Re: w3c?

On Sat, 2007-08-11 at 22:20 +1000, Sam Schmidt wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> Feedback for this page:
>  
> http://www.w3.org/Consortium/sup#major
>  
> Absolutely shocking w3c. I just applied to become a supporter, but
> unfortunately I can only afford $100 US, which I will of course go
> ahead and do because I believe W3 makes a vast contribution to the
> internet in general. 

Thank you, we appreciate your support very much.

> But I am a little confused by that above mentioned page, it appears
> that you accept any supporters - and it appears that (the vast
> majority of) your supporters have paid $1000 just to get a link from
> your Google Page rank 9 supporter page. 

Please note our FAQ [1] entry:

 4. Will the link from the Supporters page improve my ranking by search
engines?

        W3C makes no assurances that sites linked from the Supporters
        program will see improved ranking in search engine results. W3C
        instructs search engines to ignore links from the Supporters
        page.

   [1] http://www.w3.org/Consortium/sup#faq

> I am not even going to bother retyping some of the more dubious links
> that w3c has on that page as this email would probably get tagged as
> ham in a can.
>  
> I realise that your 119 Major Supporters have contributed (a minimum
> of) $119,000 USD which is great for you guys and you deserve every bit
> of it and more. But - what a sell out.. it really is the first bit of
> w3 I have ever seen that looks cheap and utterly unprofessional.
>  As I said, I still wish to go ahead and be a supporter but having my
> business name up on that page along with all that trash isn't really
> that appealing (.. yet I still want it there ;-) ).
>
> Other than that one minor flaw, keep up the great work.

Thank you for the feedback. We evaluate the program from time to time,
and the issues you raise are the primary ones we ask ourselves about
this program. Thank you for letting us know your thoughts on the matter.

We appreciate your support and look forward to improving the program
based on feedback such as yours.

 _ Ian Jacobs, Head of W3C Communications

 
> Kind Regards,
>  
> Sam.
-- 
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel:                     +1 718 260-9447