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Fair question!
So I'll answer it. I refuse to accept that people who work on Fediverse trust & safety full time should have to be inches from financial disaster all the time. As an industry we have to find other ways to pay for stuff. Some Fedi people are so anti-VC and anti-capitalist, that they become anti-commerce, and anti-paying people for their labor.
Paying people for their labor is not bad. It's good actually.
@mekkaokereke @Badgardener@mastodonapp.uk @thisismissem I think it’s more about finding a good revenue model that does not compromise the longer term viability of building an open network vs. people being anti getting paid. There are successful examples of this being done with donations as the main revenue source, such as Wikipedia.
I am not sure how other revenue models can generate significant revenue without excluding people who can’t pay? Do you have examples?
@can @mekkaokereke @Badgardener yes, I literally have https://support.thisismissem.social — financial support is all I ask, whether its $5/month or $500/month, every little bit helps make my work more secure and sustainable.
Right now one of my contracts may be at risk due to funding issues, so 2025 is looking very scary to say the least.
@thisismissem @mekkaokereke @Badgardener@mastodonapp.uk Good to know! Thanks for your work! I think Mastodon should pay people like you, though. I know it’s also hard for them to raise money, but still easier than for you I’d guess.
@can @mekkaokereke @Badgardener yeah, maybe one day. I did almost join their team last year, but funding threw a spanner in the works, so I went independent, investing €16,000 of my own money to keep myself afloat whilst I did work on Mastodon and fediverse and built up a supporter base.
@thisismissem @mekkaokereke @Badgardener@mastodonapp.uk that’s very selfless and brave of you to do that. I sincerely hope you find some stable financing soon!
@can @mekkaokereke @Badgardener hopefully! I do already have a grant from NLNet that I'm working on for my FIRES project: https://fires.fedimod.org
@thisismissem @mekkaokereke @Badgardener@mastodonapp.uk do you have any other source of income besides the grants and donations?
@can @mekkaokereke @Badgardener freelance work as an advisor for fediverse projects, sometimes freelance work on fediverse projects.
I literally work exclusively on the Fediverse. That's my full-time job.
@thisismissem @mekkaokereke @Badgardener@mastodonapp.uk that’s cool!