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Comment by simon_weber | Hacker News Reader

Too bad; I've enjoyed running my free CS/programming Helpout [1].

Besides the decline in user growth that Google mentions, here are the major problems I saw while using it:

* hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up.

* attendees of free Helpouts were rarely prepared

* the scheduling system was very limited (especially compared to Google Calendar)

That said, when everything worked, it was an amazing experience.

[1] https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06...

[2] https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impress...

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How are you gonna do it now? I have a friend who I help but I really don't have time.

Also, why did you do it for free? I've found when I help somebody for 10 mins or so it usually gets me in the mood of programming my own stuff.

> How are you gonna do it now?

I'm not sure.

Ideally I'd have a site where I can put my email and encourage folks to write me. This has worked better than video chat for me, since:

1) folks rubber duck [1] themselves while writing, so they ask better questions.

2) it's asynchronous, so we don't have to find a matching slot in our schedules (and don't commit to an amount of time beforehand)

I've redirected all my Helpouts schedule requests to email recently and it's worked well.

> Also, why did you do it for free?

I just never considered charging. I don't think I could do so and feel good about it with the amount of free help I've received (irc, SO, hacker school, college...).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging

* hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up.

You've solved the MOOC attendance problem, with this.

It's a pretty classic strategy, relatives of mine have utilized it with tenants that had problems paying rent on time.

"Your rent is now $800 instead of $600, but if you pay it by the 3rd then we'll refund you $200."

One word: illegal. Sounds like a smart way to incentivize, but those relatives of yours are seriously risking the worst type of landlord-tenant conflict. If the tenant can provide some form of proof of this extortion... it will not have been worth the attempt.

you could try codementor.io they offer a similar service but more suited to cs. Even offer introductory free minutes

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