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Since a few members insist on persisting to drive the "Concern about the New Voting rules" subject off-topic into an unrelated area, I thought I'd start this thread. I thought I'd also just start off by demonstrating, quite clearly, that the only people who have a problem with the word 'free' as commonly used are a handful of people on these forums. And hey, it'd sure be nice if certain people could manage to post without calling other people morons or insulting users who play particular games, etc.
Users of the word free as it is commonly understood:
- Google (Go ahead and search for 'free game' for instance and note the ads that come up for games that are free to play but offer the opportunity to pay extra for whatever. Google ads are patrolled, incidentally, and they shut down ads that make false claims.)
- Kart Rider (one of the largest online games in the world. It's estimated that 1 out of 4 South Koreans play it.)
- Runescape (3 million users)
- Real Arcade (millions of users)
- Habbo Hotel (40 million users)
- OnRPG.com (Major MMO site that correctly lists Achaea, for instance, as a free MMO.)
- Second Life (only about 110k users currently but one of the most talked about MUDs in the mainstream media, from the NY Times to the BBC. Basically, a graphical MOO.)
- Puzzle Pirates (graphical MUD)
- Planeshift (graphical MUD)
- Conquer Online (graphical MUD)
I could go on, but there's no real point.
On the other side, trying to redefine the word free:
- A handful of forum posters.
- Um.
Discuss.
--matt
Edit: Oh yeah! The FTC supports the commonly accepted use of the word 'free' rather than the redefinition sought by a few people here as well.
And before you get all excited, our attorney informs us that case law has determined that provision (h), which pertains to the frequency of free offers, applies to those services or products which are not typically free from that product retailer (so you can advertise 'free coffee' if you're a car wash as much as you want since you will never charge for it).
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