I saw compliments on something I did

Context
I've spent some time this week contributing to a wiki composed of information on using a piece of software called Symphony by SirsiDynix. Today, a couple of people on an e-mail list devoted to the same subject complimented my work. I cannot link to either my contributions or their comments because that information is proprietary to SirsiDynix.

Commentary
The compliments I received got me to thinking about what motivates us to take extra effort. I mean, I wasn't expecting compliments when I sent my files to the wiki; I thought my contribution was way too mired in minute detail to be of much use.

The subject of motivation has interested me since high school. I think it came to my attention for two reasons. One was a book my dad was reading called Analyzing Performance Problems, or You Really Oughta Wanna, which broke down motivation to a very neat set of flow charts. If only real-world management was so easy!

The other was a class I took my freshman year of high school on comparative economic systems. This was not a "capitalism good, communism bad!" class, it was a legitimate comparison of the merits and drawbacks of these two major systems and other economic theories. In fact, I think the evenhandedness of it was what caused some of my fellow students to think our teacher was herself a communist, but I never got that impression.

I came away from that class thinking that communism was a lovely theory that could never work. Ideally it would be nice if we could all work for the common good, but it was not realistic to expect human beings to be motivated by altruism. As a strong believer in sin, I still think that's true.

Over time, though, I've come to realize that communist theory is more subtle than that. It doesn't expect altruism, it expects faith. If you believe that Karl Marx's view of human interactions is correct and/or morally superior, than you will be motivated to implement his theories. The same thing actually applies to capitalism and Adam Smith.

So what was my motivation to contribute to the wiki? Well, I had some faith that the material I contributed would be welcomed. OK, someone actually asked me to send it in, which was enough to inspire some confidence.

I guess I also believe in collaborative efforts in general. Not all of them, and I sometimes think wikis bring out the worst aspects of "writing by committee," but I'm often convinced that three hundred heads are better than one.

Finally, I believe that if you can help someone out, that's worth some extra effort. Wait, does that mean I'm a communist?

What did you see today?