[R H Steele]

Seriously, you all make cogent and well reasoned arguements .... each one went through my mind when posting the subject, also assumed (never assume - makes an bass of you and me) that it had been broached before. Money does make things go kerfluffel. International incidents of tax problems come to mind. The best way through it is perhaps to propose the purchase of a specific item or service, how about paying any volunteer developers yearly membership donation here at Elvas Tower, or at a file sharing service they all use? Personally, I feel I owe the team a lot --- such a fine project, great software. Of course, I'm a late arrival at the party so I certainly don't want to muck things up. So I suppose I got a well-deserved double helping of raspberry from thegrinde, helps keep things in perspective. Cheers rhs (Gerry)

[R H Steele]

R H Steele, on 11 December 2013 - 11:49 PM, said:

also assumed (never assume - makes an bass of you and me)

Alrighty - if we're going fishing who's bringing the beer! Cheers rhs (Gerry)

[cjakeman]

Thanks, Gerry, for raising this. Don't remember the last discussion so it must have been a while back.

roeter, on 11 December 2013 - 05:33 PM, said:

The only way it might work, is if spending is identified first, and then donations upto that specific amount are invited. But even then I am hesitant because of the points raised above.

I'm with Rob on this. Our code respository and webspace are donated and so is our domain name. (Thanks, guys). Having a good bug-tracker was going to cost us until we found the free Launchpad service. So we don't have expenses to meet at present but we might do in the future to operate in a high-quality manner.

Having cash contributions changes the way we feel about OR, so I'm glad we've managed without this far.

[R H Steele]

cjakeman, on 12 December 2013 - 12:07 AM, said:

Having cash contributions changes the way we feel about OR, so I'm glad we've managed without this far.

That's certainly my primary concern .... I suppose it's best to keep communication open and when a need arises post something so we can all pitch in. End users like myself that lack digital expertise can help out when a need arises - I know there are many of us (or at least I hope so). I am amazed at how far Open Rails has developed in the past year ... the pace seems much faster than "hobby speed". Again, just post when something comes up ... if it was "brick and morter" I'd consider it a privilege to empty the trash and sweep up. Especially if there was Bass&Beer. Cheers, rhs (Gerry)

[Lindsayts]

There are a number of ways users can help in an open source program, a couple that immediately come to mind.

1, Carefull testing and clear well thought out bug and what and does not work reports are ______THE______ corner stone of open source and help the developers far more than you may apreciate.

2, OS projects are ALWAYS short on Documentation as writing docs are usually a destraction to writing code, So anytime one manages to figure out some new thing in OR write it down and present it. In doing this always rememeber the source code is always availible.

Lindsay

[Genma Saotome]

I'll add to Lindsay's list with this: There is always a need for anyone with C# skills to lend a hand with coding... small tasks like fixing a bug or two, or adding just 1 feature... up to large tasks like taking on adding major functionality. Some folks contribute just snippets of code via e-mail or PM w/o taking any formal team role at all.

[Csantucci]

I completely agree with Captain Bazza's and Chris' words.

[rdamurphy]

I dunno. I've created dozens of cars for MSTS and have helped where I can with OR. I'd prefer not to let one of the most incredible group efforts creating OR become corrupted by money...


I just don't see any kind of support so far for the idea...

Robert

[Csantucci]

Sorry Robert, if your "I dunno" is referred to my post, I don't understand it. I have written that I agree with the opinion of two people that are against pushing money issues into the OR world, and it seems to me that you share the same opinion.

[Lindsayts]

Csantucci, on 13 December 2013 - 08:50 AM, said:

Sorry Robert, if your "I dunno" is referred to my post, I don't understand it. I have written that I agree with the opinion of two people that are against pushing money issues into the OR world, and it seems to me that you share the same opinion.

I did not read the "I dunno" as refering to any post in particular, but refering to the general difficulty of the problem. Like most of the worlds problems there will be no clear cut right/wrong answer, much as everyone likes to see such answers.

Lindsay