

A Call for Schwag - cperciva
http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2009-07-14-a-call-for-schwag.html

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tow21
Actually, I think (for me at least) this would run the risk of pissing me off.

When all that I get in return for open source software is
goodwill/karma/recognition, then there's no quid-pro-quo going on, and
valuation is explicitly in non-monetary terms.

As soon as you start sending physical goods around, you're making it look like
you're assigning direct value to my labour. I suspect my reaction to a company
t-shirt in the post would be either

"You think so little of my work that it's worth one lousy t-shirt?"

or worse

"Not only are you profiting off the sweat of my brow, you want to me to wear
this tshirt & give you free advertising?"

I don't claim this is rational - but I suspect I'd react emotionally that way.

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harpastum
The relative value of a t-shirt (<$10) is completely negligible when compared
to the 'normal' wage of most programmers.

It's obviously a personal reaction, and therefore almost completely
subjective, but I feel like the t-shirt is not reimbursing you for your work,
but another way to say 'thanks', akin to a thank-you email, but that much more
personal/sincere.

~~~
tow21
I think part of my pissed-off-ness would be that to me, the t-shirt is much
_less_ personal/sincere. Company schwag is almost the prototypical insincere,
impersonal gift.

~~~
catch23
Still, just think if you have code in the linux kernel, you could ask t-shirts
from just about every company in the world including government agencies and
non-profits. You'd have more than enough clothing to last a lifetime of never
doing laundry :-)

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tlrobinson
Someone please make a "I wrote an awesome open source project and all I got
was this lousy tshirt" shirt.

~~~
cperciva
I think "I wrote an awesome open source project and I didn't even get a lousy
tshirt" tshirt would be even better. :-)

~~~
mahmud
I wrote an awesome enterprise open source software, and instead of cashing up
on support contracts, all I get are the bottom of the barrel IT tech support
guys asking for free help.

That's gotta be the most gut wrenching, IME.

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ErrantX
Good solution! T-Shirts are a great way to show appreciation :)

One of my favourite possessions is a T-Shirt from a project I help out on. It
gets worn on special geeky occasions :D

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Tichy
So if I use Linux in my corporation, I am supposed to mail around thousands of
T-Shirts now? You know, maybe a Microsoft stack would come in cheaper in the
long run.

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SwellJoe
Hey Colin, if you're at OSCON next week, come see us at booth 326. We've got a
T-shirt with your name on it. OK, it doesn't literally have your name on it.
It has "Webmin" on it. But it's really nice. Heck, we'll give you two in
different colors, if you want.

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zackattack
I think he needs to differentiate between Schwag and Swag, or at the very
least, ask for Chronic.

~~~
mahmud
I really thought someone was handing out baggies for code. As an average
programmer, I am happy with KB and middies.

