[WEB4LIB] RE: Live help no longer free from WebHelp.com??

[Judy Matthews]

Yes, even we lowly librarians receive compensation for our reference work.
;-) 
 
Judy Matthews
Michigan State University  

> ----------
> From: 	Richard Wiggins[SMTP:wiggins at mail.com]
> Reply To: 	wiggins at mail.com
> Sent: 	Tuesday, January 16, 2001 5:56 AM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	[WEB4LIB] RE: Live help no longer free from WebHelp.com??
> 
> The business sections are full of headlines describing free Internet
> services going by the wayside or trying to charge.  In essence, these free
> services were paid for out of capital generated by years of irrational
> exuberance, which was largely deflated with the collapse of dot com stocks
> this past year.
> 
> Hoover's reports that Webhelp.com in 1999 had 58 employees and net income
> of minus $4.9 million.  It looks like they filed for an IPO in 2000 but
> are still privately held (based in Toronto).
> 
> It couldn't last forever.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon's
> legendary service quality slip.  I sure wouldn't expect a private sector,
> human-staffed reference service to last for free.  People are expensive.
> 
> 
> /rich
> 
> ------Original Message------
> From: "Sloan, Bernie" <bernies at uillinois.edu>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Sent: January 16, 2001 4:24:46 AM GMT
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Live help no longer free from WebHelp.com??
> 
> ..
> 
> The cost is not outrageous ($9.95 per month). And WebHelp has always had
> this "express service" option. Just makes me wonder why the free live
> service has been dropped??
> 
> Bernie Sloan
> __________________________________________________
> Richard Wiggins
> Consulting, Writing & Training on Internet Topics
> http://www.netfact.com/rww  wiggins at mail.com
> 517-349-6919 (home office)  517-353-4955 (work)  
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