News - Google Helpouts will offer real-time help with real people

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Your agent, Google, will receive a 20 per cent cut of the profits from your expertise.

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Oooooh - they need one for independent adjudications for roleplaying games! I'd happily get paid to tell some 4e rules lawyer that they're wrong :D

What an awful concept. I work in Health and Fitness and I can already see the egotistical, opinion driven, science & fact bereft variety of 'expert advice' that would be on offer. Just call it Google + Cowboy DIY service. Please save us all from the world wide web and it's host of instant experts.

20% is robbery, it should be a minimal service charge only regardless of the amount of time that gets charged not a percentage. This is just like the exuberant fees ebay charge for what really is just a middle man service that should be free (except a basic service charge) to all members of the public since they are the ones really driving it. It costs them no more to service small transactions as it does big ones and yet they take a bigger slice according to the size of the transaction. Google is truly the ultimate incarnation of the bourgeoisie.

The fee that Google get from me will be 0%.

For a start, it needs a Google account. Hell will freeze over first.

Not a bad idea: I can finally just email a link to all the people the missus/my parents work with when they tell me that they need technical help.

Indeed just as a easy way to support parents/sister/friends instead of faffing about with other solutions will make this useful. 20% of 0 = 0.

Sounds very much like Google Answers, many years ago. Wonder why they closed that one down?