By Slanted Light

Well, firstly there are no "bad guys" or "good guys" in this discussion, as much as things that I'm curious about, and may or may not agree with myself. But someone would have to act really extremely to be a "bad guy" to me! *g*

For me, this is the only affordable way how to get a zine
I do appreciate that it's more affordable than printed zines, and I appreciate that it's a fast way of getting hold of the zine too. What I feel though, is that if print zines were originally a way of sharing stories between fans, and that the cost involved was only ever supposed to cover the cost of the publisher printing and binding them, then it seems strange that publishers are now charge money for something they can do without any cost at all (we all upload stories to the internet) - so why are they charging at all for those downloadable stories? What expenses do they have to cover, without the cost of paper, printing and binding? Why can't you have those stories for free?

I see it as a way to help to reduce the loss.
Okay, so you're saying that you don't mind subsidising the cost of print zines for those people that want them. Even though you can't have them yourself (for the reasons you've said above), you don't mind paying to let other people have them?

the one that usually costs the editor much more money then he/she will ever get back from the actual sale
This is interesting - I've always thought that it was usually the other way around, that print-zine publishers priced their zines so that they always covered their costs, and some seem to price very much higher than that (and apparently some cost in the price of the airfares and registration at conventions, where they then sell the zines too) What is it that makes you think it's more often the other way around?

but it's nothing even a below-average IT student wouldn't cope with
But I'm not even a below-average IT student! And I'm certainly not underconfident with IT, like alot of (especially older) fans. So the question of printing is more important for some people than others, I think...