[WikiEN-l] A BADSITES RfA piling-on

[Philippe Beaudette]

  On 5/30/07, Slim Virgin wrote:

  >> >
  >> Yeah, people who feel it is implausible that a person could hit a button
  >> 5-10 times a minute for hours on end with reasonable quality control
  >>  have apparently not ever had a modern manufacturing job.
  >

  >I doubt that anyone with a modern manufacturing job would do it
  >without pay, William.

Somewhat tangentially, but relevant, I think... is what some sociologists are referring to as the "AOL effect".  For years, AOL used unpaid "Community Leaders" in a massive capacity to host chat areas, patrol user boards, host and guide tours of the service, etc.  Arguably, these volunteers actually created the feeling of community that made AOL work (at least in the early years).  AOL was able to use the power of contributing to community to get volunteers to do work that it may not have been cost effective to use internal employees for.  In some cases, volunteers amassed huge numbers of hours in return for (at first) free dial up access.  Toward the end the free access wasn't such a big deal anymore because of unlimited connection times for one monthly fee, and AOL braced themselves for the inevitable exodus of Community Leaders.... which didn't happen.

People were willing to work - yes, real work with schedules and some pretty crappy jobs - in exchange for little more than the recognition of their work as Community Leaders.

AOL had some interesting interactions with the Labor Department over it (though I don't recall that it ever actually went anywhere), but the lesson that was driven home was that given a large enough user base, you'll find folks to do just about anything, if you tell them they're a leader.

Again, certainly not a direct comparison, but an interesting tangential aside.

Philippe