Divide And Fight v1.30b If the unpaid volunteers get the feeling that design decisions or feature additions are simply available to the highest bidder, they'll head off to a project that seems more like a meritocracy and less like unpaid labor for someone else’s benefit, They may never complain overtly on the mailing lists, Instead, there will simply be less and less noise from extemal sources, as the volunteers gradually stop trying to be taken seriously. Divide And Fight v1.30b The buzz of small—scale activity will continue, in the form of bug reports and occasional small fixes, But there won’t be any large code contributions or outside participation in design discussions. People sense what's expected of them, and live up (or down) to those expectations. Although money needs to be used carefully, that doesn't mean it can't buy influence. It most certainly can, Divide And Fight v1.30b The trick is that it can’t buy influence directly. In a straightforward commercial transaction, you trade money for what you want.