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Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

openpetition.de

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Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#21

Post by Mountain_Skies »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #3

What does it mean for volunteering to be "recognized" in Germany?

Though the petition is about Germany, in the US some entitlement programs come with work requirements that can be satisfied by volunteer work. Given the tech job market and how the US government's labor policies are detrimental to native workers, allowing them to keep their skills sharp through open source work while also satisfying the work requirements of various social programs, it seems like a decent trade-off. This presumes the government and the donors to the politicians that run it don't really want native workers to be unskilled. Their actions indicate the opposite, so that throws a bit of a wrench into things.

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#22

Post by Mountain_Skies »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #20
zeeZ wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to tax stuff there's a card you can get in most states, issued by cities/districts based on certain criteria, like doing a certain amount of hours per week of volunteer work, that will give you a discount or free entry to museums, pools, movie theaters, events.. There's listings online of all the institutions and businesses that give a discount.

For this, and for the criminal justice use case, it seems to me that it isn't possible for "work on open source" to receive this kind of formal recognition. Anyone is free to self-certify that they're working on an open-source project headed by, and exclusively contributed to by, themselves. You'd need to formally recognize open-source projects that the German state approves of, on a case-by-case basis. And even then…

True. It would need to be something associated with a registered non-profit organization/NGO. But isn't that already the case with other types of volunteer work?

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#24

Post by thaumasiotes »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #22
thaumasiotes wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For this, and for the criminal justice use case, it seems to me that it isn't possible for "work on open source" to receive this kind of formal recognition. Anyone is free to self-certify that they're working on an open-source project headed by, and exclusively contributed to by, themselves. You'd need to formally recognize open-source projects that the German state approves of, on a case-by-case basis. And even then…

True. It would need to be something associated with a registered non-profit organization/NGO. But isn't that already the case with other types of volunteer work?

But in that case, what is this petition hoping to achieve?

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#26

Post by presentation »

dhruv3006 wrote: post #11

this is such a great initiative but I fear this may get exploited without proper structure.

Yeah, I don't really want to subsidize people to work on open-source shitcoins for example. The devil is in the details here.

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#27

Post by palata »

I don't think that equating all open source work with volunteering makes sense.

Volunteering is defined by its charitable purpose for a public good, not by the specific skill used.

Let me try an analogy:

A chef who cooks a free meal for a homeless shelter is volunteering. That same chef publishing a recipe online or making a cooking tutorial is sharing knowledge, not volunteering. The act of 'cooking' or 'publishing' is neutral. It becomes volunteering only when the primary, direct, and organised purpose is to serve a charitable cause without expectation of personal gain.

Disclaimer: I have been consistently doing a lot of open source in the last 10 years. I would consider none of that as volunteering.

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#28

Post by zeeZ »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #24
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. It would need to be something associated with a registered non-profit organization/NGO. But isn't that already the case with other types of volunteer work?

But in that case, what is this petition hoping to achieve?

Maybe this would have helped with something like Mastodon losing non-profit status? https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2024/04/mastodon-forms-new-u.s...

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#29

Post by throw20251220 »

stonogo wrote: post #15
tsak wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Furthermore, this petition should be written in German as well...

Like this? https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/anerkennung-von-...

Almost, still the wrong website.

Re: Petition for Recognition of Work on Open-Source as Volunteering in Germany

#30

Post by palata »

presentation wrote: post #26
dhruv3006 wrote: post #11

this is such a great initiative but I fear this may get exploited without proper structure.

Yeah, I don't really want to subsidize people to work on open-source shitcoins for example. The devil is in the details here.

I think that the problem is that "open source" in itself is not volunteering.

Just like "masonry" is not volunteering, even though a mason could volunteer by building an orphanage pro bono. But when they build their own house, it's not volunteering.

I don't even think that being paid for building an orphanage counts as volunteering... does it?

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