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  • Donate and support GrapheneOS!

9 days later

Might I suggest that you sticky the thread with all the donation information for those of us too lazy to go to the actual website?

I said this many times to Daniel.

  1. Donation needs alternatives like Paysafe.
  2. I assume nearly 80% of the end user doesn't even know grapheneos need recurring donations
  3. The OS itself should have build in donation option. Also it should regularly present a screen to the user to help the project.
  4. Maybe like how wikipedia does it. Transparently show a progress bar how much of the yearly needed donations are already done. But all this has to happen on the end device.
  5. The other idea would be to let everyone pay like 10 USD for the luxus of updating seamless. Other wise they should compile themselves.

    Nuttso yeah sure like Daniel doesn't have to spend enough dev time on PR as it is. People will HATE most of those options, and I'm pretty sure putting security updates behind a paywall probably goes against the project's core ethos.

      • [deleted]

      • Edited

      BHydden

      Probably.
      But in the meantime, if the project doesn't earn enough money, what will happened ?
      If people are not happy, nothing prevents them from giving already to avoid what has been proposed by Nuttso.
      We talk about $10 a year per user, almost all users could give them.

      There is an ideal, and then there is reality.
      Personally, I don't care about the method, as long as Grapheneos continues and developers can work in decent conditions.

      This is an interesting topic indeed. I went out of my way to make a recurring donation through GitHub because this project has improved my quality of life substantially. At no point did I feel pressured into donating which I think is a bit problematic. I don't see anything wrong with politely soliciting donations like many other FOSS app developers do. I would be devastated if this project went by the wayside due to lack of funding. Just my two cents.

      BHydden

      hey guys. Why don't we just ask how much the recurring donations monthly currently are and if it is enough to keep this project just alive? There has to be changes to how it works now. Like it said 80% of the end users don't give a .... about twitter, this forum or other channels. They don't have a clue that the project needs support. People will hate to see the project end more than some stuff included in the os. That's what gonna happen if nothing changes. Every successful open source or nonprofit spams the end user with donation options. Signal does it. Wikipedia does it. Most important it is presented by the product directly to the end user. Not on any other channels. But if you install gos you simply can forget about everything else and be happy to get monthly security updates. I never said that security updates should cost money. But the work providing the infra for the updates shouldn't be included in my opinion. If you want latest security updates than compile it yourself.

      We must find a balance but pushing the people to donate on the os level is a must in my opinion.

      Even if only to communicate the need of donation to the actual user's.

        Paysafe would be a way easier way to donate. Simply go to the gas station or any store that sells it and send the money to gos

        Personally, I have donated four times to GrapheneOS since the beginning of the year (about $25 each time) and I also donate to other projects that are involved in the defense of privacy on the net.
        It's all a question of people, it's especially important to make everyone understand that participating financially is useful for the sustainability of the project and is a mark of recognition for the work done.
        Paypal for me is perfect.

        Lets do some math: what is fair compensation for a full time developer? Daniels github sponsorship is set at $5,000/month, which is on the low end imo.
        The project currently receive less than $5,000/month recurring (based on github sponsorship figures).
        5 full time developers x $5,000/month means the project needs at a minimum $25,000/month. Plus funding for legal fees, hardware cost, monthly infrastructure costs.
        $50,000/month recurring funding is a very reasonable goal imo with 80,000+ users.

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        Nuttso Incredible how bad and anti user friendly your suggestions are (especially 3,4 and 5). I hope they won't materialize. I understand the need to make the issue visible but please not like this.

        Users who are willing to donate probably will and find their way, users who doesn't want to contribute in any way probably never will.

        With your suggestions you won't persuade anyone but you would for sure alienate people like me who are willing to donate but refuse any ads (your banner is some form of an ad) on their own device, and they would rather leave. The same as I wouldn't use Mac anymore just because of annoying pop ups about iCloud. Plus do not forget that with your suggestions you would punish also those users who frequently donate.

        The banner on download site or even on discuss forum is in my opinion acceptable, because I visit those pages and understand that donations are crucial for a project to survive. But I personally have no sympathy for being interrupted on my device in my time with a pop up wanting money. You could as well suggest to set up undismissible timer and wake users to not forget to donate - that would also be... Not entirely OK:-)

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        • Edited

        Nuttso
        100% disagree with "pushing the people to donate on the os level is a must"
        If you need to inform the actual user at any cost, put the notification on download page or an installation guide, but not on user device.

        Edit: added missing letter s :-)

          • [deleted]

          Nuttso
          The discussed topic here is how to raise users awareness about donations. I think that your suggestions above, specifically nagging users on their own device, are bad. Putting it like you did in the question seems strange (without a pressure on the users the OS would discontinued), because the OS would be long dead if that worked like you are implying.

          The point is that you shouldn't ruin user experience to raise more money. That's crucial.

          You can advertise the system and also spread awareness about needed donations on the grapheneos web (anyone who install the system would see it), you can use social media, esp. Twitter etc. I do not at all believe that as someone in this discussion (maybe you?) mentioned that 80% users doesn't know about the chance to donate or care about donations. Personally I think that if someone is interested in leaving Apple or Google and go for GOS they must care a bit, and probably tried to get some information.

          I am new user but I noticed that everyday there's someone new asking the questions, starting new thread etc. it means that it doesn't look like the community is diminishing, on contraire. Some of the new users would eventually donate. I am not a mathematician but I can take a hazard guess that with stronger user base it is probable that the number of people who donate will rise.

          Also I guess - speaking strictly about the money - there's a much bigger chance to persuade someone to donate by providing better user experience than to attack him with banners or pop up ads that he/ she should consider donating.

          This sucks. I've using GOS since the 3A release. I have donated in the past and of course will again. 😞

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          Daniel Micay has already explained several times, including recently during the passage to android 13, that Grapheneos lacked money and they drew on reserves to continue.

          No one, absolutely no one would like to have banners on his phone, except that in the current state, financially, it doesn't work on long term.
          And considering that 5 full-time developers to provide an OS, a camera app, a browser, auditor, a pdf viewer, that's probably not enough.