Quote Originally Posted by Detroitnerd View Post
Oh, god. You guys completely lack a sense of humor! First of all, there is a room full of people looking at poop. POOP! If that doesn't make you laugh, and set the tone for this piece, then you will never, ever recognize satire.

Then again, maybe it's our local billionaire-worship at work again. Somebody asks downtown businessmen for a dollar and he's a nuisance. Mike Ilitch asks for hundreds of millions of dollars and he's a job-creator.

Anyway, perhaps also this thread has attracted architects. The message in this little piece of humor is actually widely circulated among writers, plastic artists, and the fringe performance scene. For instance:

http://shouldiworkforfree.com/

http://jezebel.com/dont-ask-writers-...an-e-513172739

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

So, you see, there's this kind of groundswell of people who feel they've been burned by the "résumé sweeteners" out there with their offers of work for nothing. And I think they do have a point. It would be one thing to complain about it if the job market weren't so utterly crippled, or if it were the only proposal of its kind. But in a permanently depressed job market in which people are looking for paying work for months and not being able to find it, employers and contractors have used unpaid internships, volunteer work, "helping" and various other sneaky ways to get stuff done for free, often by hard-done-by workers who vainly believe this is going to help them down the road ... well, then it's a little harder to defend this sort of behavior.

So, yeah, this person, who is a little long-winded [[tl;dr) is making a joke that's actually gaining some currency out there. Add in that a billionaire is asking for lots of stuff for free and it makes sense to me. A fed-up person sending a piece of satire into the teeth of the storm? Fine by me. I just thought it a bit too long and not punchy enough. I wish they'd have hired a writer.
I think 95% of the people here know it's a joke. But please don't add any background justification. There's nothing wrong with unpaid competitions. Imagine if municipalities paid architects for conceptual design work as part of an RFP. It would be disastrous with all sorts of corruption and unfair partnerships.

If people have gripes working for free, then dump that career and make it a hobby. Experience and good marketing will land you a project that is billable.

While it's a joke, it's somewhat sophomoric....you're correct, it needed a writer. But I sense some undertones of discontent.