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SYSOP COMPENSATION
There are a lot of misconceptions about how
the networks work.
In the November Compute! Arlan Levitan
made a comment in his Telecomputing Today
column concerning "...a lucrative sysop position
on CompuServe..." Though he withdrew the
comment in his December column, I think it
accurately reflects a general misconception
about the way the networks operate. (And he's
a telecommunications expert!)
Most nets compensate their system operators,
or sysops, with free connect time. That's it.
Some reportedly also offer a percentage of
connect time charges from those who access the
area the sysop maintains, though I've never
spoken to a sysop online who's had that kind
of a deal. But in any event, the compensation
is never equivalent to the amount of work that
goes into maintaining an area on a major
network.
The sysop's duties include policing the
messages users upload for accuracy and illegal
or immoral content, maintaining the download
databases, scheduling online conferences and
conference guests, maintaining and continually
updating the message boards, posting bulletins
about activities and system changes, spending
time online for users to chat with, and
maintaining user membership rolls. That takes
an incredible amount of time. Needless to say,
those who take on the job of system operator
do so at great personal cost. Their
compensation is minimal compared to their
efforts. It is a labor of love.
Is that fair? In a recent late-night
conversation with one sysop on a major
network, he revealed to me that his online area
was the top connect-time moneymaker for that
network. His compensation was free connect
time. Is it fair for a company which is in
business to make money to expect people to
maintain their system for them essentially for
free ? I think not. The time has come for the
networks to realize this: Without the sysops to
provide the online information, network users
would be stuck staring at a blank screen. How
much online time do you think they could sell
for a blank screen?
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Perhaps some of the blame can be placed on
the naivete of computer users. We love this
hobby, and I'm sure that the chance to run a
user area on a major network is a big personal
thrill. However, the networks do not provide
these services out of the goodness of their
hearts. They are in business to make money.
And if they can get someone to maintain their
system for them for free, they make more
money. Lots of it. We estimate that just one
major network is pulling in at least $600,000 a
month from Commodore users, and The Source
made a profit of $13 million last year. Others
did even better.
The time has come for the networks to get
honest and start compensating those who do the
work of making the networks worth signing
onto. If you are a regular user of the nets,
we'd encourage you to leave a message online
to the management of the system, telling them
you'd like to sec them start paying their sysops.
They're worth it.
UPLOAD POLICIES
A corollary to the sysop compensation
question is the upload policy of the networks.
Until recently, users were actually charged
connect time to upload programs which then
became an asset to the network. GEnie
changed all that this year by making upload
time free, and the other nets followed suit.
But, wait a minute! That just means that it
now doesn't cost you anything to upload stuff
that then makes money for the network when
people pay connect time to download it. They
are still not paying anything for what they are
getting.
We'd suggest that the nets adopt a method of
compensating users for uploaded software.
Maybe they could offer an additional free
minute of connect time for every minute spent
uploading software. Or better yet, how about
crediting the contributor with a percentage of
the revenues generated by the actual amount of
access his uploaded program generates? That
would really stimulate the development of the
online software databases!