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Ask HN: How can I monetize GitHub Issues?

19 points by sochix 10y ago

Hello everyone! I'm an author of TLSharp (https://github.com/sochix/TLSharp) - open source Telegram library. I got a lot of issues from users on my GitHub profile. At the very first time, I tried to answer everyone and help with project. But as time goes, I got annoyed by it. Also there is a lot of silly question, not connected to library development. I noticed that it's a common problem of open-source projects on GitHub. After some time contributor got annoyed/not interested in working with community. I decided, that some small amount of money to answer a question or help user using your library is a win-win for user and the OSS project. Do you know any way to monetize GitHubs issues?

faitswulff 10y ago
I looked into something similar (albeit briefly) and found BountySource, which is almost what I wanted: https://www.bountysource.com/ https://www.bountysource.com/ Preferably, like you, I'd rather this be user-oriented, like a kickstarter for features or issues, rather than just paying developers for implementations, but I will confess I didn't look at BountySource too closely. Perhaps it would fit both our needs.
- sogen 10y ago
  Hi, what is your contact info ?
bjourne 10y ago
That's not going to go well. If you aren't motivated working on it for free, then consider trying to find someone who can take over maintainership.
- smallgovt 10y ago
  For those of us that haven't spent too much time in the open-source community, can you elaborate on why?
- sochix 10y ago
  I've tried to find someone who can take maintainership, but it's very hard. I'm motivated to work on the code, but I hate to answer silly questions about C# syntax
PascLeRasc 10y ago
Signal has a pay-per-PR system that might be just want you want. https://whispersystems.org/blog/bithub/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/bithub/
kzisme 10y ago
I suggest you looking into Gratipay. It's a service that's in progress that allow for contributors of FOSS software to get paid for their contributions.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
lh7 10y ago
I reckon what you suggest is not a bad idea: when someone posts an issue that you do not particularly feel like working on, set a price on it! When/if anyone pays, you work on it. Or someone else can come in and say "I'll do it for X". Most successful projects that I know of are those where the developer is actually getting paid for his work. QGIS is a great example.
- sochix 10y ago
  Exactly what I mean!
  - lh7 10y ago
    Go for it then, and good luck! ;)
thepredestrian 10y ago
I work in a blockchain company and I'm building a tool that allows users to vote on pull requests to be merged to github, all done on the blockchain. Naturally reading this has spun some ideas in my mind - it would be cool to build a system where people are incentivized to respond to issues, and having it on the blockchain removes a lot of the trust issues that comes along with payouts and rewards. Any thoughts on this?