Gil,

I started my online community involvement, asking questions on the old ATBBS when I first started battling problems with dBaseIV. That was in fact a godsend, I really had no place to go ask questions when I ran into a problem in TurboPascal or C/C++. The fact that I could ask a question about dBase (like what caused it to trash it's MDX files at the drop of a hat) and get a ton of help from some stranger was vastly different than the other language I'd used before. I found the FoxPro online community equally helpful when I started using FPW.

If I'd spent all the time I've volunteered answering questions doing billable work, I might be richer cashwise. But I'd be dumber, because I learn a lot from researching answers, and I wouldn't have met some of the cool smart people I've come to know online and have met in person at conferences.

The biggest payback anyone can do is to help someone else when they ask a question. It's what makes this a vital community and what makes it such a great resource.

We've been "paying it forward" long before it was a movie.

>Yes, volunteer work is essential to the health and growth of any community. The thought of you or anyone performing services and giving assistence (such as helping others via the UT and the Wiki) getting paid is funny at a superficial glance. I can guess how much of your time it took to do and, if put into dollars at your normal rate, would amount to a sizable sum.
>So, here's to volunteers everywhere: Thank You.