>I was raised to believe that I should leave the world and each part of it that I touch better than I found it.
>I try to live my life that way. Your assertion that the way I do so is selfish and inadequate reflects only
>your own warped views of generosity.

I do not criticize any of those areas in your life where you are so giving. Those things are what we should be doing.

The areas I criticize are the only one's I've personally been exposed to regarding you. These are the areas you participate in which are encompassed by the general idea that hoarding for money is a good idea in a digital world, and that receiving financial reward should be the primary goal (rather than helping people -- even if in the financial reward model you actually do give help to some in the midst of that offering).

For example, you've written a FoxPro book. Or several (I don't know). Great. Release it/them for free download. The book is already written, it's been proof-read, and is ready-to-go. Such an offering will help thousands, a true asset people would desire. Many would donate back to you, but many more would receive gain from your generosity of giving.

You put together a Southwest Fox show bringing many knowledgeable people together to present. Great. Ask volunteers to record the sessions and then make them available to everybody so that the thousands can benefit from the wide area of expertise and experience.

You do a local VFP user's group. Great. Record the sessions and release them so thousands can share in your group's knowledge and experience.

The digital world allows for things the real/tangible world does not. It offers unlimited replication at no cost using the digital devices and services already being paid for. And denying use of that gift for money reasons, controlling-the-content unless someone pays, or because you think it might diminish your personal experience (such as by loss of some aspects of the face-to-face should some people realize they can get a portion by watching the videos rather than paying thousands to show up), such a reasons is simply wrong.

There are things in my life I do right. There are things in my life I do wrong. People point things out to me from time to time and I alter my behavior because of it. In this case, the digital world realization has not caught up with a lot of people yet. They're still applying the tangible world limitation-based mentality to the digital world where it simply is not applicable.

I've spent time over the past however many months (probably close to 12) explaining this philosophy as best I'm able. It's the thing I am on about in these responses. The digital world is not like the tangible world. We can have our cake and eat it too in the digital world (still possess our copy as we give away unlimited copies as well).

Our community's thinking in this area needs to change, and the goals of meeting the needs of the endless number of people whom we could help, those who have needs (such as learning more about FoxPro, or about anything we have skills in) [strike]should[/strike]must be our focus. We have been given a gift by God, and the ability to spread our skills, talents, knowledge and experience out to the countless masses of living souls. This is a worthy endeavor, and one that is today being trumped by personal reasons, personal interests, personal concerns, and at least several of them relate back to money concerns.