Originally Posted by Dovster

I strongly disagree. Volunteers (be they mods or TB members) would be of absolutely no value if it were not for the thousands of members who post on a regular basis. They are the ones who provide FT's worth and are its real backbone.

Moreover, the posts they make do, indeed, have profit tied to them. They are to FT what tourist sites are to Venice -- without them, nobody would come and IB would have an empty "city" and no profits at all.

That being said, I would be the last to deny that mods do, in fact, work and should be paid for their labor. In fact, I will get just about everybody upset by making the following statements:

1. By working for free, the mods are cheapening themselves. They are, in essence, saying, "I don't get any money and that is exactly what I am worth."

2. When you and I subject our writing to the scrutiny, review, and possibly disciplinary action of unpaid volunteers, we are saying that what we post is not valuable enough to warrant handling by professionals.

3. When IB does not pay moderators, it is announcing that it does not care enough about the content of FT to pay the cost of having impartial professionals determine its quality.

Originally Posted by Dovster

In short, you volunteer for local government offices and for a professional organization (to which, I presume, you belong).

That is fine and commendable. I do, however, see a great difference between that and if you had told me you do volunteer work as a claims adjuster for an insurance company, an engineer for BP, or a pilot for BA.

Frankly, if I put in an insurance claim, am a driller on an oil rig, or am a passenger of a plane, I would feel much more comfortable knowing that a professional whose income depends on him doing good work is the person on the job.