Re: Offering Plate with a twist

[zentara]

Everytime I hear "offering plate" I get the thought that maybe perlmonks should have a "script-for-fee-service". I'm not sure about how you could implement it, but the knowledgable monks around here, seem to be able to whip up complex scripts during a coffee break. There are always people looking for this or that task to be done by a well-thought-out script, why not offer something like: "Custom scripts: $.20 per line, sockets extra :-) " I don't want to suggest that the perlmonks start competing with the free lancers, but there may be a niche for those 100 line scripts, that some IT department needs in a hurry, and their perl-person would need 3 days to do what the monks here do in a blink of an eye.

[Necos]

The only problem with a "script-for-fee" idea, is that Perlmonks has grown from infancy by being an open house of ideas that people are free to take from and input. Most of the monks (myself included), try to give back ideas as a gester of thanks for the knowledge they've gained here.

If we really wanted to pay for code/ideas/suggestions/etc., then we could subscribe to another pay service. However, since Perl is an open source programming language, it seems fitting that getting support for the base (and also advanced) topics should be somewhat close to free. You could always hire merlyn to do a code review for you. He's damn good at it. You can hire Dave Roth to write you a custom Win32 module (he's damn good at it too!) as well. There are many "script-for-fee" places out there. You just need to go and find them.

I don't think that any sort of "pay-for-service" idea will do any good for the monestary. With that said, I know next paycheck, I'll be donating $100 or so just to say thanks. Just do the same and the Monestary will be alright.

Theodore Charles III
Network Administrator
Los Angeles Senior High
4650 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
323-937-3210 ext. 224
email->[e-mail]
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[zentara]

Yeah, it would be hard to give out free advice on the "newest nodes" page , then turn around and ask for money on another page. But I think it could work, for companies who wanted to support Perlmonks, but needed something "real for their money"(i.e. for the accounting dept.), instead of making a donation. Imagine a "collaborative projects page" which has all the "script requests" on it. Then all the monks could hash out the problem online, like they do with the newest nodes. They usually come up with the "best solution", and then some other monks could volunteer to write the docs, which would then be reviewed by all in a similar manner.

I remember back when the web was taking off, there was a REAL monastery somewhere out west, that made their money by writing html. They even were featured on a national news broadcast. My dream now, is to build a "retirement home" for down and out old programmers. It would give old nerds someplace to go and be amoung fellow geek-retirees, who would then raise cash by implementing the above script writing plan.