Andrew Nevins
(@anevins)
WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support
But why tipping in the form of payment? People can just say “thank you” and that’s enough of a tip for any genuine volunteer. In my opinion giving payment tips would attract the wrong type of “volunteer” and sour the mood on the forums.
Good thoughts, and I don’t disagree. Anyone have any thoughts?
Not at this point in time, no 🙂 We try not to monetize support, it gets people too … antsy about the wrong thing.
That said, many of us keep tipjars on our personal websites (linked from our usernames) for that sort of thing. But we volunteer because we want to, not for reward.
I agree with you too, and I appreciate the volunteer support here at the word press forums.
On a couple occasions I have not received responses for support post. Although cannot speak for others, I will take a stab in the dark and say this has happened to others. In situations such as this, tipping could be and incentive rather than just a reward.
Opinions on tipping as an incentive?
Moderator
Jan Dembowski
(@jdembowski)
Forum Moderator and Brute Squad
In my (not so terribly humble) opinion that wouldn’t be a good thing here. That may work in other places but it’s the volunteer community that drives WordPress forward. Incentivizing the support in that way would distract from the community spirit.
On a couple occasions I have not received responses for support post.
That happens sometimes. Your topic will/is read but if people do not have an answer then there isn’t much point in replying.
Although cannot speak for others, I will take a stab in the dark and say this has happened to others.
That’s something that you can contribute to solving. Visit the No Replies link and find a topic that you can help with. 😉
http://wordpress.org/support/view/no-replies
Also keep in mind that when someone does offer something for help those topics do get closed.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Forum_Welcome#Offering_to_Pay
It’s even happened to me and Jan 🙂
The issue isn’t people need incentive, the issue is people need the time and the knowledge. Now SOME of us are lucky enough to get paid to help on the forums (we’re subsidized by our companies). Most are not. And even though my company pays me to be here, I have other expectations. I’m like 40% WPORG, 60% company stuff, and that’s as it should be, since I get to make WP better at our company, write code for core, ebooks etc…
We’re not going to incentivize the forums. It’s just against the goals.
Excellent points. Helps me to understand the forums a bit more. Thank you for taking the time to share you thoughts.
