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The way I see it as a user is that while I may invest time in a community like Stackoverflow, my actual responsibilities are practically non-existent and my dir

The way I see it as a user is that while I may invest time in a community like Stackoverflow, my actual responsibilities are practically non-existent and my direct monetary investment is literally zero. Whereas the company maintaining the site as a whole has to invest a whole lot of time and money into keeping the site running, and have a huge responsibility in continuing to do so if they want to site to even stay in existence, let alone grow and succeed.

ehnto 5y ago
But your answers clearly had value, otherwise they couldn't have sold the site as it would have nothing on it.
- passivate 5y ago
  IMO, That is a bit of an odd position to take. The terms of the deal were very clear going in. I don't owe Donald Knuth anything more than the $100 (placeholder) for his books, even if they helped me get a 6 figure job right out of college. Yes, his books had a lot more "value" than $100, but those were the terms of the deal.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    I don't expect any monetary recuperation, you're right in that the deal was clear to begin with. Just like I don't expect a cut of ad-revenue from a forum or what-have-you. I just don't feel it's correct to say that the contributions actually had no monetary value, they definitely did, it's just that we handed it to Stack Overflow for free in exchange for participating in the platform. I don't think it's unreasonable to feel a little bit jaded about it either. I'm not, I didn't contribute nearly enough to feel entitled to squat. But I get it.
    - passivate 5y ago
      I think we would largely agree on the meat and potatoes - we just have a small disagreement of opinion, no biggie :) >I just don't feel it's correct to say that the contributions actually had no monetary value, they definitely did, it's just that we handed it to Stack Overflow for free in exchange for participating in the platform. How did you know the answer had value when you typed it up? The value is not solely determined by you or me - It's by the large number of visitors/viewers actually benefiting from the answer. And you need both, the platform attracting tons of readers, and the high-quality answer. Certainly, there is lots that can be said here to expand on that and add more nuance, but not in a comment box.

ehnto 5y ago

But your answers clearly had value, otherwise they couldn't have sold the site as it would have nothing on it.

passivate 5y ago
IMO, That is a bit of an odd position to take. The terms of the deal were very clear going in. I don't owe Donald Knuth anything more than the $100 (placeholder) for his books, even if they helped me get a 6 figure job right out of college. Yes, his books had a lot more "value" than $100, but those were the terms of the deal.
- ehnto 5y ago
  I don't expect any monetary recuperation, you're right in that the deal was clear to begin with. Just like I don't expect a cut of ad-revenue from a forum or what-have-you. I just don't feel it's correct to say that the contributions actually had no monetary value, they definitely did, it's just that we handed it to Stack Overflow for free in exchange for participating in the platform. I don't think it's unreasonable to feel a little bit jaded about it either. I'm not, I didn't contribute nearly enough to feel entitled to squat. But I get it.
  - passivate 5y ago
    I think we would largely agree on the meat and potatoes - we just have a small disagreement of opinion, no biggie :) >I just don't feel it's correct to say that the contributions actually had no monetary value, they definitely did, it's just that we handed it to Stack Overflow for free in exchange for participating in the platform. How did you know the answer had value when you typed it up? The value is not solely determined by you or me - It's by the large number of visitors/viewers actually benefiting from the answer. And you need both, the platform attracting tons of readers, and the high-quality answer. Certainly, there is lots that can be said here to expand on that and add more nuance, but not in a comment box.