It is a shame that creative professionals cannot stick together like the worlds picture framers, cafes & coffee shops.But the reality is that there are plenty of creatives prepared to work for free, dreaming that it will lead to paid work in the future and that’s why people keep asking. A mixture of hope and vanity as Rob C said in one of his posts.
The problem is that many do photography as a hobby...for relaxation...for fun...for free. It's up to the professionals to shine above the free or fall flat on their faces.I'm sure software developers would have the same issues with people developing software for free...but alas no one developes software as a hobby...for relaxation...for fun...for free.
I'm not so sure about that. Plenty of GNU stuff out there, some of it quite good, but it's never as well supported and you are always suspicious of unfound and unfixed bugs.