5 ms·

Biggest mistake of free software: It's too much hassle to donate. Show me a PayPal yearly subscription confirmation dialog on first startup for something less t

by rho4 5y ago

Biggest mistake of free software: It's too much hassle to donate. Show me a PayPal yearly subscription confirmation dialog on first startup for something less than 10 dollars, and if it takes 2 clicks at most and less than 10 seconds, you will get my money.

Joeboy 5y ago
The expression "fork over" was very confusing in this context. I think you're using it in the sense of "hand over money" here.
- rho4 5y ago
  thanks, adjusted
- amelius 5y ago
  I wish I could fork my money ...
  - brnt 5y ago
    With shitcoins, you can :)
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  It's a pretty common way of saying it where I grew up. I hope we're not grammar shaming now for such inconsequential statements...
  - Joeboy 5y ago
    The expression itself is fine, but the original (something like "Free software isn't worth the hassle of forking over") was a confusing collision of terms. It took me a while to work out what meaning they intended. I'm generally relaxed about alternative grammar.
lixtra 5y ago
I agree that convenience is key. For me that is not PayPal. I prefer to support some projects on Patreon.
npteljes 5y ago
This is something that can easily be argued. Not every project wants a donation, for one. Management of donations is also not straightforward - in case of GIMP, the project donations are managed by Gnome. Second point: why show it on the first start? People don't trust or like the software at first, so they would just click X and begin using the software. Some would even think it's intrusive. Rather, I've seen solutions where the software would ask for money right after it's been useful to the user. Duplicati for example would tell you to donate, suggested amounts, right after it successfully restored a backup.
- mixedCase 5y ago
  > in case of GIMP, the project donations are managed by Gnome. I'm sorry, I believe the article directly contradicts your statement since its mentioned they receive donations outside of GNOME, in platforms such as Liberapay, and it's the only way to pay for actual development.
  - npteljes 5y ago
    It's complicated. The GIMP donation page lists multiple donation avenues, but if you wish to donate to the GIMP project in general, that's the one that's managed by Gnome. I was referencing this paragraph: https://www.gimp.org/donating/#donate-to-the-project https://www.gimp.org/donating/#donate-to-the-project
    - ipaddr 5y ago
      That is complicated. I see why they are struggling to get donations. UI/UX matters.
      - spiralx 5y ago
        > UI/UX matters. A perennial issue for GIMP, at least their branding is consistent though :)
      - httpsterio 5y ago
scandox 5y ago
I found it really easy to pay them 10$ per month. Clicked the paypal "P" in the top right corner and set it up in a few clicks. The main busy work was logging in to Paypal since I don't stay logged in there and use 2FA.
southerntofu 5y ago
Well, it's not exactly THAT simple, because first as a project you need to have a registered non-profit organization as well as a bank account. Then, you need to be registered with Paypal, and then once everything is setup and you've chosen Paypal as your main avenue of donations, they're going to shut you down because everyone doing something remotely good gets shut down from that capitalist cauldron of evil. So in fact you need to be on Liberapay, Patreon, Tippee, OpenCollective, Paypal, HelloAsso and more in order to be sure you're not going to lose your source of donations from one day to the next. I mean if only every finance services provider was as transparent and benevolent as Liberapay, all would be fine. But we live in a grim world, and even Liberapay was almost shut down due to not finding a suitable finance service provider after Mangopay threw them out. That's why i truly appreciate when some established non-profits help gather funds for smaller projects. For example, the disroot.org hosting coop redirects some funds to free-software projects they either use directly or encourage their users to use. What i appreciate even more, is when i can donate cash in person to volunteers during free-software conferences, and/or buy a souvenir like a nice t-shirt... That's truly the only way i know where my money is going, cryptocurrencies aside.
petee 5y ago
I agree on the PayPal front...I don't have a Patreon account, so it's not just donating, I have to click "join", which is a quick turn off
- toastal 5y ago
  How is this any different? Some people don't have PayPal accounts. Is one proprietary, closed-source platform better than the other in this scenario? I'm not a Patreon user (but have an old account), but at least they don't require a "real" phone number, and don't have a terrible CAPTCHA system to log in.
  - petee 5y ago
    Well if you want donations from the most people possible, then yes PayPal is a way better option just on popularity alone - 6 versus 377 million users, or 491mil for GoFundMe, who doesn't require an account to donate. Some people have had PayPal accounts for a decade plus, like me. I'm really not about to make a transaction with a random company simply cause I don't need to enter my phone number.
devwastaken 5y ago
1. Paypal 2. Patreon 3. Stripe 4. Bitcoin, XLM, etc. Just do all the cryptos. 5. Contacts so larger donors can work out large donations or recurring donation plans via other methods.
OneLeggedCat 5y ago
What, you don't want a one-time donation of 2 dollars worth of bitcoin?

by rho4 5y ago

Joeboy 5y ago

The expression "fork over" was very confusing in this context. I think you're using it in the sense of "hand over money" here.

rho4 5y ago
thanks, adjusted
amelius 5y ago
I wish I could fork my money ...
- brnt 5y ago
  With shitcoins, you can :)
stjohnswarts 5y ago
It's a pretty common way of saying it where I grew up. I hope we're not grammar shaming now for such inconsequential statements...
- Joeboy 5y ago
  The expression itself is fine, but the original (something like "Free software isn't worth the hassle of forking over") was a confusing collision of terms. It took me a while to work out what meaning they intended. I'm generally relaxed about alternative grammar.

lixtra 5y ago

I agree that convenience is key. For me that is not PayPal. I prefer to support some projects on Patreon.

npteljes 5y ago

This is something that can easily be argued. Not every project wants a donation, for one. Management of donations is also not straightforward - in case of GIMP, the project donations are managed by Gnome. Second point: why show it on the first start? People don't trust or like the software at first, so they would just click X and begin using the software. Some would even think it's intrusive. Rather, I've seen solutions where the software would ask for money right after it's been useful to the user. Duplicati for example would tell you to donate, suggested amounts, right after it successfully restored a backup.

mixedCase 5y ago
> in case of GIMP, the project donations are managed by Gnome. I'm sorry, I believe the article directly contradicts your statement since its mentioned they receive donations outside of GNOME, in platforms such as Liberapay, and it's the only way to pay for actual development.
- npteljes 5y ago
  It's complicated. The GIMP donation page lists multiple donation avenues, but if you wish to donate to the GIMP project in general, that's the one that's managed by Gnome. I was referencing this paragraph: https://www.gimp.org/donating/#donate-to-the-project https://www.gimp.org/donating/#donate-to-the-project
  - ipaddr 5y ago
    That is complicated. I see why they are struggling to get donations. UI/UX matters.
    - spiralx 5y ago
      > UI/UX matters. A perennial issue for GIMP, at least their branding is consistent though :)
    - httpsterio 5y ago

scandox 5y ago

I found it really easy to pay them 10$ per month. Clicked the paypal "P" in the top right corner and set it up in a few clicks. The main busy work was logging in to Paypal since I don't stay logged in there and use 2FA.

southerntofu 5y ago

Well, it's not exactly THAT simple, because first as a project you need to have a registered non-profit organization as well as a bank account. Then, you need to be registered with Paypal, and then once everything is setup and you've chosen Paypal as your main avenue of donations, they're going to shut you down because everyone doing something remotely good gets shut down from that capitalist cauldron of evil. So in fact you need to be on Liberapay, Patreon, Tippee, OpenCollective, Paypal, HelloAsso and more in order to be sure you're not going to lose your source of donations from one day to the next. I mean if only every finance services provider was as transparent and benevolent as Liberapay, all would be fine. But we live in a grim world, and even Liberapay was almost shut down due to not finding a suitable finance service provider after Mangopay threw them out. That's why i truly appreciate when some established non-profits help gather funds for smaller projects. For example, the disroot.org hosting coop redirects some funds to free-software projects they either use directly or encourage their users to use. What i appreciate even more, is when i can donate cash in person to volunteers during free-software conferences, and/or buy a souvenir like a nice t-shirt... That's truly the only way i know where my money is going, cryptocurrencies aside.

petee 5y ago

I agree on the PayPal front...I don't have a Patreon account, so it's not just donating, I have to click "join", which is a quick turn off

toastal 5y ago
How is this any different? Some people don't have PayPal accounts. Is one proprietary, closed-source platform better than the other in this scenario? I'm not a Patreon user (but have an old account), but at least they don't require a "real" phone number, and don't have a terrible CAPTCHA system to log in.
- petee 5y ago
  Well if you want donations from the most people possible, then yes PayPal is a way better option just on popularity alone - 6 versus 377 million users, or 491mil for GoFundMe, who doesn't require an account to donate. Some people have had PayPal accounts for a decade plus, like me. I'm really not about to make a transaction with a random company simply cause I don't need to enter my phone number.

devwastaken 5y ago

1. Paypal 2. Patreon 3. Stripe 4. Bitcoin, XLM, etc. Just do all the cryptos. 5. Contacts so larger donors can work out large donations or recurring donation plans via other methods.

OneLeggedCat 5y ago

What, you don't want a one-time donation of 2 dollars worth of bitcoin?