Mastodawn

aeva Aug 14, 2024

#poll Have you ever paid for software when it was optional to do so?

EDIT: If you only occasionally pay for software when it is optional, please reply with what sorts of software you typically do and don't pay for.

yes, always

7.9%

yes, but only rarely

78%

no, but maybe some day

9.6%

no, lol

4.5%

Poll ended at Aug 15, 2024 at 5:18pm.

I think it is probably safe to call it here. The overwhelming majority of you support the development of software you use to varying degrees of "sometimes", which is pretty cool.

From the replies to this thread, I gather it's relatively common for people to only support projects that are already relatively mature and popular, which is an interesting chicken and egg problem. Also you don't get anything if you don't ask, but it works better if the asking doesn't feel extractive. Not surprising

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aeva Aug 15, 2024

Lots of people also unsurprisingly strongly prefer one-off donations or payments instead of recurring ones to support long term development, but are also often vocal about how they are entitled to updates and improvements long term. That seems to imply that "growth" is the unsaid expectation of how a project should be funded long term.

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itsybitesyspider

@aeva I would love a system where I can set a fixed amount of money that I can afford to donate every month and then, separately, one-click whoever I want to get a piece of the pie. I think it would require a third party to administrate and divide up everyone's share.

Recurring donations are a lot less concerning when there's one place where I can directly control my expenditures.