site to creates their models (myself included)

[Omag 2.0]

What do you expect? When a site like airliners, or this one, grow out off their boundaries, the owners can only stretch with them or give in. Not everyone wants to set up a major serversystem purely for the enjoyment of others. Nice to see that the owner thinks of the community and doesn't wan't his work to go to waste. Must be hard to let go though...

[Wing Nut]

Fair enough, Omag, but they have a membership for that.  The rest is just extra...

[born_2_fly]

Not really, considering he asks people to donate photo's, then sells them for a profit...  The quality of pics at Airliners has been slipping for years; hopefully it will pick up again a bit now...

I don't think this is done in a Malicious way. If you read the text when ordering a print you will see that the prints are produced by a company outside of airliners.net, and so there will be costs associated with that.

I agree with you to some degree that the quality has been slipping recently, but you must remember, the Internet has exploded across the globe and so many more people now have access than they did even 5 years ago. Good photography equipment is becoming (relatively speaking) more affordable to the normal person, and many people want to share their photo's on the web. I still think the screeners do a good job at keeping the quality of the pictures high, weather or not the content is becoming less interesting is debatable, as this relates back to so many more pictures, it is hard to be original, and some of the more breathtaking pictures come together by chance.

Alex

[Xyn_Air]

Not really, considering he asks people to donate photo's, then sells them for a profit...  The quality of pics at Airliners has been slipping for years; hopefully it will pick up again a bit now...

Your'e kidding???!!!???  

...so it's all about the money, then?

Today, when is is not  :-/

Matt

Is there something inherently wrong with combing a personal interest and being able to make some money at it?  I mean, if someone wanted to pay me to, for example, play FS all day while spending time with my daughter and drawing pictures, I sure as heck would do it.

Altruism is a nice concept, but it often rests somewhere in the lands of idealism versus reality.  For some people, the motivation to go the extra mile in sharing their interests and talents with others is that they get something from it that makes them feel good.  That could be overcoming technical challenges, being praised by one's peers, or even receiving money.  That's just the reward factor for why to do something.  In doing it, you also need resources, which could include time, skill acquisition (such as for managing a growing network of dedicated servers), and money (because the last time I checked, the computer store won't take good intentions in trade for their latest systems).

But, if the fact that someone would make an airline-related website for money, or charge money to keep it operating, bothers you, nothing is stopping you from making your own website and doing it absolutely at no-cost to your fellow aviation enthusiasts.  ;)

I know this seems like a pretty pissy rant, and it kind of is.  I just get aggravated to see people equate making money in combination with an interest as being somehow inherently shady or disagreeable.  I face it as a teacher every time I talk about my pay.  Yes, I love teaching, but I also have bills to pay (like the school loans I used to go to school to become a teacher!) and a family to support.  I can be an enthusiastic teacher and well-compensated and still have everything be peachy keen.  Likewise, the founders of airliners.net can be avid airlines enthusiasts and receive money for what they do and provide and it can still all be a good thing.

[/rant_end]

Ahem.  Sorry about that.  Guess we all have something that gets our dander up.  :-[

[Wing Nut]

There's nothing wrong with making money; I have absolutely nothing against that.  I do have a problem with them asking people to give away their work and then selling it for a profit.  Were they to give some kind of compensation for work that is then sold, then I would say go for it.  As it is, people think it's an honor to get their pics posted there, when they're really being ripped off.

[Tweek]

There's nothing wrong with making money; I have absolutely nothing against that.  I do have a problem with them asking people to give away their work and then selling it for a profit.  Were they to give some kind of compensation for work that is then sold, then I would say go for it.  As it is, people think it's an honor to get their pics posted there, when they're really being ripped off.

I have to say, I'm unfamiliar of Johan personally gaining money from selling individual photos on the site (I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, but I just haven't heard of it). However, a lot of people that post their photos on there end up having their work printed in publications or featured on major websites (of air forces and airlines for example), because of the fact their photos are out there, and getting massive exposure due to it being uploaded to such a large and successful site (ie. there's more chance of a publisher/establishment spotting it). Even if they aren't paid for it (which I'm sure a lot of them are, especially if printed in books and magazines), the photographer can still gain satisfaction from the fact that their photo(s) was/were good enough to be featured in whatever medium it may be.

[born_2_fly]

There's nothing wrong with making money; I have absolutely nothing against that.  I do have a problem with them asking people to give away their work and then selling it for a profit.  Were they to give some kind of compensation for work that is then sold, then I would say go for it.  As it is, people think it's an honor to get their pics posted there, when they're really being ripped off.

No-one has to upload their pictures  ::)

[Mictheslik]

I really dont care if my photographs are "sold" to this company....by what I've heard it sounds like the new owners will keep the site going as it is, and will make further improvements, which can only be a good thing

.mic

[dcunning30]

[quote][quote][quote][quote]Not really, considering he asks people to donate photo's, then sells them for a profit...