Paying for projects
Matthew Fulmer
tapplek at gmail.com
Wed Jun 27 23:12:33 UTC 2007
On Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 09:37:01PM +0000, J J wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As you have probably seen, I see a lot of things I want to see done in
> Smalltalk, but I don't have time to do any of it. My "eyes are bigger
> then my stomach" as it were. So it occurred to me today that a possible
> solution to this problem would be to simply pay to have some of the work
> done.
>
> So to that end, I would like anyone who would be interested to let me
> know. I will set up a mailing list for any people would want to be take
> (or give) projects. I will suggest my project on the list, you can answer
> me privately (or publicly) with your bids. I will select someone, and
> publicly announce that it has been filled. After that it depends; we can
> talk publicly over the list, or use an intermediate like rentacoder [1] to
> ensure that both sides are safe. That is, I don't want to pay if I can't
> use the finished product, nor do I want the person doing the work to fear
> that they may get nothing for it.
Sounds good. I wouldn't be able to accept any projects, but I
would like to see what people are up to with various
mini-projects. I like mailing lists for their convenience, but a
third-party would probably be safer, as you pointed out. The
election team used the same strategy, as you may recall.
> We can negotiate the different things, time frames, price, features. I
> mostly only be doing smallish projects. The payouts would probably be on
> the order of $50 - $100 USD but the projects should be small (and often)
> as well. And if this catches on, there could be much bigger projects or
> people may chip in to sweeten some of the more interesting pots.
>
> Some people have expressed concerns about bounties in the past that people
> might have their feelings hurt if they don't get picked. So I would just
> like to point out, this has nothing to do with the board or anything
> else. This is just something I wanted to do. I will choose the person
> the same way any worker is chosen for a given, i.e. the best
> fit/price/availability/reputation.
Sounds awesome. Good luck.
> The payout will work in the same way it's done on rentacoder: We have a
> bid off for who will do the job, negotiate the parameters and pick the
> best overall fit, then you do the work, then when it's finished if I
> accept you are paid. If I don't accept you can try to bring it up to
> spec, decide to give up, or ask for an arbitration if you think you have
> met requirements. In the case of the rentacoder site, the payment money
> is deposited as soon as I accept a bidder so no one can "take their ball
> and go home".
>
> I'm a big experimenter so many of the projects may be that you get paid
> and then never hear anything more (because I decide I don't want to go
> that way after all). But hopefully the money can soften that blow a
> little. :)
>
> And lastly, I know Squeak is largely a gift community, and I don't want to
> upset that. I think it is good that people give things to the community
> (and I will most likely release everything I pay for). I don't want to
> create a situation where everyone expects to be paid for everything. This
> is simply a case that I have not managed to get anyone interested in my
> ideas by talking, I can't realize them myself (this decade anyway), so my
> last option is to pay.
Seems reasonable. I don't think this is disruptive; similar
things have been done in the past, for example:
http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/2653
--
Matthew Fulmer -- http://mtfulmer.wordpress.com/
Help improve Squeak Documentation: http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/808
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