So when are you finally going to give up on this idea with all the counter-argument, experience and such that was given? It starts to feel to me that you're clinging on to it no matter what. There has been quite some research on the topic of motivating people through rewards (of whatever sorts) and having people perform work out of sheer altruism. As soon as you introduce rewards or, actually, the *incentive* of a reward (be it monetary, points, status, whatever), experiments have shown that another part of our brain takes over (the one that is linked to pleasure and addiction, the nucleus accumbens -- as opposed to the posterior superior temporal sulcus, which is responsible for social interactions), and then you get completely different behavior and mechanics: * people will be demotivated because the incentive is not enough (*) * competition (*) It seems very counter-intuitive that people would be motivated if there is no reward at all, and demotivated if there is a little reward, but there is consistent and pretty overwhelming research showing that that is how things happen. To be more precise, it is the anticipation of a reward that breaks everything (e.g. fine to take your daughter to disneyland to reward her of her good work at school, but it is a bad idea to tell her "I'll take you to disneyland *if* your results are good"). Carrot and stick is just nonsense from another age (namely the industrialization age), including when it is just the carrot. In any case, doesn't it sound like the risks are just overwhelmingly higher than any potential benefit? cheers, Pascal -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org