Reply #9: I'm a professional journalist, and have been since 1974.

[MineralMan]

I get paid for my writing, and get paid well. I also contribute voluntarily to a number of websites. The two things are different.

The willingness of so many people to write for nothing has damaged professional writing beyond what you would believe. I have many friends who have been professional writers for many years, who are now working for pennies a word, since there are so many people working for nothing.

The voluntary writers are not my friends, nor the friends of people who make and made their careers from their skills. They have destroyed the world of journalism and sent so many skilled professionals into other fields.

My sympathies are not with those people who wrote primarily for vanity's sake or to sell their books, or for whatever reason they wrote for HuffPo and other such sites. They have destroyed a profession.

I'm still making a living with my writing. There are reasons for that. I'm no longer getting paid $1.00 a word, though, and I'm no longer a journalist. Still, my skills keep me making a living.

No sympathy. Not even a little. Your mileage may vary.