Ask HN: Critique this idea

Re:Ask HN: Critique this idea by pudo on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @08:46AM (#682525)

True. Also, having quantified the value of each contribution might actually create a disincentive for joining the project: that 5-line patch that was going to be my very first contribution is now officially worth nothing, so why submit it? By laying a focus on the top contributors instead of the new/potential ones, this undermines the crucial ability of F/OSS projects to motivate people to _gradually_ extend their involvement.

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Re:Ask HN: Critique this idea by ErrantX on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @09:29AM (#682587)

Yeh sold. :) The embryo for this grew out of wanting to try and make those 5 patch contributions worth something tangible and to encourage them... sadly it seems the idea just got lost along the way and does the opposite.

Back to the drawing board :D

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Re:Ask HN: Critique this idea by synnik on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @11:32AM (#682796)

You might not have to go all the way back...

I've thought of this concept before, and I think the key is to measure based on contributions to functional goals of the project, not amount of code added.

For example, participating in a discussion on requirements for a specific function is worth X points. Submitting the code is worth X points, too. Documentation is worth X points, as is communicating with the end users who requested the function or found the bug.

In short, reward people based on participating in a collaborative development process. Then that 5-line patch is more highly rewarded by someone who takes ownership and truly participates, not just a random coder with time to spare.

Might this discourage some people? Yes... but only people who wouldn't have time or inclination to be significant participants in the project anyway.

In the long run, the team and project should be stronger.

At least, I thi/hope so...

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Re:Ask HN: Critique this idea by dflock on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @09:40AM (#682601)

Maybe you could weight contributions differently, depending on what kind of behavior you want to encourage? For example you could make first contributions worth double, or have first contributions gain a bonus of x shares, which they can cash in/withdraw after their 5th/nth contribution, or something?

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Re:Ask HN: Critique this idea by sp332 on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @11:29AM (#682788)

That encourages new-account spam. Maybe you could make them wait, like a "signing bonus", for a month? or until their third contribution?

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Re:Ask HN: Critique this idea by dflock on Saturday July 04, 2009 @09:57PM (#687823)

Yes, that's what I suggested, actually.

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