# question about forum structure
**URL:** https://discourse.vtk.org/t/question-about-forum-structure/3067
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 16, 2020, 10:32am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/question-about-forum-structure/3067 "2020-04-16T10:32:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Joe](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Joe)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2020, 10:32am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/question-about-forum-structure/3067/1 "2020-04-16T10:32:25Z")
May I ask if The discourse vtk forum employs people to answer questions as part of their job role in addition to volunteers? thank you
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### Author:  [@lassoan](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/lassoan)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/question-about-forum-structure/3067/2 "2020-04-16T17:26:27Z")
The Discourse VTK forum is just a website (hosting is provided by Kitware) and as such it does not employ people.
There are employees who are paid for helping out here. For example government grants often include funding for user training, support, and dissemination activities.
For example, my time that is spent here is mostly funded by a grant from Canadian National Research and Education Network that aims to develop, maintain, and support research software infrastructure.
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### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/question-about-forum-structure/3067/3 "2020-04-21T13:35:55Z")
Andras describes it accurately (and we thank him for his many contributions to this forum). There is no one institution that employs people to answer questions on this forum, but some may have it as part of their job role at their institutions.
For folks who want guaranteed and faster support, there are formal [support options](https://www.kitware.com/what-we-offer/) available from Kitware and perhaps others.