The reasons I am against the Global Amiga Alliance

[terriblefire]

This is an open letter to the community and David Pleasance in response to "people hiding behind pseudonyms". I dont usually sign off a post with my full name but that is why I have in this case. I am completely happy to say all this direct to David's face and he can get my phone number or address from our mutual friend and turn up at my door and I will be willing to say all this direct to him.

Many of us politely declined the original AGA Amiga 37 offering (Pay a fee to David to be a member of AGA). It was always a bit vague but even back then I thought "what do any of us get from a website that we cannot get from YouTube/Facebook/Forums?". The thoughts back then where that the man is completely out of touch with the internet age.

Which brings me to the man. Let's be honest here. David is not Jay Miner. He didnt invent the Amiga. He wasnt on the team that did. He was a sales guy. A sales guy that did pretty well in the UK 30 years ago. Respect for what he did then and many people like to hear the stories from back in the day but he wasnt one of the original Amiga visionaries. I have likened him to a roadie in a rock band. Its still cool but you cant put the band back together from that position and you certainly dont' own the band name either. You also cannot decide one day that all the fan clubs that exist out there arent what you want and you should make a better one and everyone should follow you and pay you for the privilege.

Which brings me to my first proper point. The tone of the pitch is "things arent good enough". Well i beg to differ. Regardless of what you like Amiga wise, be it Vampires, ACA, PiStorms, Buffees, Tsunami's, Checkmates, Bifrosts, Solas... Its never been so good and it is a slap in the face from David to be told its not good enough. Everyone who has worked at Amiga hardware and software over the past 5-10 years has put their heart and soul into it. Regardless of whether I personally like the people or the products they've all worked hard to produce something. That has not been acknowledged at all and its pretty distasteful. Amiga has not thrived like this since the 90s and I doubt it can get much better than this.

Which brings me on to my second point. I have spent the last seven years of my life working to open up, document and understand things that were closed away by companies in the past. I am against anything that comes from a "company" mindset in the retro space. I want things to be available and as free as possible to make. I would not pay for information thats already free. We have thrived in the last 5 years because we've got rid of that company mindset and moved on. Anything going back in that direction is a backwards step.

No doubt there might be some that will argue that i could have been paid to do this under the AGA framework. But that misses the point of the whole thing entirely. I don't WANT to be paid. I want to be able to come and go from the project as my life permits. I don't NEED a second job. For sure i would never have done half the things that have happened in Terriblefire land if it had become a paid gig. I also want complete control over my own hobbies. There is absolutely no way I will endorse anyone who wants to "Govern" it.

Attempt to put any of my IP or work behind a paywall will be met with the strongest possible opposition. I am happy for people to enjoy what I do because I love the community. I've also no problem with the builders making a fair return for their work. But attempting to monetise my hard work and close it off is not on and I will not permit it. I am not the only one who feels this way.

The idea of channelling money into development is what Patreon and Kickstarter is for. Dave would be better running a YouTube channel and having guests on to talk about their projects and letting the viewers decide if they want to support it or not. We have so many thriving forums. Exxos, EAB, A1k, even PPA.PL :lol:

Finally, and very seriously, I have spoken to four of the people listed on the kickstarter and they all me that they had not given permission for their name to be used on it or were even asked. One person has asked to be removed from it but thus far has not.

Dr. Stephen James Leary
aka. Terrible Fire

[trixster]

Hear Hear

[mrbombermillzy]

I know its not quite the same, but havent @exxos and @Icky just announced a similar initiative, but for free?

I guess Atari IS STILL power without the price! :D

One thing I noticed over the years, theres always some middleman trying to get rich by peddling other peoples wares in Amigaland. :(

Just goes to show how lucky we are to have this forum with all the 'free information' and help.

Finally, and very seriously, I have spoken to four of the people listed on the kickstarter and they all me that they had not given permission for their name to be used on it or were even asked. One person has asked to be removed from it but thus far has not.

That doesnt sound good does it? :shock:

.

[PhilC]

Pretty sure I won't be supporting their efforts.

[exxos]

I know its not quite the same, but havent @exxos and @Icky just announced a similar initiative, but for free?

Putting information behind a paywall just isn't a good idea. IF he expects people to contribute to the thing, then he's going to have to pay a whole lot of people, or does he expect it to be done for free ? Nobody will bother if its a paywall stopping free information which people maybe freely contributed. The idea simply doesn't work.

I don't think there really needs to be another Amiga forum, if people were that passionate about it then why not simply come to this forum and help expand our Amiga section ? It certainly has not happened so far. So I doubt it will happen behind a pay wall either.

There are paywall newspapers, if they any good or not , no idea. I just go elsewhere if I want to know something. A paywall for a basically dying community doesn't have the traffic to make it worthwhile. I think some forums have adverts presumably to help pay to keep the forum alive. I sell stuff in my store to help fund this forum. I personally cannot stand adverts spammed everywhere. Internet is full of them enough as it is.

As terrible fire says, the whole thing seems to be somewhat ignorant of everything he has freely brought to the community over the past several years. Such things simply would not happen behind a pay wall.

Realistically if he was that passionate as it seems, he should do all the work for free out of his own pocket. I pay for this forum out of my own pocket. People of course help out, but it is the community which makes forums like this one simply work. If I put this forum behind a pay wall (the ideas have crossed my mind that some points) then practically nobody would bother coming here any more. People will just go over to other forums / groups like facebook etc. Most of the people seem to hang out on Facebook these days anyway. I'm not sure the youth of today even knows what a forum is.

[JezC]

People will just go over to other forums / groups like facebook etc. Most of the people seem to hang out on Facebook these days anyway. I'm not sure the youth of today even knows what a forum is.

I've basically done the opposite so I'm rarely bothering with FB & just go between this one (and sometimes the Atari forum too).
If I ever get through my 'priority' Atari repairs then I still have the A500 & A500+ to resurrect but I doubt I'll be asking for advice anywhere other than this forum!

[alexh]

I've never met David, I don't know anything about him today. But are we sure this really David's idea? Or is he just the face?

I backed his first book kickstarter, it was an ok read. It was set in his era where his anecdotes were relevant. But the other books published by him were "co-written" by someone else and discus things completely outside of his era. I would be very surprised if he had very much other to do with them other than bank his cheque. (I totally apologise if this is not the case).

I read his facebook posts and lots of them do not "sound" like they are written by him directly. But by his "co-authors".

This just smells like a money grab. I won't be backing.

[PhilC]

P.S. we do have to put that these are the opinions of the posters and the posters alone. The owners and operators of the Exxos forum do neither agree or disagree with the comments mentioned in this Topic.

[stephen_usher]

It does seem like something an "old school" marketing person from the time before open, hobbyist designed and implemented hardware and software would come up with I'm afraid.

Unfortunately, it also comes across as a scam, even if it's not meant to be.

[chue]

The alliance appears to be cancelled

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/am ... e?ref=card