We are changing the way we give money to developers.
Since this site began, we have had a donations program through which we gave money to various themes and plugin developers:
This program never amounted to huge money, but we did have 4 projects that eventually got over $100.
But all of this is about to change.
Starting in September, all donations will have to be voted on by the community. The process will go like this:
1.) if you are a developer or a theme or plugin, you can fill out the form requesting money from the community.
2.) the community then has 30 days to vote. The eligible voters consist of the top monthly experts and the top all time experts.
3.) your proposal must get a quorum, which we define as 5 voters, and it must win a majority of those who vote.
4.) if your proposal wins the vote, it then goes into the pool of active donation projects. Your project stays in the pool of active donation projects for 6 months. Then you must reapply.
5.) the community will then vote to donate a percentage of the Community Pot to each project. Currently there is about $400 a month going through the Community Pot.
An example:
You are developing the greatest plugin ever for managing images via WordPress. You apply for donations. 6 of the experts on the site vote, so you get a quorum. 4 experts vote in your favor, and 2 of them vote against you, so you win the vote. Your plugin is now in the active pool of donation projects, and it will remain so for 6 months. Let us suppose, hypothetically, there are 4 other active donation projects. The experts have voted roughly 5% to most of the other projects, but they like your project very much, so they vote you 10%. The experts have now voted to donate a total of 30% of the Community Pot to the 5 projects, and they are keeping 70% for themselves. You get 10% each night, whenever there is a payout from the Community Pot.
The experts might approve your project, but then vote you 0%, so in a sense, you have to win 2 votes, the one to get in, and then the one to get a decent percentage. It’s up to you to explain to the community why your project is so important that it deserves a donation.
We have no idea if the experts will actually vote you a penny. They might want to keep all the money to themselves, and we respect their right to do so.
This new system should be in place by mid September.
