My background is actually economics. I wanted to be an economist, but I wound up programming. Go figure.
One of the lessons one learns in economics is that if something is perceived as valuable, but it's free (in terms of money, time, effort, etc.), the demand will outstrip the supply. I think this concern is being raised here.
An interesting example that I recall reading about was in the early days of the Medicare program. Many elderly people were enjoying free trips to the doctor but apparently had nothing wrong with them. As it turns out, many of them just wanted to do something. As a result, Medicare was going broke. Simply by adding a minimal co-pay (it was around three to five dollars, I can't recall), the number of trips to the doctor by this group dropped dramatically. I'm not trying to debate whether this was right or appropriate. The point is simply this: even the slightest barrier to getting an answer could potentially improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
Cheers,
Ovid
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In reply to (Ovid - medicare) Re(2): Muzzling new/anon users
by Ovid
in thread Don't just provide a module name
by gryphon
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