No, it doesn't have to go both ways. There are lots of people here who offer their support for free. There are also people here who sell products at razor-thin margins specifically because they want to help people get started in the hobby.
Take a look at DZ's break-out board and ask yourself if you could afford to hand-assemble those and sell them for just $12. Or better yet, what about the color board for $50? Do you think you could make any money at that price after you paid for the boards, the components, and completed over 500 solder joints by hand? But David did it anyway, and sold a lot of them - making many hobbyists very happy.
What you are forgetting is that you build customer loyalty by offering exceptional service to everyone - even those who didn't buy from you in the first place. Over time, they will reward you with their future business.
Yeah, it seems very transparent to me. You are only willing to help people who buy from you. Unfortunately, that's nothing to be proud of. All successful businesses do that already.
Yes. Yes I am. And I'm not impressed in the least. What do you want, a cookie?Getting the picture?
Your behavior towards DJLorenz is petty, childish, and absolutely *not* in the best interests of furthering the hobbyist community. Sounds to me like he made the right choice by going with Rob (Stanwax).
Adam