Hush about Stipends and lets discuss...

OK everyone keeps saying to end stipends and blah blah...
But Instructors get $500 daily, how many times a day and how many times a week?
One popular instructor place is having 75+ supported instructor events in a 24 hour period... thats $37,500 a day, $262,500 a week, and thats not even a smll percent of the instructing events going on in SL...
Now I have no problem with instructors getting paid, but this neeeds to be limited a bit more and have more in depth criteria... discuss...

I'm in the wrong line of work.

Which now makes me wonder... if INstructors get paid, why dont Live Helpers? Just curious..

Opinion:

I've made the case before that if events people and entertainers get no support, why should educators?

Let them start charging and then we'll see who the really good teachers are.

Anyway, I heard that Teazers in particular had some sort of special arrangement with the Lindens, but I haven't found any details on that to determine whether or it it's true.

coco

Instructors are limited to how many events they can hold per account, rather than per place. Its something like up to 2 a day with a maximum of 7 a week. Which considering each one has to be at least half an hour long (and they usually run about an hour long) isn't much money. When I was reguarily holding instructor events I usually gave it away in one form or another.

An hour long teaching event is A LOT more work than an hour on Live Help (in my experience), it takes planning, you have to submit your class for approval, then add it to events, then hold it, you have to have more than 5 people there to get the money and then (I think) you have to send off a report. Its a lot of work.

After looking at the economic statistics and the whopping 41 million L$ difference between sinks and new money, I think the small amount of income instructors are receiving is neglible and has no effect on the economy by comparison:



Why instructors are paid when other volunteers are not is a valid question, but that is much more a question of consistency than of economic impact.

I told you that when you dropped out of the Elite Escorts group to pursue content creation, but you did not listen to me.

There were only so many people who found being completely ignored and told to bugger off sexually arousing and worth paying for. *shrug*

Yes! Capitalistic Gold Star for you!

How can you figure that to be the difference when that is just one group of instructors? what about the other 100's out there? and the amount to determine is for a few hundred instructors vs the stipends spread throughout 200,000... *sighs*

Also stipends are $50 -$500 a week per account thats not going to put a dent into the economy...

Well these figures prove my point. Without Stipends and dwell bonus Sl will enter a period of very destructive deflation. L$13,307,172 would of be removed from the money supply in April. Who is going to want to pay as much money for a SL shirt as an rl one? Not me! Being from Japan I understand the destructive nature of deflation all so well. The big American Depression was based on deflation. The Yen at that time was undergoing inflation. A yen use to be close to a dollar in value once upon a time. Now it is about 110 to the dollar.

Be very careful of what you ask for children. You might make a lot of money in the short term but you stand to lose BIG. I stand to lose nothing *giggle* all of my must expenses are to Linden Labs and paid in American dollars. Oh yes, blaming teachers for getting a small salary is so low a blow. I am speechless over such behavior!

Sensual,

Look at the numbers - stipends amounted to $49,935,550L in new L$ brought into the economy - combined with all other sources of L$ into the economy ($4.8 million in dwell plus another 4 million from other things, such as paying out to instructors and other L$ awards given) totalled 59 million L$ being brought into the economy in April alone. Only 17 million was removed from the economy in the same period through money sinks, hence the 41 million L$ difference in just one month. Stipends are the lion share of that amount - 49 million of it. That is where I came up with the numbers - they are all right there. How on earth can you say that stipends don't put a dent in the economy - it put a 49 million L$ dent in one month.

Ewww

Touche

You're not understanding me, it makes a whole lot of difference when over $250k (this is just from one group of instructors) is given out each week to a small group of people vs stipends where it is spread out to over 200,000 accounts.

Instructors are paid (and not other volunteers) as an incentive to hold classes.

In the not to distant past, a single class on the event calendar was hard to come by. At the Events Workgroup last year many folks felt that Linden needed to find a way to encourage more classes.

So, this is what they did - and overall, I think its been pretty successful. Nowadays, you'd be hard pressed to find a time on the calendar when there isn't some sort of class going on.

At some point, Linden will decide to wean Instructors from the subsidy teat, as they gradually seem to be doing with many other folks. If 'Teazers' (and others like them) can find their profit in the classes and not the subsidies before they're gone, maybe it'll be a graceful transition.

Maybe the whole stipend thing should be done like dwell was

Taken from a pool of x dollars and divided up based on how much time your account was actually logged in.


(hides behind desk and waits for heads to splode)

Eh whatever system for whatever reason - if it adds even 1 US Cent to the overall world economy - someone will game it.

That much is guaranteed.

Something should be done - that much I agree with - but seeing how every idea thats come up, old and new, I've worked out a way to game the crap out of in my head in under 20 seconds - I'll just wipe the table down, as I don't really bring anything to it

There are still a very limited number of people receiving it by comparison. $1 million L is nothing compared to the very real $49,000,000L coming from stipends . Other money sources besides dwell were only $4 million for the month - $1 million a week vs $12 million a week for stipends. It makes no difference how many people it is spread out amongst, that money ends up in the general economy.

Well it seems to me that all you folks with all this money to sell whining about inflation is the problem. Lets charge way more for texture, sound, and animation uploads

Ack, no! I'm not whining! I don't want to pay more to upload textures!

coco

This might be an odd question but let me say it... "SO WHAT?"
Ok.. instructors get paid to host classes. So What?
How many of you have been to classes in SL? I personally have been to quite a few and have really enjoyed the experience.

I've been to quite a few classes where the instructor has created a script and given it away to all the students for free. They have also made demo items and step by step instructions. They have invested a LOT of time into their "creation", and yes, I see their class as something they've created.

If content creators get $L for their creations.. why shouldn't instructors?

Quite a few people seems so eager on here to condem others for doing what they are doing. What is the real issue? People are coming into the game and enjoying themselves. People are playing it the way they want to play it. So, when I see people moan and groan and complain about what others are doing in their game play.. I have to ask.. "SO WHAT?"


If you want to make the $500 per class.. then create a class and host it. If not, let those who are investing the time and effort do it and leave them be.

I reckon that there should be a shoe tax. L$10 per shoe rezzed. That'd be a good sink. Or maybe we could have a charge for using the word "stip*nd".

I do not understand these forums. One minute everyone is complaining about ignorant newbies, who don't contribute anything to SL except plumpin' their bums in a camping chair. The very next minute, I see complaints about educating those newbies to get them producing something of value.

In all of my beginning and intermediate level classes, I would say that at the very least half of my students are less then 60 days old. Even in my advanced classes a surprising amount are very new. These people want to learn how to do something other then leach off of the SL economy.

I spend a significant amount of time preparing for a class. This includes getting notes together, getting supplies together, and practicing enough times in my house before I teach the class, so that I don't confuse anyone to death. That's not all.... Once I get to class (30 minutes before I actually start getting paid) I set up, send out group IM's, and welcome and/or redirect students. Then the class begins. I am then charged with the task of keeping my more advanced students not bored, while I help the struggling beginners in IM's, catch up the folks who showed up 20 minutes late, answer every question imaginable, and try to maintain the appearance that everything is running smoothly. Even after class is over, I am still there, helping the people who still can't figure out how to get their sphere off their heads.

When everything is done, and all of my students are satisfied, I cash out and go home... only to start all over again tomorrow.

Trust me when I say I'm not complaining. I love teaching. It is the most fulfilling thing I have done in SL to date. I have several students in my friends list who constantly send me their new creations, ask for help and guidance, and generally just make me glad to be diong what I am doing.

These people can't afford to pay me for what I do. They're new! And they probably wasted all they're money on one of those camping chair casino slots

Maybe at this point I'm just rambling, but my main point, if it isn't obvious, is that it's more effort then you realize, and it's worth spending some money to educate the ambitous, yet ignorant folks of SL.

All excellent points Daul.....well said

Great points, but I didn't start this thread to insult instructors in any way, nor did I ever say they didn't deserve or earn the payment...