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Do not donate to me (2013)

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11–20 of 65 posts

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#11

Why not accept donations then redistribute them to those causes? Also I recommend https://www.givewell.org

A number of reasons. First, you may end-up paying some middle-man twice. Second, you may have to declare any donations as income and be taxed for them (more paperwork for you). Third, in order to reclaim the tax you paid for the donations, you will probably have to distribute them to charities within your (already rich) country.

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#13

Why not accept donations then redistribute them to those causes? Also I recommend https://www.givewell.org

This only works if the developer will be donating to open source already and not caring about deducting it on taxes, but they could say “donate to charity in my name and let me know how much” and then they donate that much less.

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This particular trend -- not only not asking for contributions, but openly denying them (often in advance, and when none were ever offered) for a better cause -- is a rising tendency across virtually all of Western society. Watch any challenge with a monetary prize and invariably they'll turn the sad music on and demand that the contestants regale a tale about the old grandma in the old country, or the kid's club the…

Your analysis is good but there is one element you're missing: chargebacks. People who accept a lot of donations get hit with chargebacks from time to time and they can be so difficult to deal with that they actually cost the recipient money. This is a common complaint among people who take donations for a living, such as Twitch streamers. If you ask any streamer, they will tell you they prefer Twitch "bits" over any…

It seems like any dispute involving a donation should pretty much be lost by default. It’s not as if anyone delivers an inappropriate product for a donation...

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#15
post #14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your analysis is good but there is one element you're missing: chargebacks. People who accept a lot of donations get hit with chargebacks from time to time and they can be so difficult to deal with that they actually cost the recipient money. This is a common complaint among people who take donations for a living, such as Twitch streamers. If you ask any streamer, they will tell you they prefer Twitch "bits" over any…

It seems like any dispute involving a donation should pretty much be lost by default. It’s not as if anyone delivers an inappropriate product for a donation...

You would think so, but that's not the case. The problem is that people who receive donations don't have any special status with the payment processor. They are treated like any other vendor, so chargebacks are handled the same way.

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#16

Why not accept donations then redistribute them to those causes? Also I recommend https://www.givewell.org

I wonder if there is a thing like Patreon, but the money goes directly to foundations you choose.

If there's enough need for it to gain any traction, things like Patreon will just add it as an option.

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#17
post #14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your analysis is good but there is one element you're missing: chargebacks. People who accept a lot of donations get hit with chargebacks from time to time and they can be so difficult to deal with that they actually cost the recipient money. This is a common complaint among people who take donations for a living, such as Twitch streamers. If you ask any streamer, they will tell you they prefer Twitch "bits" over any…

It seems like any dispute involving a donation should pretty much be lost by default. It’s not as if anyone delivers an inappropriate product for a donation...

What if someone steals my credit card and "donates" $1000 to a nazi political party?

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#18
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This particular trend -- not only not asking for contributions, but openly denying them (often in advance, and when none were ever offered) for a better cause -- is a rising tendency across virtually all of Western society. Watch any challenge with a monetary prize and invariably they'll turn the sad music on and demand that the contestants regale a tale about the old grandma in the old country, or the kid's club the…

Your analysis is good but there is one element you're missing: chargebacks. People who accept a lot of donations get hit with chargebacks from time to time and they can be so difficult to deal with that they actually cost the recipient money. This is a common complaint among people who take donations for a living, such as Twitch streamers. If you ask any streamer, they will tell you they prefer Twitch "bits" over any…

Does the streamer get hit by fees or something with chargebacks?

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#19
post #14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your analysis is good but there is one element you're missing: chargebacks. People who accept a lot of donations get hit with chargebacks from time to time and they can be so difficult to deal with that they actually cost the recipient money. This is a common complaint among people who take donations for a living, such as Twitch streamers. If you ask any streamer, they will tell you they prefer Twitch "bits" over any…

It seems like any dispute involving a donation should pretty much be lost by default. It’s not as if anyone delivers an inappropriate product for a donation...

Often donation payments are used to validate stolen credit cards.

Re: Do not donate to me (2013)

#20
post #2

This seems like a very fair policy if the developer doesn’t need the money, as in this example. However, as a user, I hope that setting up a recurring donation keeps the project going and provides motivation to its author.

This particular trend -- not only not asking for contributions, but openly denying them (often in advance, and when none were ever offered) for a better cause -- is a rising tendency across virtually all of Western society. Watch any challenge with a monetary prize and invariably they'll turn the sad music on and demand that the contestants regale a tale about the old grandma in the old country, or the kid's club the…

Accepting money isn't "free", and usually incurs a non-trivial overhead. If it's someones hobby it's easier to just not accept money and focus on the actual hobby.

Some kid getting pocket money from a lemonade stand is significantly different to accepting recurring donations as an adult. Dealing with either setting up some sort of non-profit, managing tax in your country, accepting international currencies or supporting largely unethical/hostile US based financial institutions like Paypal, it can be a rabbit hole that some just can't be bothered with.

It's also just really weird to critisise people for wanting their users to donate to worthy causes.

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