The argument against it would be that it `reduces' the amount. Consider
the case of micro-donors ...
Well it seems the flattr people take 10%. Guess this is still fair and
well documented on there website, they provide a certain service which
cost money. Paypal and other payments methods charge too.
There could be donors who wouldn't want to own a Credit Card ... For
such donors PayPal is too burdensome. Plain Old postal system trumps for
such donors. Postal addresses (real or virtual mailboxes) should be made
accessible to the community. Having a mailbox could be cumbersome for
`non-enterprisey' projects that are led by individuals. In this case,
FSF can act as an organisational intermediary aggregating and channeling
the donations to projects based on donor's discretion. (I don't know
whether they do so already)
Well postal address might be fine too. Instead of a Paypal link, a
general donation icon could guide people to a page with different
offers, form which they can select, Paypal, Flattr, Post,
I just think giving people as much offers as possible might lower the
resistance to place a donation.
I guess the idea is to place those icons at places where people just
got very happy about org-mode... maybe the manual section, or Worg,
video tutorial page, etc.
IMHO, the landing page is the right place for it. Burying it too deep
would `smell' (whatever that means).
Yes landing page might be good. However, some pages have heavy traffic
because of popularity other are real "pain-relievers" which might make
people consider to place a donation. But I agree there is a thin line
between making a careful request for donation and being fishy somehow.
You seem to think that `contributions' to Free Software Projects are
likely to be impulsive decisions as opposed to well-considered ones
... I hesitate to buy this argument.
Well I would not say it is impulsive. Its more about the "inhibition
threshold" to place a donation, or if you like the "laziness threshold".
If I first have to register a paypal account, attach my credit card
credentials, which if I remember correctly take some time to being
verified and finally place a donation, I might simply think "Lets do it
another time...." and this I think over and over again until my
gratitude become that big that I go through all these above steps to
place a donation. Clicking on a icon to place a donation is much easier
and hence lets people quickly (and esp. in case of flattr repeatable)
donate. Downloading a pdf which prints on an envelope the postal
address, to send a donation via post might be easier for other people
(e.g., because they have no credit card)... Guess it is just the point
that it might be worse to offer more options which help people to
overcome there individual "inhibition threshold".
All the best
Totti
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