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So, during the last site update article, a discussion came up talking about how those who work and write for this site should get paid for said work. I've always wanted to get us to the point where we could cut a check to the contributors of SoylentNews, but as it stands, subscriptions more or less let us keep the lights on and that's about it.
As I was writing and responding to one specific thread, part of me started to wonder if there would be enough interest to try and crowdfund articles on specific topics. In general, meta articles in which we talk deploying HSTS or our use of Hesiod tend to generate a lot of interest. So, I wanted to try and see if there was an opportunity to both generate interesting content, and help get some funds back to those who donate their time to keep the lights on.
One idea that immediately comes to mind that I could write is deploying DNSSEC in the real world, and an active example of how it can help mitigate hijack attacks against misconfigured domains. Alternatively, on a retro-computing angle, I could cook something in 16-bit real mode assembly that can load an article from soylentnews.org. I could also do a series on doing (mostly) bare metal work; i.e., loading an article from PXE boot or UEFI.
However, before I get in too deep into building this idea, I want to see how the community feels about it. My initial thought is that the funds raised for a given article would dictate how long it would be, and the revenue would be split between the author, and the staff, with the staff section being divided at the end of the year as even as possible. The program would be open to any SN contributor. If the community is both interested and willing, I'll organize a staff meeting and we'll do a trial run to see if the idea is viable. If it flies, then we'll build out the system to be a semi-regular feature of the site
As always, leave your comments below, and we'll all be reading ...
~ NCommander
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday August 17 2016, @12:27PM
Just tossing out an idea: 1/3 contributor 1/3 to the house (aka SN) 1/3 to a charity of submitters choice (childs play or EFF or whatever floats their boat ...) ?
At least theoretically there's something everyone likes which might cut down on the complaining or squabbling about filthy lucre.
Might get SN some nice PR to have SN fundraise a couple hundred bucks for childs play or whatever, just don't mention in the press release that that the "overhead" of the fundraiser was 2/3.
I suppose you could go all humble bundle on it, assuming they don't have the concept of sliders patented.
You could raffle stuff off, including virtual-ish stuff like getting to non-bindingly select the next campaign's charity. Or go levels, like $50 donation gets you a pinup calendar featuring the SN admin team. Assuming thats not already a gag gift, you could go the gag gift direction and the "winner" gets a copy of "Cobol for Dummies" (and yes that book does exist and it very sarcastically made the rounds at a former employer although it never landed on my desk)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @02:26PM
like $50 donation gets you a pinup calendar featuring the SN admin team.
How much does it cost to never have to think of that again?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday August 17 2016, @02:49PM
A good suggestion, but I'm not sure where we stand legally about making charitable donations - I'm simply ignorant about US law. Will it affect our current business status?
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:48PM
As a PBC, probably not; if ratified by board and shareholders, definitely not.