
Ask HN: I have a job; should I still go on Patreon for free open-source stuff? - chinchang
I am getting paid by a fulltime job. I have some free open-source stuff I do in my spare time that is used by tens of thousands of people. Should I still go on Patreon?
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arthurjj
You should. There's nothing wrong with asking for donations especially since
it's helping fund an open source project that people use. If anything _not_
asking for donations is worse since there's nothing really supporting the
project but your interest in it. By asking for donations your making the
project stronger.

~~~
chinchang
True. Apart from financial aid, the motivation it might bring to see so many
people appreciating and showing love seems far important.

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james-skemp
Sure, why not?

I'm a patron of a number of people who have full-time jobs and do what I know
them for on the side.

Another option is librepay too. Check the recent Patreon thread for
alternatives and comments.

Why do you think you can't or shouldn't?

~~~
chinchang
I ask this because generally people going on Patreon for open-source reason
that they have been doing open-source for free and sustaining out of their
last job savings. And now they won't be able to go much far on those savings,
hence Patreon.

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Danihan
Definitely not, start dressing like a crazy person and use drip instead.

[https://d.rip/](https://d.rip/)

~~~
chinchang
wow! When did this come in? Looks good as a Patreon alternative.

~~~
zanedb
It's existed for a while, was purchased by Kickstarter some time ago, and was
just recently relaunched.

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a-saleh
I would first check with my manager or my accountant, that I am not doing
something that would violating my employment contract.

I.e. my manager is quite open about 20% of time arrangements, and we are
working on several open-source projects at work, but I am not sure if taking
money for working on something extra wouldn't violate something. It might be
worth it to have it clearly spelled out in the contract.

On the other hand, a.f.a.i.k. in what do you do in your free time on your own
hardware should be no concern to your employer, so accepting patreon donors
should fall into that category as well?

Alongside patreon, I would attempt to introduce something like Varnish Moral
Licence [1] as well. It looks like Mr. Kamp figured a nice way how to get a
open-source sponsorship from big corporations (because from the procurement's
perspective it still looks like a licence you get an invoice for even you
don't promise them anything in return :-)

[1] [http://phk.freebsd.dk/VML/vmlfaq.html#isn-t-this-more-a-
sort...](http://phk.freebsd.dk/VML/vmlfaq.html#isn-t-this-more-a-sort-of-
sponsorship-than-a-license)

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jsnell
What does your employment contract say about moonlighting in your own field of
work? If it allows it, fine. If it forbids it, don't do it. If it doesn't
explicitly say either way, consider at least informing your employer about
this (even if you don't phrase it as asking for permission). It's better to
have those kinds of discussions up front.

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muzani
I would say make it clear that you're happy working full time. Sometimes
patrons expect that money would go into allowing someone to quit their jobs to
work on a project.

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jpetersonmn
Maybe I'm missing something, but why even use Patreon, just ask for donations
directly from people. As for the original question though, just because you
have a job doesn't mean you shouldn't be rewarded for your open source work as
well.

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minimaxir
The only thing potentially _unethical_ about running a Patreon is aggressively
publicizing it, particularly in tools others use. (although I’ve done a call-
to-action in GitHub READMEs and at the end of blog posts and there haven’t
been any issues.)

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nnn1234
yes. It depends more about the value you/your work brings to the world. If you
are creating value , you should be able to monetize a part of it. Mind you,
you might realize that the marktet value of your end product is not in line
with your own valuation of it. BUt go ahead. More power to you

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m1keil
Yes, you should.

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belltaco
Give the money to you favorite charity at the least.

~~~
james-skemp
Why? And if you're going to do that, ask the people to donate directly. No
reason for all those middlemen.

------
nickh9000
Yes, why not.

