dshafer

I agree completely with your observation about Ts&Cs. OTOH, I have a legal background and I know that agreements like this one (they used to be called 'rip-and-sign' back in the days of packaged software) are hard to enforce. I know of the problems and I still seldom do more than scan them to see if they contain an egregious paragraph or two that I look out for.

I'm not sure if Americans "expect to be bailed out all the time," but I do know that we expect as consumers not to have our rights trampled on arbitrarily. As a nation of laws, that's inconvenient sometimes but it's vastly preferable to any alternative I've seen.

That is a politically conservative perspective and I respect your right to hold it. I don't see government as inherently bad, evil or inefficient, let alone uncaring.

No disagreement. See my earlier reply just above. I tossed that idea out to see if it would stimulate some thinking about a good way to address the issue.

I do not advocate government regulation. I raise it as a possibility hoping others will offer better solutions. So far, nobody has.

It is clear that, as a matter of law, users of free services are not entitled to any expectation of treatment. It is also true that as a matter of courtesy and integrity that those who supply such free services have a better plan than "Screw you, I'm outta here" in mind for if/when things go in a different direction.

Fascinating. You judge me in my entirety as an enemy of the future just because I post a single message with which you disagree. You indicate by your response that you prefer tossing word-bombs and accusations around in ad hominem attacks rather than engaging in meaningful dialog.

I guess you can see it as entitlement on the part of the consumer but I see a sense of entitlement here on the part of the publisher. And who said anything about not sacrificing quality? You're projecting your fears onto me, hardly a fair argument.

The logic here is simple. If you provide a service, you have a moral obligation to treat those who use it with some modicum of respect. You obviously see some gain in being in the business or you wouldn't be there.

To say that I don't "consider the obvious" assumes that I've managed to put into a short blog post all my thoughts on the subject, again hardly a fair observation. I agree that if you have information that is valuable, you should pay for its storage and use or have it backed up. But that is obviously not true of a huge percentage of Internet users.

I don't advocate regulation. I wonder out loud if that's a viable solution. There are other approaches, such as a non-profit escrow system of some sort.

I just don't think it's considerate or in one's own enlightened self-interest to behave as if users of your free service are entitled to expect nothing. That just feels like a dishonorable way to do business.