Hacker News Reader

Comment by ak217 | Hacker News Reader

Speaking of Sentry's program... I recently received a notification that as an open source developer, I am eligible for a payout from this program. Excited, I logged in to eventually find out that the payout amounted to... $15.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the thought and effort that went into this, and I really hope more companies that use open source software follow suit, but I wish they would adjust their formula to not bother with the payout if it's less than a certain amount. It's just more hassle than it's worth, and the nice gesture can easily be mistaken for something else when it gets that low.

View on HN

Sorry ak217. :(

It's $15 per month so $180 allocated overall. Would it be more worth it for you if it were paid out in one lump sum for the year vs. doled out monthly?

On the other hand $15 is a lot of money to some people.

Thanks for clarifying. I missed the part about this being a recurring monthly payout - $180 does clear the threshold of what I'd consider a significant donation, so I appreciate that.

I don't mind it being spread out monthly. I think it would help if the process made it a bit more clear what to expect (in terms of the total payout and timeline) in the initial message and/or the UI.

Again, I really appreciate the thought and work that goes not only into this program but also into getting other companies on board.

Good feedback, thanks, I'll share with the Thanks.dev crew.

thanks, we got the feedback & it's a valid point :)

Is there a particular reason for the monthly payment when you already know (and have?) the total for the year? If it were me, I'd rather have money in my hand now instead of later.

Mostly a design choice on Thanks.dev and GitHub Sponsors parts. I would be fine to give it all at once, especially since conceptually for me it's payment for the past year.

They talk about their reasoning and this specific issue in the announcement.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com