Making a donation to Ardupilot project is a bit frustrating , these, IMO, are the reasons:
With Paypal, as far that I understand only the Paypal account e-mail will be registered as donator, but it is not the e-mail which I use for registering here on Ardupilot website.
So how the good guys of Ardupilot project will ever know who has donate something ?
I’m not shy, it would be nice for me if something would identify me as a donator .
At least someone should donate something at least each year to earn the “donator” flag.
If someone is looking for help, I will more likely try to help him if that guy is a donator rather than a “one shot” forum guest.
I was in doubt about the section where this post should appear, “General” was probably fine but since it is about money , I thought that “Marketing” should go
I have a different mail too and thougth that too, but perhaps, I prefer the annonimous donations, not make difference between standard users, you never know when a casual user becomes a frecuent user, a donator, developer, beta tester, or helps others to have success with Ardupilot.
I don’t generally donate to projects because I am looking for personal aggrandizement. I do it because I want to support the project.
I am worried that the ideas expressed in this post would lead very quickly to a fractured community that would be unwelcoming to new users, ultimately dying through attrition rather than developing the sort of flourishing community that is necessary for a successful open source project. If we ignore every “one shot” forum guest, we will be explicitly and intentionally driving away new users.
The idea that someone might not get help because they haven’t donated is, frankly, sickening. We don’t need a “paid support model” here.
larsks, you are putting in my mouth words I never said .
I never said that we must ignore forum guest and the point is not to create a “paid support model” .
The point is to reward in some way people who donate and more important to let know to new people that the community stay alive because of donations .
