Hi halerjb,
Pay? We're supposed to get paid for this?
OK, I'm being facetious. You've crept awfully close to the motivations of
the Researchers of my acquaintance, though. It *is* a hobby for quite a
few of us - for now. Some of us, myself included, would dearly love for
this project to be wildly successful, and allow us to earn a good living
from our researching and writing abilities. Will that happen? I hope
so! Ask me when we're out of Beta and on the main page!
So why do we do this? What motivates us, since we're obviously not going
to be able to quit our regular jobs (if we have them) to make a living from
our research any time soon? Lots of things, some of which might surprise you!
--It's fun. It IS! You learn all the best Trivial Pursuit answers. Ask
me what an upper labial frenulum is. Go on, I dare you.
--It's rewarding. There's a certain satisfaction in being able to help
someone find what they need.
--It's nifty to be on a project from its very beginnings, exciting to watch
it evolve.
--It's flexible. We aren't tied to our desks for set periods of time, and
can work or not work as we choose.
--We're curious. What better way to indulge our curiosity than to look for
information for other people?
--We can work in our jammies. Some of us might even be working in our
jammies right now! Who's going to yell at us? More to the point, who's
going to laugh at our fuzzy bunny slippers?
--We can work in our own homes. I'm happiest at my *own* desk, personally,
with my gadgets and toys and chocolates
--It gives us the chance to be a part of a super cool community of
Researchers - I've been lucky to get to know some terrific people through GA.
--We learn something every day - if not from our customers and their
questions, then from each other. I learned a new word from Guillermo
today. "Aleatory".
--It makes our Inner Teachers happy. Everyone likes to help people in some
fashion.
--We *are* able to make a bit of money doing this. I'm spending mine on my
kids. Chromie says he's spending his on DSL, but I think he's fibbing - he
reads too much to be spending it anywhere but the bookstore!
--Back to the community thing...the most interesting people are doing
this! We have web designers, engineers, moms (like me!), librarians, a
lawyer, a biomedical scientist, and an award winning science fiction author
on our team. How many jobs can you name where you'll find such a wide
variety of interesting people to work with?
--Producing a quality answer is very satisfying. We take pride in our
work, and it's a wonderful feeling when we've made a customer happy.
--We get fun and interesting customers - and our regulars like to play and
tease. That makes the work very enjoyable.
--It's just plain old interesting. Really, how many people can say about
their job "I learned the niftiest thing today!" ? When a subject is
interesting, the money really is a secondary consideration, if it ever was
a consideration to begin with. I spent a couple hours on a dance related
question the other day. Why? I like to dance!
--It's FUN! Oh, wait...I mentioned that already, didn't I? It bears
repeating, though. It's the most fun I've had at a job in a very long
time. Must be the colleagues.
Halerjb, many Researchers contributed to this answer. We rather liked that
one of our customers was curious about us for a change, so we asked each
other "Why do you do this?"...and these are the Researchers who
answered: weisstho, xemion, blader, huntsman, fons, googlebrain, juggler,
seedy, eiffel, till, voyager, tehuti, grimace, bethc, chromedome, mother,
guillermo, lazerfx, thx1138, tan and scriptor. And I was elected typist.
I hope this has given you a look into why some of us work on this
project. Thanks so much for asking after us!
Warm regards,
--Missy |
