tag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:/discussions/problems/1609-donationsGPGTools: Discussion 2017-09-14T11:56:34Ztag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-05T09:29:14Z2012-08-05T09:29:14ZDonations<div><p>Hey Topping, thanks for taking the time and sharing your
thoughts. Interesting idea. Another user brought a similar
suggestion to our attention.</p>
<p>Believe me, we are thinking about way how to spread the word
further. Mail encryption is still only for a tiny fraction of
users. But in the last 6 months a lot of first time users have come
to GPGTools and succeeded in the setup.</p>
<p>So I think we are on a good way.</p>
<p>I personally don't like the idea of having to charge for every
mail I want to encrypt (although it's just a tiny amount - similar
to the Tobin tax for financial transactions).</p>
<p>We'll have to see what the future brings. But the idea is open
for discussion. Maybe others want to chime in?</p>
<p>Cheers, steve</p></div>Stevetag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-07T05:17:27Z2012-08-07T05:17:27ZDonations<div><p>Hi Steve,</p>
<p>The other thing that might be good is to start putting these
projects on Kickstarter. I'd gladly donate a tidy sum to get this
fixed quickly if I knew that it was going to definitely happen, but
wouldn't want to donate that much if there wasn't enough to see the
project through. Kickstarter returns the money if the goal isn't
reached. So just set the goal so there's enough money to finish the
project. Even if you split the project into two (the first being a
feasibility study).</p>
<p>In regard to the Tobin Tax, it definitely would be a voluntary
thing in my view. There's no way that free software should ship
with a paywall. That would be as popular as a lead balloon.</p>
<p>Cheers, Brian</p></div>briantoppingtag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-07T14:02:32Z2012-08-07T14:02:32ZDonations<div><p>Brian, I get what you're saying. We considered kickstarter, but
all core-team members are from europe, thus no us-banking account
is available, which is a condition for kickstarter.</p>
<p>The existing team started working on GPGTools in summer 2010. So
we have a record of over two years of getting our act together and
hugely improving GPGTools. Those two years have been an insane ride
and that ride will, I promise, continue!</p>
<p>We've something sweet in our pipes ... but I can't talk about it
just yet.</p>
<p>As for the feasibility study: Everything is possible. Our
biggest limitation is not skill or willingness to make things
happen, but ... drumroll ... time.</p>
<p>So donations are currently the best way to make GPGTools strong
and allow the core-team to donate more time to this project.</p>
<p>You might wanna wait for our next announcement and then decide
if you want to contribute.</p>
<p><3</p>
<p>steve</p></div>Stevetag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-12T14:01:49Z2012-08-12T19:29:04ZDonations<div><p>Not trying to be negative -- I'm truly curious. But if you all
have full time jobs, how do donations translate into more time?</p></div>pedzsantag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-12T14:07:45Z2012-08-12T14:10:38ZDonations<div><p>Hi Perry,</p>
<p>most of us are freelancers. So basically, if we get enough money
to turn a job down which would for example last for two weeks, in
that time, we can work on GPGTools instead.</p>
<p>It's a very simplified explanation of course, but it should
explain why more donations mean more time.</p></div>Luke Letag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-12T14:34:31Z2012-08-12T14:35:08ZDonations<div><p>I absolutely agree with Luke on this. And we love the GPGTools
project. It's challenging, interesting, we have awesome users with
the most interesting minds. We'd all love to dedicate more time to
GPGTools and in that regard money is the biggest limitation.</p>
<p>To give you a single number: we've written over 2500 replies on
this support platform since late 2011.</p></div>Stevetag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-12T14:39:41Z2012-08-12T14:39:41ZDonations<div><p>I guess my point in this discussion is donations are likely to
go up significantly if there was a measurable model for the use of
the funds, and more funds mean more high-value projects getting
completed. I'm quite sure that such a well-organized project is not
misappropriating anything and even if it's not perfect, the amount
of effort that has been put in will always outstrip donations in
whatever window of time a measurement might be taken.</p>
<p>OTOH, if there was a way for the squeamish to know what the
goals are for their money OR they could "pay as they go" (more as a
confidence building exercise for end users than anything),
donations would increase. This isn't just true for GPGTools, it's
true for any OSS project, and that's a part of why Kickstarter has
been successful.</p>
<p>For my part in it, I do want to contribute and am an active OSS
developer myself, but have been burned by projects that never
delivered on features that I contributed cash to. Of course the
money was spent and won't ever come back, and in turn, I can't work
on the projects that I want to work on. I don't think the
developers wanted that outcome either, but by making the funding
available <em>after</em> the funding targets have been reached (or
returning it if not), there are really no plausible excuses for not
getting the work done.</p>
<p>This kind of accountability is key to folks with spare cash, and
I'd hope that one way or another, GPGTools is able to leverage that
for everyone's gain.</p></div>briantoppingtag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-12T16:20:49Z2012-08-12T16:20:49ZDonations<div><p>Sorry, I just misposted.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree with everything you're saying.</p>
<p>The reason why we try pushing donations at the moment instead of
setting up the project on a crowd-funding platform is mainly a time
issue.</p>
<p>GPGMail for Mountain Lion is the most urgent matter at the
moment and if we had decided to go with Kickstarter or the likes,
we'd have had to invest a significant amount of time in setting up
the project and the organizational stuff around that and in the
worst case, wait for the goal to be achieved before starting
development.</p>
<p>This will absolutely make sense for the next big thing we've
planned, which we'll start the planning phase for, as soon as
GPGMail for Mountain Lion is completed.<br>
For that project we'll set up a project on a crowd-funding platform
or something similar, clearly define goals, write a proper project
description and everything else that's needed.</p>
<p>This didn't make sense for GPGMail for ML. So the very
short-time solution was to setup donations to<br>
compensate us a tiny bit for the development time ahead of us.<br>
The downside of course is, that it's not entirely clear what people
are donating for and that we cannot be hold accountable.</p>
<p>We'll have to find a long time solution to keep GPGTools alive
and we'll sure continue to spend<br>
a lot of time in thinking of ways to finance it.</p>
<p>Thank you again for your input, we really appreciate it!</p></div>Luke Letag:gpgtools.tenderapp.com,2011-11-04:Comment/178191892012-08-12T16:21:43Z2012-08-12T16:21:43ZDonations<div><p>Also, one tiny addition.<br>
The nice thing about donations without goal is the message they
convey:<br>
We like what you do and wanna help keeping it going.</p></div>Luke Le