I’m trying to lay a plan in my head where some software parts of the project could be made as graduate projects. If I can get key teachers in on it they could really help out. I’ll draft a plan in my head and try to gather people who showed interest here for a meeting once a better-crafted top-level view is set

Got you. It is a shame that this part of crypto is not more widely publicized, as it is its most interesting use in my eyes.

Still think it can’t be the only solution if we want wider reach. To avoid taxes and legal structures, I want to study whether we can interface with projects’ available donation options and automatically split a user donation into several. Skipping the “finding the donation option for each project” problem which can be tediously human-solved for a proof of concept, the issue would be whether the process could be easy for the user while not getting obliterated by transaction fees.

There is no need to develop a crypto side since I’m sure a way to interface with Kivach could be found if the other fiat currency problems are solved beforehand.

Thank you for your input, it means a lot.

SPI is great, didn’t know about it. Sadly, it would need more projects in it to be a core pillar of FOSS funding. They are clearly aiming to build something stable and that’s good for them. But I feel like their application process is a little too long for simply distributing funds around.

The solutions you linked are interesting but ultimately neglect the most important aspect in my opinion: discussion among stakeholders. They also tend to use bitcoin, which has proven it could not gain enough traction to be mainstream yet.

Taking the core principle of Kivach and making it viable in state-backed currency, using the platforms devs have already set up for payment would be a great leap forward. We need to get something going and build support from a critical mass.

Why is Kivach not more widely used? We should tackle these questions and try to improve it.

You are indeed a good motivator! The reason I did not want to make this post at first is that I need everything: people to brainstorm with, people that can carry the project, people with the skills to create a prototype, people who can convince FOSS projects to get on board, and people willing to encourage others to donate.

Overall too much labor, skills and connection for one person. I believe we would need a team of 10-15 volunteers, some already involved in projects, to put something up

Among distribution rules to be discussed, one of the first points would be who is eligible. I would not want corporations to be supported by these donations, but some companies actually focus on FOSS as a service and I could see them getting in on it. I would exclude devs employed at a company getting paid to contribute as well.

I think this would not drastically change the status quo. Today, corporations contribute to FOSS, but mostly to make sure their hardware or other software is well supported. They will still have that incentive if there is a central donation system that excludes them.

That’s sort of what is preached here. However, no one is gonna bother making a complete list of projects and dependencies. And we still have to define what is the even distribution among Lemmy and its dependencies for example, hence the need for a democratic structure

I did, and I was intentionally hopeful when I wrote that. I stand by the latter part of the argument though. I’ve seen enough situations where splitting money was not a problem as long as a common interest was there and the decision process was flear and fair

The effort behind that list is great and it does help people out. But I don’t think many people will look at it and decide to donate. This is part of what is to be solved here

Oh yes there will be drama. But I would gladly help sort it out if there was enough interest and I think I wouldn’t be alone in that endeavour.

It’s always better to distribute poorly than not distribute at all

Stupidly simple doesn’t seem to be able to fix the problem here. We need to find the simplest way that can help. How would you make it simpler?