4 ms·

The problem with these types of sites is that it favors the buyer. A quick browse of the questions posted shows one awarding a whopping $10 for some status scr

by biot 16y ago

The problem with these types of sites is that it favors the buyer. A quick browse of the questions posted shows one awarding a whopping $10 for some status screen thing. Sorry, but $10 barely compensates me for the time involved to even consider the question. I'm guessing that this is like any other Q&A site where the answers are effectively on spec. So you can't claim the question as being one you and you alone will solve... you have to compete with many others for a chance at being the one who gets the $10. No thank you. Might as well have branded this ProgrammersAreCheap.com.

rgarcia 16y ago
But for someone else who knows GNU screen really well, the $10 could easily be worth the short amount of time it would take to provide an answer. I could see this being a good way to go deeper than the regular Q&A site format by offering monetary incentives to participate.
- biot 16y ago
  And questions which really are easy pickings will get 10 people answering them if the site becomes popular. So that $10 reward -- actually $7 after the 30% fee -- would have a 10% probability to win, assuming equal strength of answers for the really easy ones. I don't know many people who'd care about 70 cents.
  - blake8086 16y ago
    It sounds like 10 people would care about it in that example you gave.
    - biot 16y ago
      The first person responding perhaps thought it was easy money. Every subsequent answer is a race to the bottom. So why not go all the way and allow responders to underbid the last guy? That way, someone could spend an hour writing a very detailed response hoping to get the $7 and someone could come along, crib their answer off of the first one, and offer to accept only $6. The first guy, not wanting to totally waste the effort he put in, can then lower his bid to $5. Rinse and repeat.

4 ms·

The problem with these types of sites is that it favors the buyer. A quick browse of the questions posted shows one awarding a whopping $10 for some status scr

by biot 16y ago

rgarcia 16y ago
But for someone else who knows GNU screen really well, the $10 could easily be worth the short amount of time it would take to provide an answer. I could see this being a good way to go deeper than the regular Q&A site format by offering monetary incentives to participate.
- biot 16y ago
  And questions which really are easy pickings will get 10 people answering them if the site becomes popular. So that $10 reward -- actually $7 after the 30% fee -- would have a 10% probability to win, assuming equal strength of answers for the really easy ones. I don't know many people who'd care about 70 cents.
  - blake8086 16y ago
    It sounds like 10 people would care about it in that example you gave.
    - biot 16y ago
      The first person responding perhaps thought it was easy money. Every subsequent answer is a race to the bottom. So why not go all the way and allow responders to underbid the last guy? That way, someone could spend an hour writing a very detailed response hoping to get the $7 and someone could come along, crib their answer off of the first one, and offer to accept only $6. The first guy, not wanting to totally waste the effort he put in, can then lower his bid to $5. Rinse and repeat.