Jonathan Carroll has the same idea we do

I notice this post on the WordPress.org support forums. The post is written by Jonathan Carroll:

I need a LOT of support (but I digress). I find it very frustrating that I cannot get my questions answered quickly and am willing to pay to get the answers I need faster.

How about people needing support can pay for it if they choose? I can prepay any amount I like, say $1, or $5. WordPress.org takes my money in advance. More knowledgable users answer my questions. I choose the best answer, and that user gets my money. If I fail to pick an answer, a moderator will choose for me, or he can choose to return my money to my account.

this will encourage knowledgable users to answer lots of questions and help the community grow.

WordPress could also charge asmall fee, say 10% to help increase revenue.

This sounds like a verbatim transcript of conversations that Darren Hoyt and I had last year, when we were first thinking about WP Questions. I find it validating that others are having exactly the same thoughts that lead us to the creation of our sites.

In retrospect, it is interesting to turn the clock back to August 14th, 2009, and look at the post where Darren Hoyt first asked people what they might think of such an idea.

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7 Responses to Jonathan Carroll has the same idea we do

  1. darrinb says:

    To touch upon something in the thread from WP Tavern:

    “If the concept was offering a fixed price for solving a defined issue, and the solution is publicly available afterwards, its OK, if not its not interesting.

    If no one delivers a solution for the fixed price offer, the “client” may offer more $ for the solution.”

    Something I’m noticing lately in WP Questions is experts just responding with “I can fix this, contact me privately.” In my opinion, I think this type of response goes against the intent of the site.

    WP Questions, in my interpretation, is an open forum of ideas where everything is public, the dollar amount, the question, and the answers. I’ve seen it time and again where no single answer provided a complete solution, but the combination of a few did, and the prize money was split. This, IMO, is the intent of the site. But if the entire process is done outside the realm of the site ie, “contact me privately”, then WP Questions just becomes a small jobs.wordpress.net, instead of what I consider to be an enhanced, more targeted version of the WP.org forums.

    Just my 2 cents.

  2. Lawrence Krubner says:

    Darrin, I agree with you. However, I’m uncertain what we can do to stop the number of people who now say “Please contact me privately.”

    I should note, also, there has been some of this from the very beginning. I recall when we first started there were 1 or 2 Indian firms who would frequently show up and, instead of answering, they would say “We can build any site that you need, contact us privately.” But I also agree that there has been more of this, recently.

    I’ve come to accept that there is a no bright line separating the different aspects of our site. I tend to think of WP Questions as you describe it: “an enhanced, more targeted version of the WP.org forums”. But the border between that and a kind of jobs.wordpress.net is a fuzzy one. That some questions, and some responses, stray across that line might be inevitable.

  3. darrinb says:

    For me, it takes away from what I thought was a communal aspect of the site. I for one, like seeing the answers that actually solve the problem. A lot of these questions are quite unique and it’s interesting (and educational) to see the different solutions provided by different experts. But when the solution is given in private outside the realm of the site, then I think everyone involved loses a little.

    Granted, for the large majority of questions this isn’t the case; most are done publicly. It’s just the principle of it.

  4. Lawrence Krubner says:

    Darrin, I agree, it does take away from the communal aspect of the site. I’m trying to remain open minded about how people use the site. I can imagine that different people have different ways of wanting to use the site. We did have a $600 project where someone was clearly using the site as if it was eLance. For purely selfish reasons, I do not want to ban such projects from the site. But I would like to see answers kept on the site as much as possible.

    What I would like to do is gently encourage people to keep the conversation on the site. If you can think of any gentle things we can do to encourage the right behavior, I am certainly open to hearing them.

  5. Lew Ayotte says:

    I agree wholeheartedly with Darrin. It frustrates me greatly to see the “Please contact me” answers. Usually to the point, that I completely ignore the questions because I assume that the Asker has already contacted the Expert and given them extra information needed to answer the question.

    When I signed up to answer questions, I was under the impression that WPQuestions was a community of Experts. We all compete against each other to provide the correct answer and hopefully with the prize. But also, we learn from each others answers, build off of each others answers, and help out people who just want a simple question answered.

    I still feel like that is what WPQuestions is, but there are some Experts who are being a little anti-competitive when they answer a question with “Please contact me”. It is much easier for someone to write “Please contact me” on a question asked and then give themselves plenty of time to sit and think about the answer. And I believe it ultimately hurts the community of both Experts and Askers.

    I am not really sure what can be done about this without looking like a bunch of jerks. But probably the best solution would be to create a core set of rules and allow Experts to “flag” an answer as inappropriate. Of course there are times when it is appropriate to privately contact someone, like when you need their FTP or WP-Admin credentials to solve the problem. Frankly, I avoid answering those questions because I am not comfortable handling that information without some sort of business relationship directly with that person.

    Just my two cents.
    Lew

  6. Lawrence Krubner says:

    Lew, thanks very much for sharing you thoughts. We rely on the people who use our sites to give us feedback about what is working and what needs to change.

    Darren Hoyt and I discussed this today and decided we need to take a stronger line against the “Please contact me” non-answers. I am about to write a blog post with the details of what we’ve decided.

  7. Pingback: Ensuring Expertise Stays Public and Visible

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