Should I quote my hourly rate and demand payment up front?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Tony McCreath: I'm starting to get more direct requests from people wanting me to help them out, by doing the work for them. ;
  
  I personally like helping out for free in public forums like this, but I don't feel I should do that when it's a private/personal request.
  
  How do you guys deal with it?
  
  Should I quote my hourly rate and demand payment up front?
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  Jim Munro: I usually say I don't answer privately and add that the community is safer/better because it's peer-reviewed. I've referred people who were afraid that their details might leak but in your case, it's your business. I would do just as you said. Quote your rate and secure payment.
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  CeS Inspections LLC: I agree. If you've established a reputation for giving accurate and honest feedback, while simultaneously avoiding shameless sales pitches, charge a rate and see where it goes
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  Tony McCreath: I'm not sure if I want to end up doing bunches of piecemeal jobs to earn a few extra $s. But then I also feel bad for turning people down. ;
  
  Maybe I should put together a standard response pointing people to the communities and finishing of with an "if you must hire me" statement with strict pre-pay rules and a worthwhile rate for me. I might even put that on the website.
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  Jim Munro: Good idea.
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  W.E. Jonk: To me it depends. Just an one-line e-mail/message I probably wouldn't respond. But if someone makes a request then sure, but I would ask for a budget asap. If the budget isn't enough I send them to this community for free help. ;-)
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  Tony McCreath: Many of these requests are for one off little jobs. Maybe "Please only contact me if you have an SEO budget in excess of $10,000/month" ;-)
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  Jim Munro: haha. Please undertake to ignore all rfps under $10K/mth, Tony. :)