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!!Some addition to the idea see below!!

Hey people!

A while ago, there was a discussion here brainstorm.php#idea46860, about paying/ donating to get bugs fixed and wishes implemented. It was very controversal, since there was the fear that it could affect the KDE which in large parts base on voluntary work.

I would like to suggest an alternative which may be more compatible to the community idea: KDE should have something similar to Pledgebank http://www.pledgebank.com/. The basic idea of a pledgebank is that someone says: I will do this if other people do that or the same.

For the KDE community this could look like this:
- A developer could pledge: I will fix this bug, implement this feature, if someone (or more than one person) else does this and that or if someone (or more than one person) choose spends this amount of time on doing other things for KDE.
There then would be a list of things non-developers could do: Writing articles on userbase, updating/ writing documentation, making screenshots for documentation, being a local contact person for helping people to install KDE, writing an article about KDE for a local newspaper, writing a review in a blog, beeing a volunteer at a KDE booth, compile KDE from SVN.
- The other way around KDE users who want a feature implemented, could pledge to do things, if someone implements a feature or fixes a specific bug.

I believe KDE Pledgebank would not only help to fix bugs, it could also bring more life in the "We are KDE" by bringing devs and users closer to each other. The KDE Pledgebank would need a list of easy to do tasks and also limited task for non-coders to do. This would make contributing for non-coders easier, because they can oversee the tasks they do. I have been involved in volunteer work for a long time. One thing which often prevents people from getting involved is that they do not what the consequences are: It feels like all or nothing.

The KDE pledgebank would be the a kind of JuniorJobs 2.0 -> http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute/Junior_Jobs . It would be a new way of attracting attention to volunteering for KDE as such, not only for non-coders. There could be different ways to make this work. One the one hand, one could just use existing pledgebanks, but I think this would rather not so useful. May be the easiest way would be to implement it into the existing forum, like KDE Brainstorm. It would then have a pledgebank.KDE.org. May be it would need some extensions, so that pledges, people who join in and potential forms of contributions can displayed and handled in a nice way.

EDIT:
I like to give the idea some life in the spirit of the idea itself to get this started. I would pledge to help to get this started if at least 10 others do the same. By helping to get this started, I mean I would be part of the process of clarifying how this would work. I would write a proposal about this (how does a process of pledging work? how are users and developers involved? How can it be implemented in existing KDE structures ...) and try to bring it to the point where it can be started. Therefore among the ten others we would at least need 2-3 tech-savy people who could care about the technical part. It would be good, if at least one of them is already involved in KDE in such a way, that communication and implementation is easier. Not for the need, in order to bring new people to KDE I would say, it would be good, if at least half of the people would be new in the sense of contributing to KDE. I would also say, that at least half of the people joining this pledge should be willing to stay with it for some time (I think this will need moderation similar to KDE Brainstorm). Personally I have to say openly, that I am not sure, if I can do more than getting this started. That is why I do not pledge this, although I might be able to spend more time on it.

If you want to join this pledge for making this idea real, just comment on it and state what you would be willing to contribute. I would also say that there is a time limit, when I would like to know. This would be Saturday, 26. June. Then we should get started or not.

big +1 for this!

As the person who pledged 500 dollars for window tabbing/grouping I believe in this format very much so and will get more users like myself involved.

People like the idea of getting what they want and being taken care of. They are willing give money in exchange for this in life. This is a better software model because no one feels obligated, only motivated. Coders are actually making something someone needs or wants and the donator feels empowered and that they are contributing meanwhile the open source ecosystem flourishes.

Its win win...

+1!

push -

sorry for doing this, but it seems like the changes I have done to the above proposal do not move it up like a comment would. So no one sees it.

Markum

It is a shame, that besides the votes no one really seams interested to do something. I am still willing to push this idea forward. So I have formulated the idea in a more detailled way

Here my thoughts:

1. The KDE pledgebank should be a part of the forum, but also reachable by directly addressing "http://pledges.kde.org“ in a similar way than brainstorm.kde.org

2. The pledges-forum would have following basic structure

- new pledges (pledges being checked)
- pledges needing developer(s)
- running pledges (pledges needing users to support it)
- pledges in progress (pledges being worked on)
- expired pledges (pledges where not enough users could be found)
- successful pledges

3. There would be a start page, linking to the above parts of the forum, but also showing examples of above pledges, a button "write a new pledge“ and "how to contribute“ (linking to the lists explained below)

4. There would be rss-feeds for, those could be aggregated to dot.kde.org and kde.org

Rules:
1. Starting a new pledge would be like starting a new post. Ideally there could be a kind of wizard, supporting this (making job of facilitators easier), but for the start it could be enough, to have it as a new forum post.

2. A new pledge would need to consist of the following:
- Short description / title, describing what you want to be done.
- Longer description of what you want to be done, as much detailed as possible.
- This always needs to be linked to either a wish-report on bugs.kde.org or an idea on brainstorm.kde.org. If this does not exist yet, a wish-report on bugs.kde.org needs to be created.
- What you are willing to do, if someone agrees to make this happen?
- Time frame: Until when do you want this to be done or until when are you willing to do what you have offered?

3. If a new pledge is filed, moderators check if it is formal correct, then contact the maintainer/ developers of the app(s) which are affected, ask if they approve this (to be integrated), ask if one of them would do it or if it can be supervised, if they can estimate the time or tell what qualifications are needed to do this.

4. If someone agrees to do what a user has requested, he or she could add conditions for doing this. For example request that the time is spent on translation or documentation of a specific app. In general there would be a kind of formula saying one developer hour is equivalent of X (5?) user hours.

5. If there is none of the app developers jumping, the pledge is forwarded to "pledges needing developer(s)“. Users can already join the pledge here too. If one or more developers have been found, the pledge is moved to "running pledges“

6. If a developer is found, the pledge is forwarded to "running pledges“. All running pledges require other users to jump on the train until there are enough who are willing to do something in exchange.
7. If enough users have been found, a pledge is moved to "pledges in progress. If a pledge expires, it will be moved to "expired pledges“ where other users/developers can take it up again.

8. If a pledge is fulfilled by both sides, the pledge is moved to "successful pledges“, where documentation (if possible) is posted that all have fulfilled their part of the deal.

9. General rules: A user should not offer money as his part of the deal. His pledge should allways involve a personal contribution. However, a part of a pledge can be a donation to KDE e.V. or a supporting membership.

What could users to in exchange?
There would be two lists of what users could do in exchange. The first list would contain permanent tasks, which can be done all the time and should give a general idea what can be done to support KDE.
e.G.:
- Install a KDE-distro on x persons computer
- compile KDE from svn/git in order to help testing
- give a talk about KDE
- organise a release party
- organise a KDE install fest
- become a supporting member of KDE e.V.
- helping to translate parts of KDE into the users language
- helping with documentation
- helping the KDE promo-team
- joining a bug-hunt
- creating art-work where it is needed.
- writing/ translating articles on userbase
- helping out at KDE booth
- help organising a KDE event
- ...
The user offering to do one of these, would need to find out, where and when exactly there is something really to be done. To make this easier, there would be a second list. This would consist of very specific tasks where it is already known that support is needed for a certain date:
- helping at a KDE boot a certain event.
- writing documentation for a specific app.
- ...

Ressources need for making pledges.kde.org happen
- There would be people needed as facilitators. I can not estimate how many, but I assume this would be similar to brainstorm.kde.org
- There would be people needed negotiate and clarify this project with KDE people (web-team, also the developers, if they are ok with that and if the procedure is ok)
- There would be people or a person needed which fill the lists described above and keep them uptodate.
- There would be people or a person needed who adapts the KDE-forum if necessary.

Please add your comments on the idea and also if you are willing to be part of this.

Markum

I'll need to think about it but what would be really awesome is if this pledge system could actually be integrated with brainstorm. Then we could really show that link between idea -> implementation.

Actually I had KDE brainstorm in mind, when I though how to implement the idea. There are so many good ideas, which get many votes, but only a few appear to be implemented. My hope is to increase the rate of implemented ideas, but also the fixing of bugs from bugs.kde.org by reaching out to new volunteers (developers and non-developers).

The goals are laudable, and you've obviously put a lot of thought into this. One thing you would have to guard against is over-optimism about results. You have to remember that most developers have full-time jobs or are students with serious time commitments. On top of that, many of them have families. In other words, available time is a great concern, and good though this idea is, it won't bring them any extra hours in the day.

@annew:
I am aware of this. I believe there are two reasons why this still can be a success.
First: If users support development by doing things which do not require coding, they could relieve devs from tasks and make things easier.
Second: I hope that a kind of public platform could encourage and attract new coders to be part of KDE development. KDE finds new devs with events like SOC, but those projects are rather big and already require a certain level of qualification. So a pledgebank could fill the gap and it would be also around during the whole year.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try it - just reminding you that others may not be similarly aware, so if you could make the position clear when you attempt this it might save a "nobody cares" backlash.

I like the idea itself but I don't the way. With this developers will allways say "I'll do this but only if..."
I would simply call it a request for help. This would change the possibilities of this you could request. Things like "I need someone who writes the documentation for what I do" or "I need someone for testing it extensivly" but it doesn't have to only be help for the special feature but for a special project.

And then we need of course a way to show help-requests sorted by type.

My dream would not only a integration with brainstorm but also with reviewboard, bugs.kde.org, planetkde/dot and git.kde.org, so the system knows exactly who has written wich code and so who has to get the bugreport,...

markum: can I suggest (you may have already mentioned it?) that it would be nice if the people who pledge gave some indication of how they could help - give examples like

write a how-to
explain some lesser known feature of your favourite software (on UserBase, help available)
attempt a junior coding job (under guidance)
translate a UserBase page

I'm sure there are lots more - those are just examples. They wouldn't need to be specific at this point. If the pledge is taken up then specifics can be negotiated

@Anne: That is what I meant. On the one side there would be a list of suggestions what can be done, on the other side someone who wants to make a pledge can relate this suggestions to what he or she feels capable or likes to help.