Do you feel the same about donating to a free software project? Donating to a cool software service? Donating to NPR? The point is that we're not necessarily t

Do you feel the same about donating to a free software project? Donating to a cool software service? Donating to NPR? The point is that we're not necessarily talking about "tips" in the sense of "additional personal gratuity on top of an existing purchase". Very often, in this context, it involves making a donation towards efforts of someone you appreciate as, perhaps, the sole means of funding a project. I agree that I probably wouldn't be so keen on a service that encourages tipping people during an existing transaction. For example, I likely wouldn't tip a tech support rep for a company I host through (well, unless they went above and beyond in an overwhelming way). But I sure as hell think it's great to be able to pay a little to those who otherwise get absolutely nothing (other than a bit of respect). Just as I might buy lunch at work for a coworker who saved me a lot of time out of their generosity, I'd like to periodically pay back those who make my life easier out of the kindness of their hearts. For this purpose, I think TipJoy is one of the best alternatives I've seen for online "appreciation" donations. We plan to leverage it on our sites where it makes sense.