Actually, it's not. Because most people don't expect you to pay for your present. In fact, I consider my purchase of BlitzMax while it was in beta a present to Blitz Research, because I made no use of BlitzMax whatsoever until it was out of beta. Sort of a kickback for the money they'd helped me make from Blitz3d. I'd also agree with Amon that I saw no crap responses.
Okay, my point wasnt totally valid.
I did see alot of foul responses, but generally, looking back now, it wasnt as bad as it seemed and the most of the community was great with it. I certainly appreciated it, even if i havent used it yet.