whit537

Awesome, thanks! :D

See http://shields.io/ for README badge. I've added a +1 for you to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1145.

It's a design decision, not a tax/regulatory issue. We've had one-off tipjars for decades and they haven't changed the game. My mortgage is recurring so my income needs to be recurring as well.

We currently have an "Other Ways to Give" on your profile where you can link a bitcoin address or Venmo account. That's an outlet for one-offs. We may mix in first-class one-offs eventually but we're not in a rush. See https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/5.

Thanks for the support, Carl! Loved having you here! :D

Did you know that Gittip and Shields are in cahoots? :-)

http://blog.gittip.com/post/59396458675/gittip-has-acquired-...

Re: stories, I've added a +1 for you to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074.

Thanks, I read it.

> Many people delude themselves on whether they are a one-miracle, or multi-miracle startup. They way to tell is to ask yourself what your product or business end goal is. Is your approach directly focused on achieving that end goal? If not, you may have a multi-miracle plan without realizing it.

Gittip's end goal is to enable an economy of gratitude, generosity, and love.

So you tell me: is our approach directly focused on achieving that end goal?

Gittip is a site for multiple communities, not one single community, so I take it as a sign of strength that we do in fact have multiple communities using Gittip now. Think along the lines of PayPal or Twitter: they are a big tent.

I've added a +1 for you to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074, because you're right that the homepage currently conflates the different communities that are using Gittip.

Thanks for the feedback! Did you open https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/2455? It sounds similar. :-)

I've added your homepage comment with a +1 to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074, and your other comments to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1493.

Thanks for the feedback! The reason we have leaderboards on the homepage in the first place is to quickly answer the question, "Is anyone actually making a living here?" I looked at Flattr and could not for the life of me answer that question. Now that the matter is established, I agree that it's time to change the homepage. I've added a +1 for you to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074.

Re: Stories, see http://tomslee.net/2014/01/airbnb-stories.html for a counterargument.

You may be right. Certainly, "asking" has been a success factor for people using Gittip, which is fine. For myself, I like not overtly asking for money too much, because then the gifts I do receive feel that much more genuine. :-)

What if instead of normalizing asking (pull), we normalized generosity (push)?

Yes! Wanna help with marketing? :-)

You're right that it's not just "what we do" but "how we do it" that matters for Gittip. For me they're actually related, though I guess I haven't convinced everyone of that. Basically I just don't feel grateful and generous when I'm spending most of my time working for a paycheck. I want to give my labor away for free! I want open work!

I wrote a post about "open products" for The Changelog a while ago that talks about the question of consumer-facing products that also happen to be OSS: http://thechangelog.com/open-products/.

Thanks for the feedback! I've added a +1 w/ your comment re: the leaderboards to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074.

Thanks rdegges! The feeling is mutual! :D

Nice! Wanna help with https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1493? :-)

I've added a +1 for you to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1493.

When we first launched we were opt-out, which turned out to be a big no-no. Backstory: https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/28.

Thanks for the great feedback! :-)

1) No.

2) Historical accident.

3) Sounds like a +1 for https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1493?

4) I see Gittip as a marketplace that has to support both sides more or less equally.

You are a generous person! I hope we can help you! :-)

Awesome! Thanks for using Gittip! :D

Thanks! :-)

We paid out $41,000 in our first year, and $300,000 in our second. How is something that just grew 632% half-dead?

Good idea on testing names with ads. If/when we decide to rebrand I'll keep that in mind.

Our growth has only slowed in the past few months. We doubled three times in the 16 months before that.

Thanks! Want to join our marketing team? :-)

One way or another, I've added your comments with a +1 to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074.

> you have to be conscious of the fact that the conditional probability of everything working just right at the same time is orders of magnitude smaller than something like gittip being executed with better understood tools and structures.

Sure, that's why I'm encouraged that Gittip has grown as well as it has! We paid out $41,000 our first year. We paid out $300,000 our second year. The best justification I can offer will be a strong year three. ;-)

Thanks for the recommendations!

I've added a +1 for you to these tickets:

"tip calculator" https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/11

"reach out to companies" https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1149

For the spontaneous requests idea, we would need to implement one-time gifts first:

https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/5

Thanks for the encouragement! :-)

I agree that the general cultural trends are pointing in the right direction in a way they weren't a few years ago.

Patreon took off because a) they've got domain expertise w/ YouTube in one co-founder, and b) they've got business expertise in the other co-founder.

Re: YouTube. When your friends are YouTube micro-celebs, who are good at marketing themselves by definition, you're going to have an easier time getting a network effect going around a platform that depends on marketing oneself, than when your friends are open-source programmers, who as a rule are not good at marketing themselves.

Re: Business. They identified a market need and are executing by the book. They built a prototype, with a standard skimming business model, raised some money, hired a team, danced with the tech press, and here we are.

Here's where we tried approaching content creators: https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/737. I actually did a call with Jack and others right when Patreon launched. Key point he made is that content creators get pitches from companies all the time, so already being in that scene is a huge advantage.

http://blog.gittip.com/post/51236581424/open-call-with-centu...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFXGwHsD_A :D

But is it holding us back from reaching sustainability for Gittip itself?

Taking three to five years to reach profitability is normal. In the mean time, we paid out $300,000 in no-strings-attached gifts this past year. That does not feel to me like the wrong thing to be doing. :-)

Thanks! Awesome feedback, especially on the homepage! I've added your comments with a +1 to https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1074.

Re: the name, that's mentioned a couple other places on this thread. Do you think it's important enough to focus on in the next year? Do you think it's the crucial missing link to making Gittip itself sustainable? Or is that something we tackle once we've demonstrated that we can actually keep the lights on indefinitely?

Thanks for the book recommendation. I've ordered it.

> Good luck with Gittip in year 3. I'll be watching - and giving :)

Thank you! :D

Yeah, the U.S. median for singles is $30,880 (as I mention in the post). I don't know what percentile $41,500 is, but it's well above minimum wage.

That is super awesome and encouraging to read. Thanks SingAlong/HashNuke! Keep up the good work! :D