Using Bountysource

It has been proposed that bountysource be used to manage bounties. It seems to me that they are on an absolute winner. If a bounty is never claimed (perhaps for some reason the bounty is overtaken by events because the terms of the bounty somehow no longer apply) then they just pocket the cash. Am I reading their terms and conditions wrong?

I can think of a few things I would sling a few bucks for, but I have no interest in giving money to bountysource if it may never eventuate.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2013 05:13PM by Greg Frost.

From the Bountysource FAQ:

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What happens if an issue I've backed is closed without resolution?
If the issue was closed because it was a duplicate of another issue, we will transfer the bounty to the appropriate issue.
If the issue was closed as a "won't fix", or is deemed not in line with the project's goals, the bounty amount is refunded.

The backer is charged up front the bounty amount + 10% of the bounty amount. I interpret the FAQ as Bountysource will keep the %10 but refund the rest.

One thing you could do, as a backer, would be to post a solution to your own bounty, with an explanation like "obsolete" or "cancelled", and then you would award yourself your own bounty. You would still be out the 10% however.

If the money is not paid up front, then I expect there will be bounties fulfilled but the original backers "change their mind" and decide not to pay. Bountysource hold funds in escrow, so it is fair to backers and claimers. Whether that creates an "unfair" benefit to Bountysource, I am not sure, someone has to hold the funds. Bountysource could go belly up anytime I guess, so there is a risk there. There is an element of trust required from all parties.

If not Bountysource, there may be alternatives. Gittip appears to work more like a subscription model, funding developers on an ongoing basis.

Now that we have a forum, people can post bounty offers here directly or via any bounty scheme they prefer.

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You make a good point bobc that i think is worth reiterating. We should allow people to use whatever bounty scheme they prefer. Also the bounty subforum may need a disclaimer similar to the other money related forums where reprap will not be held responsible for any loss or damages.

I think that in the medium term it would make sense to slowly think about how RepRap.org / Reprap Foundation could run a Bounty program and any money not claimed will be used to fund other community suggested ideas that do not have specific bounty offers yet. It would keep the money in house and make people respect the intellectual property more because it it paid for.

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Kalle
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Lahti, Finland
The only stable form of government is Open Source Government. - Kalle Pihlajasaari 2013

Adrian Bowyer talked about something like this way back in 2011 in this rep-dev post. Things have changed since 2011, but I think this part is still relevant:

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Adrian Bowyer
We use [the donations] to buy supplies for unfunded members of the RepRap Core Team when they want to do experiments to advance the project. It is obviously not a practical proposition to use this money to fund RepRap development by anyone (much as we'd like to). We would be swamped with requests for $50 to do XYZ from all and sundry. RepRap has neither the resources nor - much more significantly - the decision-making manpower to be a grant-awarding body.

The idea of a grant-awarding RepRap Research Foundation is a nice idea, but we need to realize that running it would be almost a full-time job. A functional RRRF would need:

1. strong and willing leadership (i.e. one person in charge)
2. the leadership to be payed for their work (why do it, otherwise?)
3. a system to mitigate conflict of interest, both real and perceived

One problem with this is that anyone who has the talent and ability to lead this (hypothetical) RRRF would be better off simply starting their own company...

Bountysource (or something like it) has many advantages over the RRRF model:

1. the money is handled by an impartial third party
2. people can fund exactly what they want to fund
3. Bountysource already exists

In fact, Bountysource is an excellent way to handle "requests for $50 to do XYZ from all and sundry". What we need to really get this going is a whole bunch of requests for "$50 to do XYZ". So who's got some ideas?

... I'm tinkering parttime and on home/DIY-basis since around 1992 with 'laser-assisted' additive manufacturing technologies - and tried to push/add this methodes in the RepRap development too since 2007 --- would be an interesting target for such a 'community-driven development'

After years of really slow progress I've started in summer with fulltime-job developing @ imes-icore ... but could be that some themes/aspects can be done here too, without much interferring with my day-job ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I edited some of the existing threads so it will be easy to tell at a glance what kind of announcement it is. For the future, I propose:

If you are announcing a project that already has funding, please begin the subject line with "Funded Bounty:".

If you are announcing a project that needs funding, please begin the subject line with "Request for funds:".

If you are making a general post to talk about bounties, then put whatever you want in the subject line.
( except "Funded Bounty:" or "Request for funds:" )

Edit: Also, I tried to make the announcements sticky, but I couldn't figure out how to do that without screwing up their order in the list, so I just left it alone for now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2013 10:58PM by MattMoses.