I was hoping we could see totals for the tiers within the main account, but I don’t see an easy way to get that information.
How is the current and future server being paid for?
The current talk.tiddlywiki.org server is still paid for by Fission. The running costs of the new server will come from project funds, but should only be $20-$30 per month.
I think the most expensive part of the current setup is the mail delivery service. But I do not know the details.
I am confident there are cost effective solutions to this. I have a white label hosting solution which is low cost. I expect anyone of a number of us have cost effective solutions available, and at cost. Perhaps an informal tender?
My $0.02 - if we can’t use the funds for hosting (or if they’d be too much for hosting), could they be used as bounties for TiddlyWiki feature work?
I think that 5.4.0 sets the project up for great things that will help TiddlyWiki reach more people. For instance, a new WYSIWYG editor, or a new default page layout. It’d be great to use these funds as “bounties” for implementing these features.
I also think using these funds to accelerate TiddlyWiki development through an agentic coding subscription would be a good use of them.
Off-topic - how could I donate to TiddlyWiki?
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We absolutely can use the funds for hosting, but the funds we have would cover ~15 years of hosting costs. So the issue is indeed what (if anything) we do with some proportion of the remaining funds.
Yes, I think so. I’d like to understand how well it works for other projects. It is not clear how we’d choose which features get bounties, nor how we’d assign the work to a contributor; I don’t like the idea of contributors competing to be first to implement a feature and claim the bounty.
At TiddlyWiki - Open Collective - the link is pretty well hidden at the moment.
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Another approach is a gift approach, it has being suggested for pharmaceutical development as well. Basically you award the result after the event, when the item so developed becomes popular, treasured or is inspiring. It gets done in retrospect, and you can give awardees the choice of redirecting the gift as they see fit.
This means you choose after the event, possibly even via a poll.
The idea is that it leaves the problem/solution to those that build something, rather than driving from the top down, but you could also set some top priorities or goals to reach but this may drive competition rather than collaboration. perhaps have a big list, from which people can select to solve a problem, and after the event award it, you can also have runners up, wooden spoon and other humorous awards.
This approach needs more thought and research but when I heard about it, it made a lot of sense.
Perhaps the voting for top places is only open to donors, and a peoples choice award gift as well?
I wouldn’t spend much time/effort worrying about how to manage this 5k budget.
The bounties this fund allows can’t compete with the compensation a skilled developer might obtain selling their hours so, whenever someone contributes to TW is mostly because they already developed a feature to solve a personal need and, don’t mind to share the work done.
Probably this funds might serve to sustain TW legal infraestructure and secure long run continuity?
Anyways, I wouldn’t spend much effort worrying about that
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That’s not the point. There’s also the prestige and recognition someone gets for their contribution.
Just like no one spends their whole life studying fruit flies just because they hope to get the Nobel Peace Prize. But it gives a little boost to hundreds of scientists and others working in dozens of different fields, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they’ll get that nod.
Indeed recognition and prestige are powerful motivators, sometimes even more than the economic prize.
For example YouTube sends recognition plaques to content creators once they reach a milestone of 100k, 500k, 1M subscribers.
We could use part of the funds to send Motovun Jacks to recognize the work done for specially relevant dev contributions.
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Are they breeding?
They might for The Sustainable Fruit Fly Collective?
Three positive, chin first, nods in your general direction.
TT
The new server will cost us 18 GBP per month.
@kjharcombe have you taken into account the cost of sending email notifications for forum posts? As I recall, that was the bulk of the cost of running in the forum when it was set up. See https://talk.tiddlywiki.org/t/email-setup-with-google-group/2119 and Paying for Discourse
Jeremy’s post was in dollars, implying the current server was in North America.
Your post is in pounds, which implies it might be in the U.K.
Will there be an age verification requirement with the new server?
You raise a very good point. I have checked this with Ofcom, the regulator and we would likely be exempt from this.
I have considered this. The VPS selected has 24GB RAM and 720GB SSD.If we send roughly 50,000 emails per month, this would be no issue at all. The main importance with running this ourselves is protecting the reputation of the domain by ensuring we follow good practice with sending emails.