Ask HN: What is the most efficient way to support open source?

3 pointsSurplus74212 comments

Hello, I would like to support open source, but I also want to get my moneys worth (donate to someone who can produce the most value for it). I was thinking of putting up bounties for certain features and bug fixes, but that is time-consuming. What you might say is that I should donate to projects I'm using, but they have roadmaps with features I'm not interested in.

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I can see why you'd say you don't want to donate to projects that have roadmaps you don't care about.

I've started donating to the projects I use without regard for the future roadmap. If I'm using it, they clearly have demonstrated their ability to make something useful. And one way to look at it is I'm funding their past roadmap.

Currently I'm sponsoring: LunarVim, WezTerm, Oh My Tmux, and OctoPrint.

If you want to donate money in a way that’s most valuable for open source, pick a project with a roadmap and a donation page and give them the money to use how they see fit.

If you want to donate money in a way that’s most valuable for you personally, you’re not really describing a donation, you’re talking about soliciting contract work. There’s not really a way around managing bounties or job board posts or similar form that.

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