I ask this not to flame, but as a genuine philosophical inquiry. Isn't it contrary to the spirit of the commons, to get paid (even minimally) for your writing? I think of the commons as an area where everyone contributes freely, out of the goodness of their hearts. And as a result, the products and information are equally freely available, which works since they didn't cost anything to produce. But if people are being paid to put stuff into the commons, won't people have to be charged to use it?

My concern is that this whole thing is a veiled attempt to promote public financing of information production, in effect "socialized content". The only way I can see for people to be paid to produce, while no one has to pay to take, is if the producers are paid by the government, which taxes users to acquire the necessary funds. Am I reading too much into this, and having a knee jerk libertarian reaction? Or do commons advocates agree that government financing is the most sensible approach, as an ultimate goal?