Comments on: How can I make money from writing sonnets?

By: samuel l jackson

samuel l jackson — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:47:51 +0000

yo motherfucker this is the dumbest thing ive ever heard

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:16:10 +0000

I accidentally saved before I was done. “But,” I was going to say, “the other things are of great value too, when there are children and grandchildren to feed.”

By: David Megginson

David Megginson — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:20:22 +0000

I think we’ve arrived at a consensus, John. While I don’t think much of praise or incentives, sincere peer repute, honestly earned, is pure gold.

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 06:00:48 +0000

In reply to David Megginson. Well, I don't take them too seriously in a psychological sense, but true approval comes not only from self-approval, but from peer repute.

By: David Megginson

David Megginson — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:41:44 +0000

In reply to John Cowan. Good point, John — thanks for the feedback, and apologies for any offense. Employment is a carefully-designed, highly artificial system, but so is representational democracy, so that's not automatically a bad thing. I respect that not everyone will agree, but I believe it's better not to take any employer's praise, promotion, or financial incentives seriously — it's far better to take pride in your work exclusively because you know it's good. When that happens, you own your job, no matter who is signing the paycheques.

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:49:41 +0000

I think this message is rather offensive to those of us who work for someone else for a living, though admittedly it isn’t addressed to us. But for the record, I do indeed expect and get praise, retention, bonuses, merit raises, and/or promotion when I do something good, and the opposite things if I do something bad. I don’t think you ought to call the way most people still live their lives an artificial sandbox; it trivializes the effort made and the very real and valuable work that gets done.