Posts: 2833 from 2003/2/8
From: USA
Everyone has different motivations. And, so long as the bounty/hostage thing is for a few programs it's fine. A few at a time only.
There will be rules for the "author wants" bit too.
1. No silly toys. Mr Banana, Garfield Browser, etc do not qualify.
2. If there is something else that does the same job, and isn't riddled with bugs, don't bother.
3. No "plain" ports. No matter how nice BitTorrent is - it is shell only and requires the SDK.
3a) No ports where software exists. Why no Blender bounty? Imagine3d, Aladdin4D, and a couple of others exists on the 68k which function. You want Blender; you want to donate money to it? I'll link to your site, but will not play piggy bank for it. There are other applications that need our support here.
4. No shareware, if you ask for "hostage status" - you will release a fully functional version. If it was already shareware--you're going to release the source too.
5. Size Limit, since you're naming your amount--we're making a limit. (undetermined but probably between $100 and $300.)
6. No more than three targets at a time: If there are three items to donate to already, you have to wait your turn.
7. per above, first come first serve--only when there is an opening. We're not backlogging this stuff.
8. Time limit (undetermined but probably around 60 - 90 days), if your project doesn't generate the cash in this time--accept what is available, or we return the money -- and
YOU are responsable for the fees generated through paypal. If the system is abused (i.e., refused releases and money not returned) even once, we'll begin asking for a donation to the general fund from you up front.)
9. No haggling the userbase in the forums. If you feel you are being abused, be a man and suck it up. No one is going to run around the forums posting "why haven't you donated to MY PROJECT yet?!"
10. One programmer suggested "hostage" at a time. If you have four projects, tough. At least we'll know WHY you haven't finished anything.
Translation: If you have three lines of code done on a port, six months from completion, want to release it as shareware, or want to make a PITA of yourself in the forums, you probably shouldn't bother.
If I haven't made myself crystal clear, let me sum it up for you. There are very few projects that will qualify for this at any given time. MorphZone is doing this as a favor for everyone, but I, the webmaster, do not want to spend every waking hour playing treasurer. In many regards, I agree with DJBase about this stuff, and fully intend to be rather strict with programmer requested monotary assistance. Why is this going to be difficult? Because too much will make the well run dry, annoy the users (who may be excited right now, but they won't stay that way if everything becomes a money pot).
I'll write up something more formal later.
I even can't pick up ezTCP bounty (though it fully corresponds unmorphos' goals). I repair electronics and have somehow good addition to my promary salary (~$30...50 per week)
Targhan