Following several discussions about the possibility of making donations to developers, for those who wish to do so, whether anonymously or not, I am creating this topic to try to list and motivate developers to create or share a donation account (Tipee, Patreon, … other… or rather Paypal, Lydia, Revolut, crypto, … other). Indeed, @pierre-gilles cannot centralize this kind of thing for fear of having to declare the money collected. The simplest solution is to be able to make donations directly to the people or to the project via Pierre-Gilles directly.
Non-exhaustive list of coders taken from the « Contributors » list of the Gladys Assistant GitHub project (do not hesitate to complete this list, especially if other developers wish to add themselves):
Following up on the first message from @Terdious @Lokkye: PayPal Tips, @link39: @damalgos: @Guillaume LAMANDA (I don’t have his Gladys username),
@Frédéric LE BARZIC (I don’t have his Gladys username),
I think the idea is very good.
In my opinion, this would be a way to particularly thank the people who respond to our requests.
I’m not a developer, so I spend my time on the forum asking for help / features.
If someone creates / debugs the feature I want to use, I would find it cool to buy them a coffee / a beer
I’m putting back what I told you on the other topic, I think the simplest thing would be for « recurring » developers to share in their forum bio a way to receive a tip.
After that, be careful with taxes, I agree that we’re talking about small amounts, but all the platforms you mention @Terdious are designed for creators who have their own company and declare these revenues. (Patreon and Tipee). Patreon deducts 20% VAT in particular.
In this context, the idea is more to pay for a coffee/beer to thank a developer.
To make this kind of « tip », I don’t see many solutions:
Either sharing a PayPal, Lydia, Revolut link (but what about privacy, apart from PayPal, these platforms work with the mobile phone number, not crazy..)
Or sharing a crypto address, like Twitter does for example (Donation in bitcoin via the Lightning network). At least it’s anonymous and secure.
So then, where do we start? Does anyone have a link to share (PayPal, or another donation system - if there’s one to offer a coffee or a beer directly that would be great … and if it doesn’t exist yet … maybe we should think about creating one )
Either by making a one-time donation here: BuyMeACoffee - Gladys Assistant. I set up this donation platform following the request from @jgcb00 a few weeks ago.
Or by subscribing to Gladys Plus, the service I offer which provides additional features to Gladys. Don’t hesitate to subscribe even for a few months if you want to make a « donation » to the project, cancellation is done in one click
These supports allow me to finance the entire Gladys ecosystem:
Servers (Discourse forum, newsletter)
CDN for Raspberry Pi OS image distribution
Email API (Newsletter + Discourse forum)
Domain names / email service for « @gladysassistant.com »
And of course to finance my time, because I remind you that I am part-time on Gladys (Between 2 and 3 days per week depending on the weeks), and I try to finance this part-time… Even if for now I admit that it’s not very successful, I am currently at a loss on Gladys
I nevertheless hope that all the developments/communications that I do will eventually pay off and allow me to make this part-time financially viable
If you see any improvement paths / ideas that could help me be more profitable on the project, don’t hesitate.
I am thinking of several things at the moment given the requests:
Offer a « backup only » subscription on Gladys Plus, for less.
Redo a « Gladys Starter Pack » in the form of a PDF ebook, but for Gladys 4
I’ve added a PayPal link to my profile. But I encourage those who want to support the project more broadly to take a Gladys Plus subscription (so that @pierre-gilles can be on Gladys 24/7 )
This requires a bit more creation work. Between the time spent on it and the communication for the sale, it shouldn’t take you too much preparation time.
After that, it requires even more preparation, but why not a Raspberry Pi with an SD card and Gladys already in place. Just plug in the Pi electrically and to the network.
(I know, be careful with the charges, taxes, and you need to make a margin + shipping) and right now it’s complicated to get Pi.
I’m digressing from the subject.
I agree with @VonOx, a little support via Gladys + even for a few months. We need to reach the break-even point.
That’s for sure, it’s work, but it’s much more profitable from my experience with the v3. With the v3 and the starter pack, I was much closer to being profitable than with Gladys Plus currently, despite all the work done since, so I’m wondering if maybe I shouldn’t offer more « one-time » payment options.
That’s not in my short/medium-term goals, I don’t want to do physical sales.
For the hardware, I prefer partnerships with hardware companies that know what they’re doing and who give me a commission.
Thanks for your first two responses, both of you, hoping that other DEVs will dare to take the plunge, because:
Of course, the priority should be there, and you are right to remind us, it’s the best way to support the project. And frankly, we can talk about it all we want, the price is quite reasonable and justified for those who can afford it.
This discussion is really separate from this because it can and should only be in addition to this subscription. And in my case, I sometimes have the ability to spend €20 in a month on pastries, I can well put half of that occasionally to reward the developers who make my life easier every day and for free (I remind you that Gladys Plus … is just a Plus, it secures me by allowing remote access and a backup, but has no impact locally, so I don’t count it).
Monstrueux @Terdious, thank you so much for your support, it helps a lot
I hope so too! If it can give a little encouragement, given the impressive work done by some, I am thinking of @AlexTrovato, @VonOx and @bertrandda who deserve beers!!
And honestly, I think I’m one of those who benefits the most from everyone’s work. So for the amount of work on this project, it’s not expensive. I’ve been saving for a long time to give a little more than the subscription. And I don’t know why, but I was embarrassed to ask. In short, it’s done. We’ll be able to do this regularly with small change.
… and if it doesn’t exist yet … maybe we should think about creating one 
)
