When first visiting the quiz, readers see the following invitation.
Do you answer questions on mailing lists about how to use a software tool or language? Do you write documentation, put up web pages, or contribute to wikis about software? If so, please take the following survey to help O'Reilly do research that will be published on the O'Reilly web site, and may help software projects and communities get more such contributions.
We're only interested in hearing from people who do this for non-monetary reasons.
Individual responses are strictly confidential and names of participants in this survey will remain private.
Thank you for your time and feedback, we appreciate it!
After clicking to start the quiz, readers see the following text, with appropriate buttons and text fields to fill out.
I help spread information about computers and software by (check all that apply):
Answering questions or making other contributions on mailing lists
Writing project documentation
Writing my own web pages
Writing on wikis
Editing documents, translating documents, or doing tech reviews
Doing administration for these documentation projects
Other, please specify
The software projects where I make these contributions are: ________________
I contribute for the following reasons (please rate from 1 to 4):
| Not important at all | 1 |
| Somewhat important | 2 |
| Important | 3 |
| Extremely important | 4 |
Informal support (Definition: Many software developers and other people go on forums to offer technical support, which promotes use of the software.)
Mutual aid (Definition: People contribute help in the expectation that they'll get help in turn when they need it.)
Gratitude (Definition: People say, "I received help when I was new to this technology, so I want to help others.")
Reputation building (Definition: Consultants, trainers, job-seekers, authors, and others who hope to build a career go online to build up recognition and respect.)
Personal growth (Definition: By offering advice to others and by following them through the process of repairing a problem, contributors build their own diagnostic and communication skills.)
Community building (Definition: People who care about a software project want to build a community around this. They contribute to draw other people into the community, and perhaps to set standards for use of the software as well as standards for participation in the community.)
The enjoyment of writing (Definition: Many people like to write, and may decide their skills will be put to good use on this software project.)
Thrills (Definition: There's pleasure in seeing your insights turn up almost instantly on a forum with worldwide scope, as well as watching others succeed with your help and praise you for it.)
Please list any other factors that motivate you to contribute to documentation projects that were not listed in the prior question. ____________________