[the_local_host]

Your analogy only holds if the customers to that pub were also supplying the drinks, the food, and handling the orders.

[dt3ft]

This is exactly what I was trying to say.

Imagine, in some distant future, where users who contributed were also rewarded for their contributions when their community "gets sold". One of the comments above mentioned that their investment into the site is 0, that may be true for them, but I most definitely invested dozens of hours of my time in order to write a well informed and solid answers (as was demanded by their community guidelines, mind you).

I am not the best example either, I know people who have written thousands of high quality answers and god knows how many hours of their time into writing these.

My gut tells me that it would be fair, and make the world a better place, if such users were rewarded as well.

[8note]

They're certainly providing the ambiance and the conversation.

Also stickers and writing on the walls