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On your last point -- whether a FOSS project is set up to be able to do anything useful with $800 varies a lot, I think. If it's something put out by a consulti

by pm215 5y ago

On your last point -- whether a FOSS project is set up to be able to do anything useful with $800 varies a lot, I think. If it's something put out by a consulting company or by a one-man-band independent or even by a student, sure. But a lot of FOSS projects are either worked on mostly by people on a big-company payroll (in which case their time is spoken for already and the bigco doesn't care about your $800), or else hobby/spare time stuff for somebody whose day-job is unrelated (in which case they're in it for other reasons and preferring not to spend four hours of their free time pair-programming with a stranger is an entirely reasonable choice). Basically unless you're already making a living by the accumulation of a lot of that kind of $800 transaction, the hassle involved in accepting just one of them as a one-off makes it not worthwhile (tax questions, potential conflict of interest with existing employer, dealing with people as paying clients rather than as people one can simply say 'no' to, etc...) And there's a massive chasm between "maybe once in six months somebody offers you $800" and "enough money coming in to quit the day job".

openthc 5y ago
The $800 was just an example number. In some cases I've asked "how much to get you to just pair-program with me using your library for four hours" then our business is concluded. It's a deal that I felt would be very low hassle -- however, I guess the supply-side didn't think so. (for reference I've been coding and consulting around open-source stack for like 20+ years). I've been on both sides of these cut-and-dry type of deals. However, the more common scenario when consulting -- and I'm sure many are nervous about this type of play-out -- is the client drags the deal on and on and on...and argues about the price...and pays late...and has endless change requests...and is surpirse that ECRs cost money...and needs just one more meeting about $THING..and...and...and. I've always assumed that's why we've been rejected...how can someone tell we're NOT LIKE 90% of the consulting buyers and mostly know what we're doing and have a straight-forward deal?
- sangnoir 5y ago
  > It's a deal that I felt would be very low hassle -- however, I guess the supply-side didn't think so. Were they administratively prepared to accept payments? For instance, did they have business bank accounts, invoicing, tax numbers, record keeping - if not, then it would be a hassle to do all that in order to receive a once-off payment for a days work, even if the rate is generous. Indeed, they'd need to "go commercial" to make the hassle worthwhile. So it may not be as cut-and-dry as you thought.
phphphphp 5y ago
Even with those tax issues aside, there’s quite a few projects on OpenCollective (for example) that have raised tens of thousands of dollars and haven’t spent it. I think for some portion of successful open-source developers, there’s a significant mental hurdle associated with taking cash for themselves even when it’s the click of a button away.

by pm215 5y ago

openthc 5y ago

The $800 was just an example number. In some cases I've asked "how much to get you to just pair-program with me using your library for four hours" then our business is concluded. It's a deal that I felt would be very low hassle -- however, I guess the supply-side didn't think so. (for reference I've been coding and consulting around open-source stack for like 20+ years). I've been on both sides of these cut-and-dry type of deals. However, the more common scenario when consulting -- and I'm sure many are nervous about this type of play-out -- is the client drags the deal on and on and on...and argues about the price...and pays late...and has endless change requests...and is surpirse that ECRs cost money...and needs just one more meeting about $THING..and...and...and. I've always assumed that's why we've been rejected...how can someone tell we're NOT LIKE 90% of the consulting buyers and mostly know what we're doing and have a straight-forward deal?

sangnoir 5y ago
> It's a deal that I felt would be very low hassle -- however, I guess the supply-side didn't think so. Were they administratively prepared to accept payments? For instance, did they have business bank accounts, invoicing, tax numbers, record keeping - if not, then it would be a hassle to do all that in order to receive a once-off payment for a days work, even if the rate is generous. Indeed, they'd need to "go commercial" to make the hassle worthwhile. So it may not be as cut-and-dry as you thought.

phphphphp 5y ago

Even with those tax issues aside, there’s quite a few projects on OpenCollective (for example) that have raised tens of thousands of dollars and haven’t spent it. I think for some portion of successful open-source developers, there’s a significant mental hurdle associated with taking cash for themselves even when it’s the click of a button away.