On Apr 15 2021, at 12:14 pm, Martin Owens <doctormo@geek-2.com> wrote:
On Thu, 2021-04-15 at 10:29 -0500, Ted Gould wrote:
> My understanding is that we can list folks that have external funding
> modes, we just have to be careful to ensure that we don't guarantee
> inclusion of work or that any work will be done at all for their
> money. (or that their input would be considered on a Patreon) They
> are giving their money to the person they're working with and the
> only relationship they have is between themselves and that
> person/company. By being on the list the Inkscape project isn't
> guaranteeing they won't be scammed.

I've added a new section based on Maren's response. It's a little more
"the modifications may not end up in Inkscape" and less "you could be
scammed" but both thoughts are important.

I've added your points here and expanded it with a contact us link and
by adding a list of contributors looking for user funding. I've added
Tav and Marc's patreons as a sample (I haven't asked them) so take this
as a sample so far. This can all be controlled via the admin interface.

What I think we can't do is imply we've vetted the list in any way other than "they are active contributors." So I think we need to drop the text:

> we try and keep this list clean of people with bad reputations.

and

> If you have had a bad experience: please contact the project.

We don't have the means to determine who is at fault or whether they were in violation of a contract (assuming one was signed) or anything like that. I don't want to use the word "scammed" as that's not what we want to suggest. But I think that we probably need to have: "It is your responsibility vet the individuals on this list and to ensure that funding these people will achieve the goals you have set for those funds."

Then I would change this "This is a random list of people who have put themselves forwards as people who are contributing to Inkscape funded by users:" to something like "This is a list of Inkscape contributors who have requested their funding platforms to be listed here. If you're a contributor and would like to be listed please XYZ." That way it isn't us judging them in anyway, it is just them requesting to be listed and us honoring that request.

> I think that any contributor to Inkscape should be able to be listed
> there (with the disclaimer above) with perhaps a couple links. We
> should perhaps create a sponsorship type that would be for
> consultancies that would allow them to be listed. I think we could
> start with a fixed amount, but if it grew it might be interesting to
> do a five percent model or something like that.
We have a sponsorship level which is for companies that let their
employees work on Inkscape. Marc's employer is in this category. But I
think you mean, for people who do this kind of work to push some of the
money back into Inkscape's charity fund (i.e. to the SFC) right?

I was more thinking of the case if a software consultancy, like let's say Igalia or Collabora, wanted to add Inkscape to the list of things they'd take a contract on they could be listed. Which would make sense for folks wanting to fund a larger project that'd take several developers and/or project management, etc.  So then, if let's say they took a $200K contract they'd contribute $10K of that to Inkscape's general fund. But, generally, I don't want this conversation to derail the work above. I think it might be a place for us to expand as we don't have anyone asking for it right now (buyer or seller).

Ted