[Mediawiki-l] jobs.mediawiki.org & fundraising

[Brianna Laugher]

On 08/06/07, Rob Church <robchur at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Maybe we can add a page somewhere that points to the WMF donation page
> > though.
>
> What, so Wikimedia can steal the funds that were directed at
> development? Aside from some specific projects and our two lead
> developers, Wikimedia do not contribute a lot of cash to the
> development team.

Clearly we need the MediaWiki Foundation, too ;)
It would be kinda easier if WMF handled donations on behalf of MW
development IMO. Perhaps a separate fund could be set up that was
expressly for MW development, and mediawiki.org could point to that?

> I would think it a much better idea if all the core developers
> established some sort of procedure for accepting donations. If a user
> likes something we do, e.g. Werdna's cascade-protection feature, or
> wants to encourage that developer to keep doing things, then they can
> reward that person directly.

Paypal seems to be the easiest option.

In an open source CMS I just started using, all support is done
through forums. For plugins, authors tend to write them, then announce
the "ransom" amount. Once that is met, the major contributors are
thanked in the plugin help file (a very nice touch) and it is released
open source. The ransom can be easily organised using sites such as
http://www.chipin.com/ .

I don't know if that would work for MW because some of the plugins
here would be a lot more complex. Maybe it would work for some
features that Wikipedia will never want such as automatic "digg this!"
links or something? It doesn't seem like this model would be
appropriate for WMF-driven features.

A piece of software called BountySource allows people to post bounties
to specific bug reports/feature requests. I don't know, is that a good
idea? Would it discourage collaboration?

> If we can find appropriate software of some description to run on it,
> http://jobs.mediawiki.org or something (bounties? contracts? some
> other term? not quite sure I like the term "job" here, as it might not
> be salaried positions being offered (although I'm sure people could
> find jobs as MediaWiki development consultants)) sounds great to me,
> and something worth setting up.

maybe http://work.mediawiki.org ?

http://www.jobthread.com/ (used by slashdot)
http://www.jobcoin.com/ (used by phpBB)
http://www.jobamatic.com/ looks good - seems more flexible to me

from jobamatic's FAQ:

-----
How much do I make from the Job-a-matic job listings I sell?
You keep 50% of the revenue. We keep the other 50%, and invest it in
important world projects*.

How do I get paid for Job-a-matic listings?
Once you have generated $500 in commissions, Simply Hired will send you a check.

How much should I charge for a job listing? Is there a minimum amount
I need to charge?
The minimum amount that you can charge for a listing is $10. The
market price for listings varies from industry to industry, but $100 -
$200 per listing is fairly standard.
----

Maybe you could also have developers.mediawiki.org where anyone with
svn access can spruik their wares. :)

cheers,
Brianna

-- 
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