Having authored hundreds of online articles and answered hundreds of questions in newsgroups and assorted online forums, I typically get a dozen or so emails per day from folks around the world asking for help on a particular problem. In the past, I usually answered those that could be answered with a quick response, and directed others to articles or recommended that they post their question on ASPMessageboard.com. I have decided to implement a new policy for those who directly ask me for help: I'm not going to answer a single question sent to me directly.
What I am going to do, instead, is direct those who ask me questions directly to http://scottonwriting.net/GettingHelp/. On that page I explain that I will only answer a question that has been posted to specific newsgroups or online forum. Why? If I answer a question directly, I've taken up time helping one person; if they post it on a messageboard, and I answer that question, my time is amortized over the potentially hundreds of readers who have the same or a similar problem.
I know that certain people really dislike asking questions publicly, even if it is behind an alias on an online forum. Or perhaps they have a question that they feel is too sensitive to air out to the world, one that is vital to their core line of business, which they don't want their competitors to see. For those folks, I have decided to start offering Premium Support. With Premium Support I will thoroughly and quickly answer a question for an agreed upon price (the base price starts at $75, and might go up based difficulty/time needed to answer the question).
My hope is that the gaggle of folks who email me directly will post their questions to online venues, and those questions will be answered there, either by myself or someone else, and that those answers will not only help the initial asker, but also future individuals as well.