Eric points out that 'the profit motive' is a factor in both for-profit
and not-for-profit organizations.  I would take matters a step or two
further.
 
The issue of individual gain is a smokescreen and an illusion.
 
I have not seen a net.culture aversion to the posting of job
opportunities pertinent to the subject of particular lists, nor to the
establishment of lists or newsgroups where items are offered for sale.
The actual/practical criterion seems to be the pertinence of the <crass
materialistic item> to the core business of the list or newsgroup.
 
This grew from the Internet's recent emphasis on education and research,
which its practitioners seemed to think made all activities of
participants 'pure' as long as those participants were members of a
privileged group.  Now that there are commercial services offering net
access, a partly-justified fear has arisen that the interlopers will ruin
the neighborhood.
 
A reasonable vigilance is appropriate, but not vigilantism.
 
--bayla (whose freelance earnings just about qualify her for non-profit
status :-)