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GE13579

Should forum members be able to buy and sell services?  

71 members have voted

  1. 1. Should forum members be able to buy and sell services?

    • Under no circumstances
      42
    • It could work if handled properly
      20
    • There should be no restriction
      9


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  • GE13579

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OK here are my 2 cents on this topic:

 

If you have a PayPal account why not use it? It's not really advertising. It isn't like someone is going and saying: "Hey I will do the rendering for you at a cheap price. Just send me money to my paypal.''

 

I see no harm in the PayPal. In fact, I am getting ready to activate my own. (Not for personal use) The plan is to accept donations for a charitable event. It is a new thing we are starting at www.husemanfamilylights.com

 

Now if I like that to the CADtutor site and dont advertise, then what is the harm? If someone donates to our PayPal, then they are helping that charity.

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i agree with the paypal option for individual users to some extent.

i just think that because the option is there now, it will encourage people to ask for donations or reduce the amount of help without donating.

i myself am not in a situation to be donating as i am not as well off with money as others. if i did have the money though, and i was frequently asking for LISPs for example then there would come a point where i would offer money for such intelligence, kindness and for the time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think the help here we can receive and provide has great value. I believe giving the option to donate to a member that is very helpful to you should be allowed but not required, as then the service provided would be specific to a certain member and not the community. In other words, I would be less likely to interject my thoughts, be them helpful or not, into a thread that I know is being run by a member that is getting paid for that service.

Also, I think this should be monitored as to stay away from favoritism towards members who can donate more. Some of us have more shallow of pockets than others and creating a bidding war for a service is not where this should leed.

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I agree competely AQucsaiJr, this should be a donation and certainly not a requirement for services.

 

The forums will continue to operate and provide the same advice as before, however the option for a donation is there if the person wants to compensate the member for their donation of time.

 

Lee

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sure, it would be lovely to have people donate everytime you help out, but are we not utilizing a site that cost money to keep up. i seem to notice a donate box at the bottom of every page. if one is happy with the help they've received, why not donate to the website (the one that actually made this endeavor possible) instead of the user. if the user feels they are not compensated for their work, don't help in the first place. a user helps of his/her own volition and to assist others as they were assisted when in the same position.

 

everyone (or at least most) here are at the level they are because of hard work AND the use of these forums. it's not an individual that keeps this forum afloat, it's the group as a whole.

 

while i do not help out as much as others, i do give as much assistance as time will allow. my post count is relative to my outside life (i have a job, a wife, a 2 year old daughter, and i'm taking classes) as everyone else's.

 

since everyone seems to be for individual donations, i'm sure this will fall on deaf ears, but i had to say my piece.

 

if i've helped you to the point you feel it merits a donation, donate to cadtutor.net. that's the real hero here.

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I don't have any issues with donating to someone who has written a code that helps me do my job...especially since codes are a foreign language to me.

 

I do try to help others in this forum when I know an answer, and I don't expect compensation.

 

I am most greatful to this forum and all I have learned through it. I would not use it, however, if I had to pay for all of its services.

 

Thanks to CADTutor for being free, but I do believe that donation buttons are appropriate in certain cases...(such as Lee Mac and his skills).

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Or possibly if someones asks how to reimburse ( or donate to ) someone for their time and effort, the author could direct them to their public profile, where their PayPal link can be accessed.

 

That way it is not displayed ( or advertised ) in the post but still accessible. My $0.02. -David

 

I agree with this. By allowing members to display their paypal link in their posts, I feel that it will deter people coming here for help to donate to CT, afterall, it was the user that gave the help. Not only that but for the new user that just joins CT they may likely never know they can donate to CT due to the fact that they will always see the paypal link in other member's posts before they see that they can donate to CT, which in the long run might bring down CADtutor's "income" from donations, causing it to have to come up with the money to run the site from other sources (horrible run-on sentence). If the link is posted in the members profile then, as stated above, someone could ask how to repay for the help they recieved and be directed to the users profile.

As for the advertising services: No. simple as that. there should be no advertising or requesting money by any user for services. I joined this site because i liked the fact that i could come here knowing that the site has genuine people offering genuine help and in turn, someday i will be able to do the same as i learn more everyday from this site. If i had come here looking for help and saw that there were members posting prices for their help i would have turned away right then which i feel will be the case with the majority of people unless they already were planning to pay for it. If the paypal link was kept in the profile then the person requesting help can ask how to repay not the other way around (member asking for payment to offer help). I have noticed Lee's link and he is doing a great job keeping it under control, he isn't posting anywhere (at least i have not seen any posts) that he will accept donations for his help and i do not think he ever will as far as i can tell. sorry for singling Lee out for that example but he is the only one i have seen so far that has the link displayed other than the admin.

I'm also sorry for the novel :D

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Thanks to CADTutor for being free, but I do believe that donation buttons are appropriate in certain cases...(such as Lee Mac and his skills).

 

Thanks Joe :)

 

I have noticed Lee's link and he is doing a great job keeping it under control, he isn't posting anywhere (at least i have not seen any posts) that he will accept donations for his help and i do not think he ever will as far as i can tell.

 

Of course not. I understand the purpose of the button and would not try to "advertise" for donations... it wouldn't be much of a donation otherwise :wink:

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One of the main principles of this site (probably been said before) is that people come here looking for help to develop solutions to CAD issues they have. Once they have learned a reasonable amount, most people stick around and then help others - it's a self fulfilling prophecy.

 

Which is pretty much how i came to stick around, i think i spent all of one day "lurking" but that was just to get a feel for the site, once i realised ho genuine and helpful people on this site are i signed up because i felt this was a great community and one i am happy to be a part of.

 

Not really, we still don't have any sponsors

 

Still no sponsors? from what i can see this site has been around for years, i thought there would have been someone willing to sponsor the site by now.

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If managed properly and it is made clear that there is no obligation to click the paypal button then i dont see much of a concern, it would be clearly stated and then up to the individual to decide.

 

I read on the postings that maybe a sister site could be worth looking into, this would be a good idea, but my understanding is that the cost of maintaining CADTutor is not an inexpensive task. so if a sistersite was set up, where would the funding from it come from?

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There is already a sister site Skips (well, I think so anyway)- I think I remember reading that David had negotiated ownership of a site called AfraLISP sometime in the past. My thought was that, as it seems the donations are more directed toward LISP writing, perhaps the donations should be restricted to profiles on that site, which would keep the concern away from CADTutor.net...

 

I also recall a suggestion that a percentage of all donations should automatically go to CADTutor for site upkeep, which I think is a great idea.

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I also recall a suggestion that a percentage of all donations should automatically go to CADTutor for site upkeep, which I think is a great idea.

 

Now that'd be great - and i would even support that if it was stated clearly that there was no obligation to pay the peosn who helped you out.

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