[Ardour-Users] Donate for your favorite feature (was: Could this solve Ardour's financial headache?)

[Stephen Doonan]

Mark Knecht wrote:
> Or an active pulldown menu in Ardour itself that tracks what features
> are requested and how many dollars have been contributed so far, etc.
> If you could see this in Ardour it might prompt more users to go make
> a contribution.


I agree. It's important for users to see exactly how much has been 
donated for each feature so far, and any webpage that has a "Donate for 
this feature!" button beside each feature or feature-request listing 
should show an immediate (upon next view, or auto-refreshing) update 
after each donation so that a donor can see his donation added to the 
total of donations for that request (and feel a sense of empowerment and 
contentment :-) ).

Seeing the total donated so far for each request may also encourage 
greater donation activity in general, as a "bidding war" may occur 
between users or groups of users who may feel inclined to donate to 
their favorite features which are being "out voted" by other users or 
groups of users who want a different feature or set of features.

For example, if I saw a donate-for-your-favorite-feature webpage that 
listed several features at the top as the currently most-donated-for, 
and various MIDI features that I would personally like to see 
implemented or completed appear lower in the list with less donated, I 
might feel inclined to donate to the MIDI features just to raise their 
priority and position within the features list.

In other words, the donations themselves could encourage further 
donations from both the same people and others. In addition, a "donate 
for your favorite features" program would _actively_ engage Ardour users 
in the development of the program: they would have a say-so and active 
voice (through their donations) in the development process and in which 
directions that development might take.

Get users involved, help them donate and make their donations actually 
mean something (to them) in addition to the more general "I think you're 
doing a good thing and I support your efforts" subscription-donation 
program.

:-)
Steve