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Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

qabounty.com

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Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

#1

Post by bbarrows »

I recently finished my site QABounty.

I would get annoyed when I could not get anyone to answer my questions on sites like Stack Overflow so I created this site, https://qabounty.com/. It is basically your standard QA site but you attach a USD $$ bounty to questions. For example I have a question up at:

https://qabounty.com/questions/what-kind-of-database-should-i-use-when-trying-to-store-10-to-15-million-rows-a-day/

The best answer for that question will award that user 3 coins (which can be withdrawn for about $3). I plan on adding my own questions of the day for a while, basically giving money away for a while hoping people use it for their own questions eventually. If you want to make a quick $3 though and check out my idea please go to the site and try to answer the question!

Let me know what you think! I am also looking for a designer as well after I see if people like the idea.. I used Stripe's new withdraw to debit card feature so you don't have to use bank account info to withdraw your "bounty" (money you get for answering questions)... Please give me some feedback on the site/idea!

Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions
qabounty.com

Re: Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

#2

Post by bbarrows »

I recently finished my site QABounty.

I would get annoyed when I could not get anyone to answer my questions on sites like Stack Overflow so I created this site, https://qabounty.com/. It is basically your standard QA site but you attach a USD $$ bounty to questions. For example I have a question up at:

https://qabounty.com/questions/what-kind-of-database-should-...

The best answer for that question will award that user 3 coins (which can be withdrawn for about $3). I plan on adding my own questions of the day for a while, basically giving money away for a while hoping people use it for their own questions eventually. If you want to make a quick $3 though and check out my idea please go to the site and try to answer the question!

Let me know what you think! I am also looking for a designer as well after I see if people like the idea.. I used Stripe's new withdraw to debit card feature so you don't have to use bank account info to withdraw your "bounty" (money you get for answering questions)... Please give me some feedback on the site/idea!

Re: Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

#4

Post by TylerE »

bbarrows wrote: post #2

I recently finished my site QABounty. I would get annoyed when I could not get anyone to answer my questions on sites like Stack Overflow so I created this site, https://qabounty.com/ . It is basically your standard QA site but you attach a USD $$ bounty to questions. For example I have a question up at: https://qabounty.com/questions/what-kind-of-database-should-... The best answer for that question will award that…

I'm not quite sure the financial incentives really align for anyone who's time is worth anything (e.g. doesn't live in a third world country). For instance, even at rather modest rate, your $3 buys about 8 minutes of my time, which isn't going to get much of an answer.

Re: Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

#5

Post by jzwinck »

TylerE wrote: post #4
bbarrows wrote: post #2

I recently finished my site QABounty. I would get annoyed when I could not get anyone to answer my questions on sites like Stack Overflow so I created this site, https://qabounty.com/ . It is basically your standard QA site but you attach a USD $$ bounty to questions. For example I have a question up at: https://qabounty.com/questions/what-kind-of-database-should-... The best answer for that question will award that…

I'm not quite sure the financial incentives really align for anyone who's time is worth anything (e.g. doesn't live in a third world country). For instance, even at rather modest rate, your $3 buys about 8 minutes of my time, which isn't going to get much of an answer.

That's right. Joel Spolsky (co-founder of StackOverflow) and others said long ago that offering people cash incentives can work against you. Some people will do quality work for free if they receive a non-monetary incentive like recognition. But when you reduce it to dollars, they can easily do the math and decide it's not worth helping you.

The above-linked question about databases is a great example: it basically asks the reader to solve a fairly tricky database design/administration problem for the princely sum of US $3. And this is a question posted by the site's creator?

Almost no one will be your part-time DBA for $3. And anyone who will should be treated with suspicion.

If you want to pay me money to solve your IT problems, great, let's talk about that, but it's going to be more expensive than an ice cream cone.

Re: Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

#8

Post by bbarrows »

jzwinck wrote: post #5
TylerE wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite sure the financial incentives really align for anyone who's time is worth anything (e.g. doesn't live in a third world country). For instance, even at rather modest rate, your $3 buys about 8 minutes of my time, which isn't going to get much of an answer.

That's right. Joel Spolsky (co-founder of StackOverflow) and others said long ago that offering people cash incentives can work against you. Some people will do quality work for free if they receive a non-monetary incentive like recognition. But when you reduce it to dollars, they can easily do the math and decide it's not worth helping you. The above-linked question about databases is a great example: it basically a…

I put this up too soon.. so I am trying to deal with scaling and some other issues right now but to briefly try to answer those questions/points..

The point is not to get anyone to be your "part time DBA" that was just some example question I came up with, hopefully to spark some kind of debate or just usage of the site. I am basically just giving someone $3 for their 2 cents on a scaling question. I think asking for someones opinion on scaling is a little different then asking them to be your part-time DBA.

About the financial incentives, the creator of the question can set the "Bounty" for whatever price they want. And if it is not worth someone's time to answer the question for that price then they can just ignore it right?

Really I am just trying to create an environment where people can offer "something" for help if they are not getting it elsewhere. It is not meant to be a source of employment but just a nice reward for someone willing to lend their time and knowledge.

I have a hand full of friends still in college who would pay a few dollars someone to walk them through a math proofs problem for example..

Re: Show HN: QABounty – Make money answering questions

#10

Post by bbarrows »

hsx wrote: post #6

What happens if someone doesn't mark an answer as answered or choose the best answer?

Moderator goes through and does his best to ascertain whether or not the question was answered and who answered it best/first.

If no suitable answer is available coins are refunded. Otherwise an appropriate answer is chosen after 5 days from question post.

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