

Show HN: Commit to open source and get Bitcoin tips - arsenische
http://tip4commit.com/

======
randywaterhouse
I, for one, applaud the initiative, for which the bitcointalk forum
announcement (by this post's submitter) exists here [0].

It's interesting to think of a system to support development of open source
software, providing monetary compensation in addition to that feel-good
feeling. The other day I was thinking if we could almost have a standardized
commit message for developers seeking tips, something like <public bitcoin
address><clearsignature of address with developers pgp key>, so that one could
do this on a direct basis (and with certainty that their funds reach the dev).

This is NOT to say that I don't trust tip4commit, not at all. Think of the
previous paragraph as an aside, a thought on how to tip in a way that
guarantees all tips go to developers. If arsenische were less trustworthy
there might be a greater argument, but I think people familiar with
bitcointalk will know he's cool.

It's great to see an easy, less-painful, automatic way to have this done than
simply looking up dev's addresses on an individualized basis (tedious if you
like lots of projects).

Cool stuff.

[0]
[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=315802](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=315802)

~~~
arsenische
Thanks for kind words!

I like your idea of putting developers' bitcoin address into commit message. I
totally agree with you that direct tips are instant and reliable, they don't
require trust to any third party.

However most developers probably don't even have a Bitcoin address, we hope to
change that :)

------
AndyKelley
What about the fact that each commit can be of wildly differing complexity and
usefulness? It looks like in this system, a README typo fix would be worth
exactly the same as fixing a threading deadlock issue.

~~~
arsenische
Maybe in future we implement some other metrics, but as Palomides said, they
can be gamed.

It is just a tip, some additional incentive to make new commits. Hopefully it
will attract attention of new developers to the projects that are needed by
people.

------
neals
Things like this is what makes Bitcoin so amazing. A billion people giving
eachother a few dimes or dollars.

Free flow of value.

------
bearbin
I added 10mBTC a few hours ago, and they haven't turned up on the site. Is
there a long delay or something else?

~~~
arsenische
A small bug caused this problem, we fixed it. Thanks for your message!

~~~
bearbin
Thanks for the fix :)

------
Palomides
compare: [https://www.gittip.com/](https://www.gittip.com/)

~~~
peterjancelis
Huge fan of what Gittip is doing, but they really should add bitcoin
functionality. (They have some github issues about it.)

------
umrashrf
I think you could do better on the name. Coin4Commit :)

------
ye
I do like the idea, but the current level of funding is ridiculous.

So I have three choices

1) Work on this opensource project and potentially make 0.077 bitcoins

2) Work on my projects / startup

3) Work for somebody else with guaranteed salary of $100-150/hr.

I don't see how #1 is competitive at all, unless you're an idealist.

~~~
randywaterhouse
I believe, personally, and know others who commit to open-source projects on a
personal basis (and then those who I only read of on the internet), that many
developers who work on these projects don't need monetary compensation in the
normal sense.

Working on an OSS project is fulfilling in ways other than money, and some
people really enjoy doing it in their spare time, etc. I know some of my
friends from college who went off to do work at Facebook, Google, IBM, and
they actually all enjoy submitting their code to open source projects for 0
dollars.

So while you're right there is some sort of "idealism" required, it's a common
ideal in the culture of programming it seems. Supporting what one thinks is
right, simply by nature of believing in it. Then you can go off to your day
job at Google and make six figures.

