Volunteer firefighters absolutely get paid. Paid for training even. Also their income is tax deductible so it's like they're paid twice.

Sorry, but we in the Wikipedia cabal actually make fuckloads of money. What they never tell you is that we're paid a king's ransom by the Michigan Department of Transportation to keep our articles on Michigan's Interstates in pristine condition (seriously, our coverage is so disproportionately comprehensive). Everything else is just subsidized by that work to attract readership and maintain the ruse.

I used to love coding so much that I did it for free in my spare time. Then, I got a job as a software engineer.

Completely offtopic, but I always misread your username as WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot and have to correct my brain. heh

I would love to devote my life to public service but it would really make it a lot easier if it felt like my service mattered. Things are rather dismal right now. It feels like there are more people working against the public trust than for it sometimes.