[okfn-discuss] New crowdfunding system in the works exclusively for Free/Libre/Open resources

[Aaron Wolf]

Luis, thanks for the feedback. Making everything clear is a challenge, but
definitely possible.

Here's the deal: you contribute to an account in the system (sort of like
escrow), then your pledge basically says that you are withholding your
donations until others chip in too (and further, that you'll contribute
more to the particular projects that others also support). That's it.
Pretty simple.

Ok, so how much will they end up contributing to a project? We don't want
to introduce artificial statements about this. When people even set prices
on things it is a guess based on scale and other factors. The community
will determine what happens and we aren't going to regulate it. We can
provide historical examples after we have a couple successful projects.

Finally, about whether people will choose to give… here's the trick:
there's NO reason to hesitate. You won't be forced to donate any more than
you put in your account to start (although there may be social pressure to
add more if everyone else is). It will cost you basically nothing unless
everyone else chips in. So if you want the project to succeed, you'll be
happy to do your part, and if it isn't working out then it won't cost you
basically anything. No risk. No reason not to go and pledge, assuming you
like the project.

Cheers,
Aaron

--
Aaron Wolf
wolftune.com


On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 8:18 PM, Luis Villa <luis at tieguy.org> wrote:

> My instinct is that if you can't explain how much people will be
> expected to give (or even, in a sentence, what model might determine
> how much they will give), they won't give at all. So I'd urge you to
> simplify the model. But I wish you luck either way :)
>
> On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Aaron Wolf <wolftune at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Thomas,
> >
> > Thanks for the interest.
> >
> > I'm actually not sure the best way to describe our concept in fewest
> words,
> > but it isn't actually exponential, more like quadratic. The growth is
> more
> > linear in that donors later down the line don't have a bigger impact than
> > the initial ones, i.e. it isn't actually exponential.
> > But the concept is similar. We want the support to grow, much like how
> > auction values can grow beyond what people initially bid after they see
> > others bid more, but in our case everyone chips in, they are just more
> > willing to do so as they see that others are doing the same.
> >
> > So, to answer your question: there is NO maximum truly. But there IS
> > control. Donors will fund an account which they control still, and so we
> > cannot take more money from donors than the amount they put into their
> > account. But we do want there to be some pressure to add to the account
> and
> > not fall through on their pledge. We have ideas about optional ways to
> split
> > or reduce donations when the amounts get higher, but that is a wonderful
> > problem to have.
> >
> > I would love to get more feedback or involvement from you after you've
> > looked over our proposals.
> > Here's an invite code for you:
> > http://snowdrift.coop/invitation/9514777464dbaecb
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > --
> > Aaron Wolf
> > wolftune.com
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 5:18 PM, Thomas Kluyver <
> thomas.kluyver at cantab.net>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Aaron,
> >>
> >> This sounds really interesting, I look forward to seeing the results.
> >>
> >>
> >> On 7 December 2012 20:46, Aaron Wolf <wolftune at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> 3. We have designed a novel mechanism to address the problems with
> >>> encouraging as many people as possible to join the community. A
> simplistic
> >>> explanation is: each pledge starts near zero and increases only when
> more
> >>> people pledge as well. Essentially, each donation is contingent on
> everyone
> >>> else donating; like matching funds but achieved geometrically across
> >>> everyone in the system, growing further with each new donor.
> >>
> >>
> >> Just to check, I assume there will be a way for individual donors to cap
> >> their donation? This sort of exponential increase sounds a bit scary
> from a
> >> donor point of view.
> >>
> >> Best wishes,
> >> Thomas
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> okfn-discuss mailing list
> >> okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> >> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
> >> Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > okfn-discuss mailing list
> > okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
> > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> okfn-discuss mailing list
> okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
> Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/attachments/20121207/1eb0a40d/attachment.html>