Re: THANKS! Re: It's time to go--A Modest Proposal

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

Okay, here's a suggestion. Laugh if you must.

I propose a schedule of fees (subject to fine-tuning--this is a first draft)to be paid by the person posting:

Original technical question:                   FREE
Dead horse technical question:                 $2.00
RTFM technical question (including grammar):   $2.00
Technical answer to technical question:        FREE
RTFM answer to technical question:             $5.00
Request for advice (work relationships, etc.): $2.00
Advice (possibly helpful):                     $1.00
Advice (thumb-sucking opinion):                $5.00
Humor (short):                                 $1.00
Humor (long):                                  $5.00
Off-list responses (helpful and friendly):     FREE
Off-list responses (otherwise):                $5.00

Now I am not suggesting that Eric send invoices for posts. I suppose that if we all gave Eric our credit card information and turned this into a Web-based discussion forum instead of a public listserv, this could actually be automated. Or we could wait for the advent of an Internet-scale operating system (ISOS).

But what I had in mind was the honor system. Look in the archives at what YOU posted during the last 12 months and assess yourself. Send Eric and Deb a check. Begin paying quarterly.

Think of the benefits. Eric would no longer be beholden to list sponsors. There would be a tenth, maybe a hundredth, as many posts to wade through. People would have a greater tendency to stay on topic, look up the answer before posting, stay out of flame wars, etc.

Will anyone actually do this? Probably not. But if we were all just to think about what we are planning to post as if we were going to have to pay for the privilege, think how much nicer a place this would be.

Dick
 

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