>...it seems a step back for Palm Corp to create a chargable
>support area.
That's not at all what we're doing. Palm doesn't get the "bounty"
for a question on HotDispatch; the developer (i.e. you!) who answers
the question does.
Think of it as a way to make money from precisely what you're doing
on this list: answering questions for other developers. The
difference is that the other developer who is in a real hurry, or
needs more than just simple quick help, can offer cash instead of
just goodwill or presuming on the kindness of others... particularly
if he's not going to be giving back in kind.
Sometimes "boring" questions get ignored on this list. Ditto for
questions which are poorly phrased or indicate that the questioner
didn't spend more than 5 seconds looking for the answer before
posting. That's fine; if they want to work that way then I'm sure
there'll be someone interested in picking up a little income by
giving them a good answer on the Exchange.
>...I can picture some MBA's sitting in a Palm Corp.
>conference room looking at the traffic on this list and at David's and
>other people's hours, and trying to figure out how they can turn this
>"From a cost center to a profit center".
I don't think you need to worry about that. Actually turning DTS
into a profit center would require incredibly high prices for every
question. If we do in the future go the charge-for-questions route,
it'd be more to make sure that the questioner is serious and really
needs the answer, instead of being too lazy to read the docs or web
site. (We get lots of those, believe me.) But things like this
list, and our/my involvement on it, would be very unlikely to change.
>And it will dumb down this list, and reduce the productivity of developers.
We have been all along wanting to make sure this list's value didn't
decrease. I have seen it somewhat decreasing as the volume of
questions has risen over the last 6 or 12 months, because far more of
them are beginner questions. So it is already "dumbing down", and we
don't want that to continue.
>Though, I admit, there's been a couple of people who've tried to
>use the list as their personal development tutorial service, who were
>using resources they should have been paying for.......
Exactly. They're using your time, your list, your bandwidth. And if
they're not giving back, well, this is a great way to help them do
that, in a nice simple way. And you get the benefit.
We have been thinking carefully about this for a year or so, and
trying to find good ways for it to work so that it improves the
situation for everyone. As far as I can tell, this setup will. But
if it doesn't, then fine... ignore the Exchange and continue on this
list. No problem! Or do both, each for what they're best at.
-David Fedor
Palm Developer Support
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