this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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While I agree in principle with the idea that we shouldn't be freeloaders, there is another side to it.
I used to put a dozen hours a week into unpaid tech support for all comers, just because it was fun and it helped out the community. When I moved away, I started doing other things (volunteer firefighter, etc.)
My brother pours tons of work into his custom birdhouses and they are very popular. He absolutely refuses to take any compensation because it is a labour of love.
I don't expect that any one instance will remain available and viable over the long term. If things look dire or the mood strikes me, I'll look into spinning up an instance, just as part of being a good citizen. I assume that human nature will ensure that there are plenty of people like me.
I'll kick in a few bucks here and there and human nature means that there are plenty of others doing that, too.
Never underestimate the drive of someone with a hobby! Hell, I wish my hobbies ran to only a couple of hundred dollars a month!
Same here ... I've been involved in lots of construction, renovations and building over my lifetime .. my family owned a construction business so I know a little of everything - plumbing, electrical, construction, woodworking, structure, concrete, HVAC, roofing, landscaping, heavy equipment and all sorts of other things construction related
Yes, I'm like you ... I love what I do and I enjoy helping people out with big or small projects when I feel like it ... but often there comes a time when the work is so big, so time consuming and costs me money that it makes one wonder why I should do the work ... it also makes me wonder sometimes if people are just taking advantage of me.
I love doing stuff for people ... but I also appreciate it when people give something back for the free work you offered them ... especially when there was a lot of work or energy or skill involved.
The work you do may not seem like much ... but to have the skill, knowledge, education and training that you have in order to complete complex technical tasks is worth a lot of money ... especially for us who don't have that knowledge ... never sell your abilities short. It may seem like nothing to you but it is a world of difference that many of us can not cross.
I understand how feel because I feel the same when I help out others too ... but I also believe that we should foster and build a culture of encouraging everyone to contribute a little bit of money everywhere to experts and knowledgeable people like you, to owners of instances, to developers of open source software and to those advocating for all of this ... if we don't, we will always run the risk of all this activity and all these projects becoming lost either by burning out all this volunteerism or creating situations where owners become so desperate for money that they see no other option than to sell their work and their efforts to the highest bidder.
You raise some important points. When I started providing tech support to all comers, it was about building a community. There did come a time though when too many were exploiting my skills in that it was all take and no give. After that, I started working only by referral and eventually transitioned to that field as my living, rather than a hobby.
I think we have to be willing to throw a bit of cash around, but not everyone can support every worthwhile endeavour.
Each operator has to find their own balance.