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Comment on Ask HN: Would issue “bounties” make contributing to open source more appealing?

Comments

No for various reasons:

1) We don't live in a gift-based economy. Companies approve budgets for software purchase every day but cannot easily justify donations for many reasons.

2) Individuals have to choose between donating to a software project, or to famous charities fighting poverty and diseases, or save money in case of any future rainy day. Difficult to justify donating to FOSS: you cannot even ask your money back in case of a health emergency.

3) Developers want long term employment/contracting based on trust. Being offered occasional work on bounties can feel dehumanizing and unprofessional.

4) Most bounties are very small and tend to attract only very unskilled developers.

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