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Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

news.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 51 posts

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#41

I think maybe each bug could have a pot where people could put an amount, and if a developer fixed that bug and enough people agreed he would get that pot. That way developers could pick the bugs where people are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

https://www.catincan.com does something similar except that developers choose what to put up for funding and only the main devs can seek funding on the platform. Think http://www.freedomsponsors.org is the original as far as open source crowdfunding.

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#42

Cool idea, but don't pollute Github's UI with this feature. Developers rely on Github to have a consistent UI — I think we all hate when it changes a bit. Another website managing this would be nice. It could tie into Github's API and offer this service.

Bountysource.com offers this exact service and integrates heavily with the Github API. You can load up any open GitHub issue and put a bounty on it. The bounty is then paid out to the developer whose PR is merged and closes the issue.

We also have a plugin that committers can install that automatically updates issues with bounty details when they exist (that we don't think clutters the Github UI). Example here: https://github.com/jshint/jshint/issues/28.

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#43

For reasons explained well here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5828677 I don't like this idea. I think it goes against the very motivation behind open source software. What I think what would work better is if you had the option in github to vote up a bug (or expose the number of people following/watching it) so that the owner of a repository could use that number in deciding how important a bug is to his/her u…

I don't think this goes against the very motivation of open source software at all. OSS has a long and well established history of creating profitable companies based on support options, and this is the extension of that in a micro payment environment.

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#44

I have hundreds of open source modules and I really hate this idea. It creates a monetary incentive for developers to keep adding more features even when they are bad ideas. Also, what happens when a paid issue/feature was a mistake and should really be removed later? The economic incentive does not align very well with creating the most appropriate set of features for the task at hand and you end up with bulky enter…

Perhaps there is room for distinguishing feature requests and outright bugfixes?

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#46
post #33
post #4

This would change my work from a hobby to being a business. If someone pays for a ticket, the roles change a bit. The person who pays will expect something from you. I personally would not do that. If you like what I do, send me a beer afterwards. Or a gittip or a flattr. But don't pay me money.

How about this.. take samefisher's idea: > I think maybe each bug could have a pot where people could to put an amount, and if a developer fixed that bug and enough people agreed he would get that pot. Except leave out this part: > That way developers could pick the bugs where people are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Instead, completely hide showing how much money was donated to a bug. From everyon…

Or how about this... There's a hidden pot and every user can only contribute the same amount of money (say $1) to the pot. This way, the value of the pot would more likely reflect the community consenus of issue value to the project.

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#47
post #16
post #14

This is not an elegant poll.

Why not?

I think the poll is asking the wrong question because a dollar amount is completely arbitrary. If I really needed a bug fixed to continue with my business - I'd be willing to pay whatever it took.

A "Would you be willing to pay ..." question with yes/no/maybe options would seem more accurate to me.

Re: Poll: how much would you pay to get issues resolved on GitHub?

#50
post #47
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not?

I think the poll is asking the wrong question because a dollar amount is completely arbitrary. If I really needed a bug fixed to continue with my business - I'd be willing to pay whatever it took. A "Would you be willing to pay ..." question with yes/no/maybe options would seem more accurate to me.

I agree about this point, thanks for the feedback.
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