[dijit]

my point is about offering services free at point of sale for communities. Not necessarily about what technology I use to do that.

If I stop running the community it will die unless a benefactor steps in as I pay it from my pocket. thats the point.

We are coded to expect services for free but it rests on the altruism of individuals or as an investment for companies.

If its an investment: at some point those companies will want something back and likely more and more over time.

[BriggyDwiggs42]

This is a given. Is your only point that we should be more skeptical of free stuff or is there something deeper here?

[dijit]

Nothing deeper, skeptical is a fair term but impractical.

Consider instead what the person stands to gain.

In my case I invest in my network because it makes me independent and that is my objective and I am happy to pay for that.

For other people its because they might want to foster open source (freenode for example) and thus your for-profit business or gamer clan isn't the right fit.

Due diligence is the correct term. Not skepticism.