Open source projects and donations

Not long ago, I had an argument with a guy on a forum I used to be an active member of. This moron, in order to make his case, publicly implied that the main reason I ask for donations for the Archphile project is to buy a new set of hifi speakers. He knew (from a post I wrote about it) that I am in search of a new pair of speakers after many years; he wanted to harm my public image, so he decided that it was time to backbite me.

Of course no one cares about him (and I also don’t care about my public image!), but this story made me feel bad once again with what people (don’t) understand about donations.

Let me explain below:

It doesn’t mean that all the developers who maintain various open source projects and keep asking for your donations, don’t have a good job or enough money.

There are projects that actually need our donations in order to survive but this is not always the case.

Donating is a kind gesture, a way to say thanks to someone (or a team) that spent time (and resources) to make something that you found useful.

In fact, a large part of the donations I receive goes itself as a donation to other projects that without them Archphile would not even exist.

To sum up, if you use an open source project and they accept donations, please send them 1 euro, just to say thanks.

Trust me! Your 1 euro will make someone’s day better!