Issue Bounties & Funding

[Euan T]

I very briefly mentioned this in a recent post, but wanted to create a thread to further expand upon the idea.

One of the ways we're looking at trying to draw more contributors into MyBB is to adopt a recommended bounty platform. The idea behind this is simple: issues and feature requests will still be tracked in the current way via GitHub, but users (including team members) will be able to pledge monetary bounties for issues they feel is of particular importance. Multiple users can pledge bounties, adding money to the pot. Developers - from either within the team or from within the community - may then adopt the issue and begin work on it. The developer who resolves the issue claims the bounty at the end.

This is still very much in the discussion phase and we'd welcome any feedback or comments on the idea. One of the things that we're struggling with is a lack of core contributors and we're looking to find ways to improve that situation. Monetary incentives have been mentioned several times over the years and this could be a step towards that.

One of the things to discuss is the platform that would be used. Ideally, we'd recommend usage of a single platform to collect bounties rather than spreading them across multiple platforms and introducing more confusion into the mix. One of the best known platforms to my knowledge is Bountysource, and I currently have a request open with them to claim the existing MyBB team on there so that we can gain ownership and management of the team. I don't personally have any experience using any platform like this either as a contributor or as a bounty provider - if anybody does, I'd love to hear their thoughts.

Thanks,
Euan

[Omar G.]

I found the following site:
https://issuehunt.io/

Though Bountysource seems good enough at least compared.

[Euan T]

I found the following site:
https://issuehunt.io/

Though Bountysource seems good enough at least compared.

I hadn't found that one during my search, but good to know there are alternatives out there!

[Omar G.]

Hi, we are looking forward to implement some bounty system for MyBB in the coming months.

We would like to start by discussing and eventually pick a bounty platform, if you have any suggestions or comments regarding the ones mentioned above we would like to read them.

[Laird]

I have no experience with bounty systems, so can't suggest or comment on any, but I am excited about this as a possibility for invigorating MyBB development. Speaking personally: although I spend most of my time on plugins, bounties might motivate me to spend more time on core code. I don't see many (any?) drawbacks to this idea, and one big positive. Thumbs up from me, even though I don't have much input on a particular platform.

[Loller Corleone]

This is a wonderful idea! And also solves the issue of lack of motivation for folks to work on the core code.

[Eldenroot]

Cool idea! This could help a lot!

[Laird]

Andrewjs18 re-raised this idea on Discord, and it's been discussed there a little. He has suggested that we might get authorisation from Chris to use the money pooled for MyBB in OpenCollective to fund bounties, since that money is otherwise sitting there doing nothing. This seems to me to be a good idea. Of course, this wouldn't stop others from contributing their own money directly to bounties too.

He's also shared another bounty platform in addition to the two above: Rysolv.

I've done a little investigating into one of the issues of main concern to me: the percentage of fees these platforms take from final payouts, and what sort of bureaucracy is involved in having bounties paid out, especially in terms of taxation requirements. The harder it is to claim bounties, and the more fees are taken out, the less attractive a proposition it is for us (at least, that's my view).

So, here's what I've found:

1. Bountysource (suggested by Euan in his original post):
   
   • Taxation-related bureaucracy: this US-based company requires that for annual payouts of over $600 to US citizens, a certain tax form must be completed (Form W-9), and a non-US citizen "may" be asked to fill out form W-8: see their FAQ here.
     
   • Fees:
     
     • On bounty deposit: not mentioned, but presumably payment gateway fees are applicable depending on payment method.
       
     • To Bountysource: a 10% fee upon the cashing out of a bounty hunter's accumulated funds.
       
     • On withdrawal: these might be applicable based on chosen payment method: "We can send you money via PayPal, Bitcoin, or physical check. Bountysource is not responsible for any fees that may be incurred due to the chosen payment method."
       
     • Inactivity fee (same link as above): "For accounts have [sic] unclaimed balances for 90 days or more, Bountysource charges a monthly inactivity fee of $10 + 10% of the account balance. Inactivity fees are charged monthly. You can avoid the inactivity fee by withdrawing your account balance within 90 days."
       
2. IssueHunt (the alternative bounty site that Omar found):
   
   • Taxation-related bureaucracy: none mentioned that I can see. It seems to leave bounty hunters to manage their own taxation obligations.
     
   • Fees:
     
     • On bounty deposit: 3.5% (charged by Stripe).
       
     • To IssueHunt: a 10% service fee.
       
     • On withdrawal: about 3.5% (country-dependent; charged by PayPal).
       
3. Rysolv (the site found by andrewjs18):
   
   • Taxation-related bureaucracy: none mentioned that I can see.
     
   • Fees:
     
     • On bounty deposit: "A standard transaction fee will be applied based on the payment platform [card or Paypal; Rysolv accounts can also fund bounties]."
       
     • To Rysolv: none mentioned; I'm curious to know then how they fund themselves?
       
     • On withdrawal: 3% + $0.30.
       
     • To the project repository on withdrawal (if enabled): "If the repo has set up a payout method, you will be prompted to contribute a portion [a minimum of 10%] to the repo. Otherwise, you will be awarded the full dollar amount of the bounty."
       

Considerations:

In his OP, Euan mentioned that he'd applied to Bountysource to claim MyBB on there - this application appears to have succeeded: see the MyBB Bountysource team page. Technically, then, we already have a MyBB bounty platform usable right now.

Superficially, IssueHunt seems to charge higher fees than Bountysource, however, in most real-world cases, this probably is illusory, as the payment gateway methods people are likely to use to submit deposits and withdraw bounties to/from Bountysource would charge fees commensurate with those which IssueHunt makes explicit.

Rysolv does not seem to have a lot of activity. This isn't necessarily a reflection of the quality of its service, but it is strange that it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere how it is funded, and thus concern over its long-term viability might be warranted.

Of course, there is a lot more to consider than I've done in this post. It's got a kind of narrow focus. I'm interested in what others think is also worth considering.

Finally, we might be able to source other potential bounty-hunting sites from this page.

[Ricsca]

The only future for mybb is to offer official paid services such as a gallery.
In this way he can earn and find more people who work on the project for a fee.
Nobody works for free and if the forum is not updated continuously people do not install it ...
People acquire ipb licenses which cost a lot but at least they have the security of having an always updated forum ...

[StefanT]

The only future for mybb is to offer official paid services such as a gallery.

There are many open source projects out there that do not offer any commercial products or services.

Do not forget offering commercial stuff requires a lot of work: Founding and running a company, taxes and of course providing commercial grad services.