I wouldn't want to see it get out of hand -- the economics of the
Society are absolutely based on volunteer labor, and I honestly think
we'd collapse if that went away. The value of the volunteer time spent
on running the Barony is many times our total budget.
<p>
That said, I don't think we need to be intransigent about this. There
are times when the volunteer time required is so high that a bit of
extra incentive is useful. And I'm a firm believer that the autocrat
*is* the autocrat. That word means something: the autocrat is in more or
less absolute control of their event, and have a lot of leeway when it
comes to how the fees work. I think this falls well within their
discretion.
<p>
So to answer the question more directly: I think the trend is okay, so
long as it remains moderate. If it started to happen more commonly, I
might begin to get worried about it, because it would probably become a
serious problem if it really became the norm. (At the least, we'd have
to adjust a lot of other elements around it, and I suspect it would
become a serious bone of contention.) So I'd say that autocrats should
be able to use this mechanism if they feel it appropriate, but shouldn't
be too casual about it.