(Same disclaimers as previous long post - bottom
line I speak for only myself.)
Somebody brought
up the point that Questions Unlimited was making
money from its questions and other people wondered how
much. My intuition is that the QU venture isn't making
Chip Beall or anybody else wealthy.
True, it
has to be a modest profit for it to have been his
full-time vocation all this time. That said, people are
often willing to live more frugally if they're pursing
their passion.
As of a decade or so ago, (and
this was when he had Texaco sponsoring) doing QU
full-time was at best a mixed bag. I vaguely remember brief
conversations with him, in which he'd mention that it was hard
to make a living in quiz bowl.
(I don't think
this was a smoke screen, since I was years away from
joining a group that was years away from existing.
Rather, I was a high school student hanging out with my
coach, and he was... in a frame of mind to speak with
unusual candor.)
Basically, I think he does this
for love of the game (or for ego, who knows with
human beings?)rather than simply for the money. Mind
you, IMO this wouldn't make plagiarism any less of an
ethical problem.
Matt