[GRASS-PSC] Moving sponsoring to Open Collective

[Nikos Alexandris]

Thank you Moritz!

* Moritz:

>Hi Nikos,
>
>On 4/09/21 08:53, Nikos Alexandris wrote:
>>Dear Moritz, dear All,
>>
>>(as a user) I wonder if this new way can facilitate to "sponsor" work on
>>specific issues/user-needs.
>
>Vero suggested the following change in the email text:
>
>"... and sometimes pay developers to work on important but tedious bug 
>fixes and enhancements."
>
>So, yes, this is a possibility.
>

Indeed.


>>In example, in issue https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/1616, Maximilian
>>Stahlberg would like to be able to catch signals (i.e. SIGINT) with(in) a
>>Python the script to perform on-demand tasks such as reporting the current
>>status. He proposes a solution as well. Say a developer is 
>>interested in fixing
>>this and he sets a cost for it. The user decides to sponsor this 
>>specific work
>>and things happen.
>
>There is a big difference (just in tax law, for example) between a 
>user paying specifically a developer to develop something, or the 
>GRASS GIS community deciding to spend some of its budget (of which 
>parts stem from donations) to pay developers for certain tasks (and 
>before y'all get you hopes up too high: our budget is in the (few) 
>thousands of €, so not much that can be paid).

The keyword 'community' is inedeed important -- the community is not a
private or else for-profit acting entity.
How can we help a user find someone that will dedicate to fix something?
Like I wanted to get https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/1203 this
investigated and fixed. Or, say, I am willing to pay someone to help me
get it fixed.  How can such a request be brought up, where?

(My highest hopes: each issue in GitHub features a 'Sponsor' button
(like the GitHub Sponsor button) and anyone can make an offer. Offers to
be reviewed and accepted or refused.)


>>Would this be something worth considering for the GRASS GIS 
>>development team?
>
>This has been considered and the idea was put out there to decide on a 
>budget to spend and to organize some sort of community vote on which 
>bugs/features we should pay for. However, nobody has taken the lead on 
>thinking it all through and organizing it practically.
>
>>Is there a way actually to connect https://opencollective.com with
>>https://github.com/sponsors? GitHub has already an account
>>https://opencollective.com/github.
>
>OSGeo has a github sponsors account 
>(https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo), so people can also go through 
>there if they want to sponsor GRASS GIS (should probably be mentioned 
>in the email). AFAIK, however github sponsors have to pledge a regular 
>amount / month. It is not really made for one-time donations.

No, GitHub Sponsors does one-time donations too. Please check again if
of your interest.

>I'm not sure I understand what your aim is in linking 
>github.com/sponsors to Open Collective.

Hmmm... brainstorming how things can be linked together. Maybe not a
useful sentence.

N