4 ms·

It's a legitimate request, and it shouldn't be even necessary to ask for it, for any project that accept donations or publicly funded. It's annoying, but it's i

by riquito 13y ago

It's a legitimate request, and it shouldn't be even necessary to ask for it, for any project that accept donations or publicly funded. It's annoying, but it's important.

swalsh 13y ago
"It's a legitimate request" I don't think it is personally. Their transparency is in the updates to their software. If you think the updates don't correlate well with the level of contributions, than don't contribute. Having to justify every expense would be extremely burdensome, and would only detract from running a productive foundation in my opinion. Would we ask Microsoft how it spends all the money we give it in exchange for a copy of Windows? I think maybe if this was a cancer foundation, it would make sense. The results are harder to see, so you might legitimately be interested in seeing where the money goes.
- michaelt 13y ago
  In my experience it's not so much a matter of "legitimacy" or "transparency" so much as pragmatism; charities believe that "$10 buys and delivers an anti-malaria net" makes more than "$10 supports our work in various ways" Whether OpenBSD believe transparency would increase donations enough to be worth the bother is of course another matter. And if they to and forego some donations that's up to them.
  - michael_h 13y ago
    "$50 buys and delivers a CD set and some stickers"
- cheez 13y ago
  I think the analogy to MSFT shareholder is more apt and if the OpenBSD foundation is a foundation that has to report to some government bureau somewhere, there will be a report of some kind that the donors can use.
  - swalsh 13y ago
    Even with shareholders. In the end, what they truely care about is that the bottom line keeps going higher. It's only when it's not that people start to care. But its really easy to look at expenses, and wonder how they are relevant.. then inadvertently make harmful decisions. Maybe the best programmer is most productive when surrounded by hookers and blow. If that showed up, people would instantly bulk, and it would be gone. But now the programmer is at a disadvantage.

by riquito 13y ago

It's a legitimate request, and it shouldn't be even necessary to ask for it, for any project that accept donations or publicly funded. It's annoying, but it's important.

swalsh 13y ago

"It's a legitimate request" I don't think it is personally. Their transparency is in the updates to their software. If you think the updates don't correlate well with the level of contributions, than don't contribute. Having to justify every expense would be extremely burdensome, and would only detract from running a productive foundation in my opinion. Would we ask Microsoft how it spends all the money we give it in exchange for a copy of Windows? I think maybe if this was a cancer foundation, it would make sense. The results are harder to see, so you might legitimately be interested in seeing where the money goes.

michaelt 13y ago
In my experience it's not so much a matter of "legitimacy" or "transparency" so much as pragmatism; charities believe that "$10 buys and delivers an anti-malaria net" makes more than "$10 supports our work in various ways" Whether OpenBSD believe transparency would increase donations enough to be worth the bother is of course another matter. And if they to and forego some donations that's up to them.
- michael_h 13y ago
  "$50 buys and delivers a CD set and some stickers"
cheez 13y ago
I think the analogy to MSFT shareholder is more apt and if the OpenBSD foundation is a foundation that has to report to some government bureau somewhere, there will be a report of some kind that the donors can use.
- swalsh 13y ago
  Even with shareholders. In the end, what they truely care about is that the bottom line keeps going higher. It's only when it's not that people start to care. But its really easy to look at expenses, and wonder how they are relevant.. then inadvertently make harmful decisions. Maybe the best programmer is most productive when surrounded by hookers and blow. If that showed up, people would instantly bulk, and it would be gone. But now the programmer is at a disadvantage.