Derek Powazek summarized some keen observations, made by him and others, today on his blog. One point that leapt out at me:

The secret to success with consumer-generated media is that the community has to feel wanted, important, engaged, and a little in love. For it to work, participants have to feel ownership. And you generally don’t feel ownership of something that pays you. When you get paid, you’re the one getting owned.

I agree somewhat, and culturally we are coming to embrace this idea, but we live in a capitalistic society and unless we move to a barter system of economy, ultimately people will want to get paid for their work. It’s true, as a point of pride it’s important to truly own your work, I’m certain it comes through in the quality of the media we see today. ZeFrank stands out in my mind, although he is certainly paid for what he does today. And I think he (Derek) isn’t saying that people don’t want/need to get paid, 8020/JPG has a graceful approach in this matter (congratulations), but this post does imply that getting paid is a low priority after effect.

There is a balance out there, and again I think you answered that for 8020/JPG, more broadly I’m excited to see how others address this in the days/months/years ahead.