Flowchart : Should you work for Free?

I dislike the "non-profit or charity" section. There is a HUGE difference between a non-profit and a charity. For instance 62% of hospitals are non-profit. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_hospital" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_hospital</a><p>If they don't rely on volunteers to survive, if they have revenue other than donations, then you should be paid.<p>Ask the person emailing you/calling you if they themselves are a volunteer.

I like how every branch from "Is it for a legit business" ends with "NO".<p>Could have just short-circuited all the decision nodes after that, though that might have been less entertaining.

This flow chart seems to leave out quite a few "work for free initially" scenarios I've seen happen to friends, etc, that eventually led to companies being formed, productive connections, etc. While nobody should work for "nothing", there are far more subtleties to this than are expressed by this flowchart.<p>I'm sure there are more than a few HNers who can attest to this. Many here have worked on side projects with friends (or even strangers) with hardly any hope of profit or payback. It's not always exploitative.

This is surprisingly good, actually.

Now I feel bad for charging my mom $$$...

This reminds me of when I see ads on Craigslist for a logo designer, with a budget of $20.

You could save us a lot of time by just putting a "NO" next to the "legitimate business" question. To be fair, though, your humor is very much enjoyed.

I am ordering high-res print of this. A friend of mine would definitely make use of it.

would be more readable in a tree form