Regarding donations

That’s right, double feature today. This is less of a feature and more “About” page material, but let’s just talk about monetizing our lives. The problem: to live in peace, money is necessary. No matter what you want to do or like doing, you’re gonna have to get some dough. I’d like to discuss two ways of asking for donations, for work that is useful/entertaining.

Ross Scott - Accursed farms

Also, while I would never turn down pennies myself, Paypal keeps $0.30 + 2.9% of every donation, so please keep anything less than $0.32 as they have enough money already.

I love this guy. Not only is he a good person, he’s also lucky to be in a position where he can share what he does in exchange for money. Me, not so much, I can dedicate only so much time to public causes, because my fans don’t pay my rent. Also, as of writing this, I better keep quiet on what’s going on with me, as it might have severe adverse consequences for me. If I start publicly speaking at this moment, I might close some doors that I would like to go through or it might even be illegal. Don’t worry about me though, all will come to light in good time. What I’m trying to say is, Ross jumped on the train much earlier, got internet famous and is able to live off it. And while he is partnered with YouTube (DUH), I suspect most of his income are donations (he doesn’t take sponsors). So, the above, is all he does to get his rent money. He says, hey, good people, I will make more videos, if I don’t need to get a full-time job, how does that sound? And I respect that.

I’d like to stress out one thing. He’s not idealistic. He’s not taking sponsors, to not spoil the videos. (Ok, that’s exactly the reason, but listen!) He is not a businessman at heart. I remember him saying this in one of his monthly streams and man, this hit home. Imagine, yeah, that all you’re trying to do, is to make other people happy. No monetization necessary. Ross Scott, as long as he has his rent paid and enough food, would rather give away his videos for free. God bless you, Mr. Ross Scott. So there is one donation strategy: make stuff people are happy to buy … I mean donate for xD

Pete Batard - Rufus

Finally the fact that I have the freedom to develop Free Software in my spare time should indicate that I’m well-off enough, and therefore that you should direct your generosity towards people who need it a lot more than I do. If you really insist, you can always make a donation to the Free Software Foundation, as they are the main reason software like Rufus is possible.

There’s so much to respect there, my quote doesn’t do justice to the donation statement. But I wanted to point out the other way. Sometimes, a man can be in a position to just do the right thing, because the man is already well-off enough to not compromise for money. I mean, need I say more?

Omar Cornut - Dear ImGui

Some people kindly want to help and when they realize that I am not starving or homeless they somehow don’t want anymore.

Okay, we’re gonna have a bonus round. Here’s the thing. For some reason people find no issue with giving money to major corporations (or governments for that matter), supposedly in exchange for value (services, food, whatever…). The fact, that the company doesn’t need their money, doesn’t phase those people, because in their mind, you have to put the money where the mouth is. The very same people, feel there’s something wrong with the system and want to support the underdog. But then, the underdog has a mortgage in his name and suddenly they don’t feel like supporting the underdog anymore. Like, me. I’m homeless. But when people figure out I don’t actually live on the streets… Hey, you know what I just realized. I said enough. If you get it, great. If you oppose it, also great. And if you still don’t get it, maybe I’ll have to come back to this.

In conclusion. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pull Ross Scott and being well-off enough is unlikely. But in any case, like all 3 of the gentlemen mentioned, I want to meaningfully contribute and not compromise the quality of the product. I guess I wanted to put my Bitcoin wallet here, mostly as a joke, that people can give me fake internet money, but I haven’t done much enough, have I? So I’m gonna come back with donate page later, when there is a better “justification” for donating. (Isn’t that an oxymoron?)