paid more for starting discussions???

You'll find that, when you post a discussion, your User Rating doesn't immediately increase. It only goes up once the discussion has two responses or a response and a comment. Now, I know that User Ratings don't have much relation to earnings but it does make me wonder if we earn anything for discussions which get no responses. What is certainly true is that, unless you make good quality comments on the responses you get, you don't earn a cent more! Many people find that they do very well not starting discussions at all. Personally, I find it easier and more fun that way. I can spend a few minutes on one topic and then move on to another. I don't need to keep looking to see whether someone has responded to my discussion and to think what I can say which is different from what I've written before and which answers the particular way they have responded. On the other hand, it's good to post a discussion which gets lots of varied and interesting responses and to see how long you can keep it going. There are many little tricks you can use to do this. It's really much the same as having a good conversation.