Linuxcnc pro/paid?

Yeah, I was wondering if the board might just not wish the headaches involved in any of the above. I wondered about the Donation thing too, LOL. I understand about the freedom involved in NOT having financial obligations involved.

I think the subscription system on a lot of the software is bogus and morally questionable myself. I can see for user questions, etc but bug fixes should always be free. If they sold you the software as doing X, Y and Z then it should do Z,Y and Z correctly. Having to pay extra to get what you already paid for is unfair.

Upgrades and new features and support for questions I can see charging extra for.

I do ask for much help, but I do have many other questions answered completely or partially just by searching the existing posts and replies. It can take me awhile to read along to keep up, but a wealth of knowledge available, kind of instantly, depending on the search.

I also see the point of having no obligation, but I keep seeing the same members answering questions for what seems like years.

Paul wrote: I keep seeing the same members answering questions for what seems like years.

I have learned a lot about LinuxCNC from answering questions. Often I don't know the answer but know where and how to look, and then learn something new.

I don't see why these two things have to be viewed as so mutually exclusive. If some people don't want money and want to volunteer then there is nothing wrong with that.
At the same time if someone came on here and said they wanted to make this their full time gig and was looking for say 50 people willing to pay $10/mo so they could get started down that path I would totally jump on board if it meant that it would accelerate development, improve quality and add functions.
Money can be a good thing if used properly. It can accelerate growth and increase interest.

The other thing that seems odd to me is the lack of vendors on this site. It's been a long time since I looked through the board rules. Is there a strict no vendors policy here or are there really just no vendors interested in this community?
On most the forums I am on there are vendor rules but vendors are welcome as long as they follow those rules. Most of the forums I am on you have to pay to be a vendor. More than the revenue of that I think it's mostly a way to separate vendors invested in the community and general spammers and to keep some sort of order and regulation.
On most of the forums I am on that do have vendor subscription requirements I haven't paid in years. I think they realize that the MK1 MR2 scene is so slow and I make so little money off of it that a. I can't afford to pay for the ability to market and b. I spend hours a week on the forums answering questions because my visibility in the community generates revenue for my business so it's a small win win. The forums get more activity and someone knowledgeable answering questions and increasing activity and through that I get some small compensation for my time from increased visibility and picking up the occasional customer.

I have actually wanted to branch out into the DIY CNC market for a while now. Particularly with a focus on metric components and tooling. I am a huge proponent of metrication in the US and would like to help make it easier for people to go fully metric. This is my facebook page if anyone wants to join. It's slow too. I would love to get more activity on it.
www.facebook.com/groups/1467252280183795/

I have not had as much time as I would like to put into this but if I get around to branching out in that direction a similar situation could be mutually helpful here. The opportunity for visibility causes me to want to spend more time here. More time here means I learn more, can help more and can answer more questions.

yoshimitsuspeed wrote: I don't see why these two things have to be viewed as so mutually exclusive. If some people don't want money and want to volunteer then there is nothing wrong with that.
At the same time if someone came on here and said they wanted to make this their full time gig and was looking for say 50 people willing to pay $10/mo so they could get started down that path I would totally jump on board

We will probably create a "Services offered" section after the forum migration this weekend.

The other thing that seems odd to me is the lack of vendors on this site.

They are here. Both Pico and Mesa offer direct answers about their products here. You just have to know who they are
(Jon Elson is Pico. PCW is Mesa)

andypugh wrote: We will probably create a "Services offered" section after the forum migration this weekend.

That would be cool.

andypugh wrote: They are here. Both Pico and Mesa offer direct answers about their products here. You just have to know who they are
(Jon Elson is Pico. PCW is Mesa)

Good to know. I was thinking more in terms of people who offered more general support. I don't just respond to threads regarding my products or where I think I can sell products but I'll try to help out anywhere I can as I have time. You tend to see a lot of this in the car communities. It seems much different here.