Open source crisis

This is a short post about recent changes I'm facing during the last few months in my open source community.

While some of my packages about to reach 1000 GitHub stars and used by 5 figure projects, my Patreon donations dropped to $5/mo. I believe it happened due to the ongoing worldwide crisis 🤔

The fun fact — I wasn't cashing Patreon donations, but was adding extra funds to send it to other creators I rely on. For example, to Sindre Sorhus, who one of the most active contributors in the JavaScript community nowadays. As I am, my commercial and my open source projects rely on his contributions.

Hence this month, I'm moving backing off Patreon to donating directly via PayPal. Here's how I'm doing that:

1. During the month, I pick projects and save its links in the notepad list; Sourcing from package.json and websites I visit;
2. Once a month, I have a recurring reminder that it's time to donate!
3. In less than an hour I pick 2-3 projects and start looking for the "donate" button;
4. If I can not find a button, I'm sending a nice supportive email, kindly asking for a PayPal link.

That's it! Sometimes contributors are not seeking cash support, but receiving my short email is inspirational and emotional support.

Support projects and contributors you rely on!

Are you an open source contributor or community member? Please, share how's your experience has changed during the global lockdown.

The ways to support open source contributions:

• Follow on Facebook;
• Follow on Twitter;
• Support via PayPal;
• Check and star open source projects on GitHub.