3 ms·

Actually, I think (for me at least) this would run the risk of pissing me off. When all that I get in return for open source software is goodwill/karma/recogni

by tow21 17y ago

Actually, I think (for me at least) this would run the risk of pissing me off. When all that I get in return for open source software is goodwill/karma/recognition, then there's no quid-pro-quo going on, and valuation is explicitly in non-monetary terms. As soon as you start sending physical goods around, you're making it look like you're assigning direct value to my labour. I suspect my reaction to a company t-shirt in the post would be either "You think so little of my work that it's worth one lousy t-shirt?" or worse "Not only are you profiting off the sweat of my brow, you want to me to wear this tshirt & give you free advertising?" I don't claim this is rational - but I suspect I'd react emotionally that way.

cperciva 17y ago
Well, the nice thing about having people send you an email offering schwag is that you can always say no. :-) If Microsoft offered to send me a free t-shirt, I'd probably say I wasn't interested -- but I'd still be glad that they had offered.
harpastum 17y ago
The relative value of a t-shirt (<$10) is completely negligible when compared to the 'normal' wage of most programmers. It's obviously a personal reaction, and therefore almost completely subjective, but I feel like the t-shirt is not reimbursing you for your work, but another way to say 'thanks', akin to a thank-you email, but that much more personal/sincere.
- SwellJoe 17y ago
  My philosophy on giveaways of this sort (and we do it quite a bit) is that if I lived in the same town, I would buy that person a beer or take them to lunch. It's not as though I'm paying them an hourly wage of $.05...I'm just saying, "Hey, that was awesome. High five!" Everybody likes having someone buy the next round, right?
- tow21 17y ago
  I think part of my pissed-off-ness would be that to me, the t-shirt is much less personal/sincere. Company schwag is almost the prototypical insincere, impersonal gift.
  - catch23 17y ago
    Still, just think if you have code in the linux kernel, you could ask t-shirts from just about every company in the world including government agencies and non-profits. You'd have more than enough clothing to last a lifetime of never doing laundry :-)

by tow21 17y ago

cperciva 17y ago

Well, the nice thing about having people send you an email offering schwag is that you can always say no. :-) If Microsoft offered to send me a free t-shirt, I'd probably say I wasn't interested -- but I'd still be glad that they had offered.

harpastum 17y ago

The relative value of a t-shirt (<$10) is completely negligible when compared to the 'normal' wage of most programmers. It's obviously a personal reaction, and therefore almost completely subjective, but I feel like the t-shirt is not reimbursing you for your work, but another way to say 'thanks', akin to a thank-you email, but that much more personal/sincere.

SwellJoe 17y ago
My philosophy on giveaways of this sort (and we do it quite a bit) is that if I lived in the same town, I would buy that person a beer or take them to lunch. It's not as though I'm paying them an hourly wage of $.05...I'm just saying, "Hey, that was awesome. High five!" Everybody likes having someone buy the next round, right?
tow21 17y ago
I think part of my pissed-off-ness would be that to me, the t-shirt is much less personal/sincere. Company schwag is almost the prototypical insincere, impersonal gift.
- catch23 17y ago
  Still, just think if you have code in the linux kernel, you could ask t-shirts from just about every company in the world including government agencies and non-profits. You'd have more than enough clothing to last a lifetime of never doing laundry :-)