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Masochist. I'm in the process of importing all of my working machines into VMs. It's only taken 6 years.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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There are some articles, some responses on QA forums, some posts on other forums, some responses to 100-eagle-eyed Kent's news stories, responses to surveys, etc. ...
... that are so brilliant, useful, provocative, so relevant to issues I am dealing with ...
... that I feel the current modes of expressing appreciation are not enough.
What if I could send a "micro-payment" ?
Let's say I could send US$ 1 ... now, I can hear you laughing, see you snickering; you are thinking that US$ 1 won't get you even the cheapest, smallest, anything at StarBucks. But, consider that here in Lanna (northern Thailand) that will get me almost 2 quarts of made fresh daily soy-milk, 250 grams of fresh, ground daily, pork, 750 grams of carrots trucked in from the farm at 4AM the day they go on sale.
But, you will say: well, you have a retirement income/pension from a western country, or substantial assets. I'd say: that's partially correct, but, what if the income is at a level where you couldn't afford to rent a broom-closet to live-in in San Francisco, or, Toronto, or, London, and, the assets are fixed, in local whatever, illiquid without major losses ?
I don't use any form of bit-coin, and, don't intend to; I don't have any specific ideas for how micro-payments could be implemented without exorbitant per transaction costs. I assume that CodeProject would never want to be a "bank" 
imho, if implemented, all information about who sends, or receives, micro-payments, and amounts, should be anonymized, confidential. I would not want to know that OriginalGriff received 100k pounds last year 
But, what do you think ? How would you feel if anonymous-someone sent you US$ 0.50 ?
An alternative ? Let me "transfer" rep-points I have earned.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
modified 1-Oct-21 5:19am.
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BillWoodruff wrote: How would you feel if someone sent you US$ 0.50 ?
I'd be happy.
But ... I can't help thinking it would ruin the "atmosphere", the "feel" of the site. We already get enough idiots posting garbage because they think it will improve their resumé, if you add in profit then the crap / quality ratio will probably go up enormously - just like "YouTube development tutorial videos" which are just there for the like / subscribe numbers and the cash that can generate.
And just like YouTube, that would mean that the good stuff gets buried beneath a pile of rubbish so high and wide you can't see the gems underneath hardly at all ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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As expected (from Thee), excellent insights; I have just sent you a virtual L2 micro-payment worth 2 300+ gram slow char-broiled red snappers stuffed with a stalk of lemon grass: can you get here in the four hours they will remain tastiest ?
I wonder, if complete anonymizing were implemented, if that would address your concerns about impact on "atmosphere" ?
I propose a counter-factual:
Member "X" got 50 pounds in micro-payments this last three months; X knows which post got a donation, what the total donation per post was. X does not know who sent the donations, or if the total amount per donation came from one donor, or many.
The donor "Y" has access to a list of donation dates, to what post, amount.
Possible benefits;
1) X can gain some ideas about which of their contributions have been perceived as unusually relevant, or appreciated.
2) Y can possibly gain some ideas about which members they want to follow in the future.
3) if the CP user "Z", browsing whatever, sees that a certain post got above a certain donation total, or, can search by donation total, that may alert them to posts more relevant.I regret to say that there is probably no new feature that some people will not abuse, and that CP would not incur staff-time cost in implementing, let alone, preventing abuse of. Consider the number of junk articles posted now; the number of absurd QA questions posted because CP does not demand the poster enter a few simple Tags to identify the context/platform/language, etc. ... that the C# language forum has become a QA forum ... the number of posts on the Lounge that are QA questions. "Abuse" is probably too strong a word, here, since it has overtones of negative intentionality. The fact that the most appropriate QA forum gets very little traffic may motivate a member to post on another forum ... rather than indifference than reflect indifference to rules, or "others do it ... why not me?"
May sound like I'm fed-up ? Not the case: a few flies in the soy-milk can be easily removed by straining (selective inattention) and, the pleasure, challenge, rewards, of being a member are, for me, comparatively, "astronomical" 
cheers, Bill
@chris-maunder
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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You would have to prevent people donating to their own posts as that would artificially inflate their apparent value and would cost them nothing as the money would go from them back to their own account.
Perhaps we could be more altruistic and donate money for helpful contributions, but the donated money could be given to a charity / emergency appeal rather than to the article's author but still enhancing the author's / article's reputation. There could, say, be a choice of 3 or 4 charities to donate to, which changes every couple of months.
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You can't upvote your posts on forums now, so a mechanism for handling that is in place.jsc42 wrote: Perhaps we could be more altruistic and donate money for helpful contributions, but the donated money could be given to a charity / emergency appeal rather than to the article's author but still enhancing the author's / article's reputation. There could, say, be a choice of 3 or 4 charities to donate to, which changes every couple of months.
I proposed to Chris CP have a scholarship fund members could donate to enable a once-a-year grant for a young programmer's education several. years ago.
imho, having a select list of charities might lead to controversy.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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BillWoodruff wrote: An alternative ? Let me "transfer" rep-points I have earned.
I'm with @OriginalGriff on this. As soon as people realised they could make money from the site it would become home to the wrong sort. And probably drive the rest of us elsewhere. Keep the points system as is, just a thank you every so often is all I need or want.
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Your reaction, and opinion, always valued !
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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I would say the same for your suggestions. Disagreeing with someone does not make their ideas any less valid.
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Hi Richard,
Since you quoteQuote: "transfer" rep-points
from my post, I see this reply as a reply to the idea of financial micro-payments; do you think that the alternative of allowing members to donate votes from their rep-points would have the same consequences, or, other negative outcomes ? Keeping in mind the anonymization, in this case, would be even more stringent.
I do see a few members on QA who regularly upvote certain other members' "solutions," no matter how off-topic, how irrelevant, how much a comment, rather than solution, the content is. Perhaps a "I vote yours, you vote mine" pattern. imho, there are several MVP's whose rep-points are bloated from this behavior.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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Up votes are like down votes, anyone can do them any time. I really don't think it is that big a deal unless you really believe it gives you some special status. I prefer things the way they are; if you like my solution or answer then feel free to up (or down) vote it. But offering to transfer your points to someone else does not seem a good idea.
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I understand the basic facts of up- and down-voting, but, I am having trouble inferring how those facts relate to your concluding statement:
Richard MacCutchan wrote: offering to transfer your points to someone else does not seem a good idea.
Could you help me see the connection ?
thanks, Bill
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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It is a point you made earlier.
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Sorry, i don't see what that point was; in my counter-factual thought experiment, i defined hypothetical benefits. Appreciate your help in understanding ... running off 4 days worth of insomnia here after adjusting my thyroid meds.
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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As my signature says the last 10 years or more... 
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Your reaction, and opinion, always valued !
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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Your reaction, and opinion, always valued !
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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I agree that it would change the site, namely to one that matches up those who want their homework done with those who are willing to do it--for a price. And I'd be willing to act as the escrow service--for a modest cut. 
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That's an interesting point: what would stop a homework shirker from offering an incentive ?
However, if I could donate rep-points, would that remove that "back-door" ?
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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If you mean the site only supporting the donation of rep points, then yes, because people wanting their homework done have few points to donate!
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BillWoodruff wrote: I would not want to know that OriginalGriff received 100k pounds last year
Too late. That's why he is giving up the thought of the day ritual. He's made too much money and is retiring.
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Member 15329613 wrote: He's made too much money
 How is this possible?! Isn't OG afraid that EMOG(*) might not come along and pip him at the post?
(*) EMOG == Even More Original Griff
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: pip him at the post
fascinating idiom, thanks ! i'll have to research its origin; at the 'post' jars my senses: wouldn't a horse suddenly overtake and win at the finish line ?
ooh: lots of possible etymologies: [^]. Now, why did Dickens name the protagonist of "Great Expectations" "Pip" ... because, as a boy, he could not articulate his fullname:Quote: "My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.
Because use of a palindrome is a metaphor for the tabula rasa of Pip-as-boy-orphan, ignorant of his noble birth ?
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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I wish! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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