[Marco van Herwaarden]

You would be surprised how much time has been spend on some hacks. And i am not only talking about the obvious ones like the big portals.

If someone has a specific wish for a hack or can make money out of this hack, i think it is more then reasonable that some money is asked. If it is somehting that is widely asked by the whole community and can not be used to make money, i often just create it for free, otherwise they will have to pay (sometimes just a symbolic amount).

Even with hacks that are sold for higher prices (let's say more then the costs of vB), if you would calculate the hourly income from it (counting coding, giving support, etc..) it would be a price that most people would not accept for a normal job.