And so, finally, we get to the end of this week of my guest blog postings on the fascinating subject of being paid to blog. There are lots of great comments on all the previous entries, comments that represent the major perspectives in the marketplace, ranging from "I knew I couldn't trust you, you capitalist" to "we've all got to serve somebody" [I paraphrase!]

I'd like to end with an observation about the nature of the online world: the reason that people can work on free software, produce license free applications and create open access datasets and news is because other people are making money, charging fees and licensing their products.

To put it another way, bloggers who accept payment, who more generally run their blog as a business (however large or small) are just as much the lifeblood of the blogging community as those who eschew such revenue and write "for the fun of it" or because they're passionate about their subject.

I think this is a fitting way to wrap things up, with the thought that it takes all of us, the paid and the unpaid, to make the blogosphere truly be a valuable medium of information, discussion and enlightenment.