Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

My Comment on Stephen King's Site

Author:Paul Snively
Posted:7/24/2000; 4:12:32 PM
Topic:My Comment on Stephen King's Site
Msg #:18977
Prev/Next:18976 / 18978

Folks,

While there is a comment area on <http://www.stephenking.com>, apparently all the comments are reviewed by staff before being released to the public. While I respect Mr. King's right to exercise this level of control, it does strike me as unweb-like. Since it was this site that prompted me to comment (indeed, that made me aware that Mr. King's site existed, and this from a decade-plus-long King fan), here are my comments, in their entirety:

(Aside to non-King fans: "I'm not your #1 fan" is a tongue-in-cheek reference to "Misery," a story in which a writer is rescued from a horrible car accident by a psychopath who claims to be his #1 fan.)

"Dear Mr. King,

Let me begin by saying that I'm not your #1 fan. :-)

Next let me thank you for taking the leap of faith of making "The Plant" available on the honor system. I would very much enjoy reading your latest work.

Unfortunately, while the only means to pay for it is through Amazon, I can't: Amazon is engaged in flagrant abuse of the patent office by virtue of having patented both "one-click shopping" and "affiliate marketing" systems, systems that, as a professional software developer, I know are both not original concepts and have prior art. Consequently, I'm boycotting Amazon; they represent, in cyberspace, the very 'Big Publishing' entities that you are attempting to circumvent.

Please let me strongly recommend that you instead accept payment through mechanisms such as <http://www.paypal.com> or <http://www.e-gold.com> until such time as there is a widely-accepted micropayment or digital cash standard.

Many thanks and best regards, Paul Snively"

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