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• Monday, August 18, 2008 09:43 PM

  What an idiot

  I am sorry to have to do this, but this Machinist post is what it is: the absolute dumbest thing that I have read on Salon. Ever.

  Mr. Farivar doesn't want to pay for cable? Mr. Farivar isn't willing to sit through a couple minutes of ads on Hulu?

  And he thinks that he has a right to complain about the lack of timeliness in the shows he and his friends want to watch for free?

  Get a clue.

  These shows cost money to produce. If you don't like the revenue models, feel free to complain. If you don't think that the shows are worth the money -- or the couple of minutes to watch a handful of ads, fine.

  But you can't complain that they aren't catering to you. You are not a client. You are not a customer. You and your friends are freeloaders. Nothing more than freeloaders. Perhaps leeches. Or parasites.

  And you, personally, are an idiot. You think that Hulu would be awesome if all the shows were posted immediately for full -- and free -- viewing. That would not be awesome. That would be the death of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Office, The Shield and all the other shows you and your friends love. Viacom and the others would not produce these shows if they could not make money on them. Jon Stewart, Colbert, Steve Carell, Michael Chiklis and the other stars would not appear in them. The writers would not produce scripts.

  Of course, there is also the question of your own hypocrisy. You are being paid to produce content on a site that charges for much of its content. Where do you think that that money comes from? It comes from the ads (which you would bypass) & and the subscription fees (which you don't think are worth your money).

  Let's be clear here. You objections are not that you have to pay too much money or watch too many ads. Your objection is simpy that you don't want pay any money or watch any ads.

  Grow up. If you don't like the current models, feel free to offer one that works better. But don't simply whine that you can't get everything you want for free.

  —ceolaf Read ceolaf's other letters
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