As a professional should I pay or be payed?
I'm here because it's a hobby for me and try and help or argue(sorry), but payed every week as a professional in this field....
As a professional should I pay or be payed?
I'm here because it's a hobby for me and try and help or argue(sorry), but payed every week as a professional in this field....
Jack, if you enjoy the forum and find it valuable for any reason, giving and/or receiving, there's no harm in helping support it financially. But that's a personal decision.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
I don't know, when you ask a question, do you plan to pay for other people to answer your questions?
This forum is built of people who are happy to help those who ask for help or want to learn. Members, Contributors, Moderators, and Owners all contribute to that. There are 10'000's of professionals on this forum who offer up their knowledge every day because they wish to help others. SMC gives them a place to do that. I suspect if everyone thought they should be paid for their advice on the internet, then there wouldn't be many people on the internet.
Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers
Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.
Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers
Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.
It's free to me and that's the point...I'll not pay to be on this site..
Last edited by Scott Shepherd; 12-17-2017 at 2:09 PM. Reason: spelling error
Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers
Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.
As long as the arguments are made with valid reasons, they add to the discussions in this Forum.
I hate to be part of a group in which everyone agrees with everyone. Such groups DO exist...you can easily tell from the comments of the followers. To an outsider, they seem to be all blind, in the sense of blindly following the Blog owner. I like to think that if the Blog owner tried to fool every one of his fans for an April event by saying if you soaked a furniture piece partially in the bathtub for a minute or two before applying the last coat, he would succeed!
Simon
Last edited by Simon MacGowen; 12-17-2017 at 2:09 PM.
I count how many hours a month I spend being entertained on this site, and figure its worth a lot more than $6 a year. Thats a lot less than the woodworking magazines I buy, and with a lot more good information. I can understand not wanting to pay, if its just an occasional thing to do.
And there's nothing wrong with that, but my question is, no matter how small the contribution, what do contributors get for their contribution? You can sell things. Great, I don't sell anything. If I ever wanted to buy anything, and I don't because nobody lives within 1000 miles of me, but if I did, I can just PM them and don't have to be a contributor for that. All of the other things on the site that were contributor-only are gone. Giveaways? Nobody has done one in over a year. Contributor-only forum? When is the last time there was a post there? I think that's something that the administration needs to ask, why should anyone contribute, other than the good feeling they get for doing so? What are the demonstrable benefits?
What you get is the continued existence of, what I believe to be, a really great place to hang out and learn. If that isn't something you want to be concerned with, that's perfectly ok - we'll cover you because the knowledge and experience you bring is sort of "payment in kind" (as I think Jack Duren was saying earlier). All I ask is that you participate/share what you know rather than just lurk. Lurkers don't usually give much back.
Another reason I decided to contribute monetarily - and this is not intended as a dig at Brian or anyone else - is that I got to feeling like the guy who always drinks the drink that somebody else bought, without ever buying a round myself. But that's just me. Doesn't mean anyone else has to feel that way.
Fred
Last edited by Frederick Skelly; 12-17-2017 at 5:54 PM.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
And for a lot of people, that's not enough. I mean, look over at YouTube, the woodworking channels there don't exist off of people's good will and continued content, if they want people to donate on Patreon, they have to provide more. They have to provide exclusive contents, giveaways and the like, otherwise people just don't donate. You might be right that people SHOULD give just for the sake of giving, but people DON'T. This isn't just true here, it's true EVERYWHERE.
So let's deal with reality and not wishful thinking. That's not intended as a dig, it's just the way things are.
I understand. I didn't intend any wishful thinking at all. I described the two reasons I personally donate as one possible answer to your very valid question "what do contributors get?" I agree it is unrealistic to expect that everyone would/should/will give without a good answer to your question, because there's so much free content out there. So most people in real life don't work like that. I'm the odd man out because I just happen to. YMMV.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple years won't it?
Have a good week!
Fred
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
Regarding ads, a little garage door company in my neck of the woods just had an ad pop up here on SMC. I am puzzled because I am sure the owner likely has no idea of the existence of this web site so why is there an ad popping up on here from them if the hosts of SMC derive revenue from the ads??
I as on their website last week looking for a company to replace my garage door opener since I did not want to do it myself and now they pop up with an ad on SMC.
George
Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.