@Gargron I don't even think the company generates such big sums of money...

@Gargron If you find the hidden money, keep it.

@Gargron https://urda.social/@urda/112344041623483379

@Gargron people telling on themselves...

@Gargron giving something away for free somehow brings out the absolute most entitled, awful, people on the planet. That subset of users is the reason I question my involvement in Open Source software every day. Not a day goes by when I don't see someone being an asshole about free software that they've never contributed to in any way.

@Gargron
There is a crowd here that hate this place and stays in this place. Quite bizarre crowd.

But what is @Gargron raking in on his line of plushies and other bling??? :google_emoji_kitchen_thinking_face_and_white_frowning_face_mashup:

@Gargron That's only if you are based in USA and do "assistance" to other countries.

CEOs of those non profits suck up 90% of the money, and the ones that are backed by big governments are typically used to overthrow other countries.

@Gargron I'm sorry, friend. Many more of us love what you've done with Mastodon, and as a fellow adult also feeding 2 people and 2 cats, it's impossible to NOT understand why the US NGO status is important necessary.

Kids, adults living in isolation & grifters gonna whine. You just stand tall, and keep on keepin' on with your awesome shine.

@Gargron People always find a way to be upset. This is a smart move and I’ve worked with multiple international orgs that set up a 501(c)(3) here to unlock US-based donations and grants. Don’t let the haters get to you.

@Gargron Also: Esra'a is one of thee coolest cats around, and you have some AMAZING hearts & minds for nourishment & growth through community, on that board. Maybe the haters are just jealous? :batman:

@Gargron I have seen a lot of deranged people here. I know it's hard, but you have to ignore them. Do what your guts says is right. The fact that Mastodon is so dominant in fediverse means that you are doing things right.

@Gargron I do wonder why you didn’t opt for a foundation in Europe (eclipse did that) or switching from gGmbH to a coop approach (Genossenschaft). And the quite US centric board with mostly folks not well known in the fediverse world also feels weird. We‘ll see what happens. You decide what is best for your employees.

@Gargron Follow you for your photo posts, specially the Cannon ones.

Don’t let the haters get to you :)

@Gargron Always ignore negative comments on social media :)

@Gargron It's been barely four weeks since the xz dilemma.

And what did we learn from it in terms of open source maintainers struggling to make a living while giving away their work for free?

Nothing. We learned nothing.

Do folks get that you could literally walk away from this any minute? Where are these expectations coming from that folks put on you?

@Gargron convinced me to donate for a year. Please keep up the good work.

@Gargron @shansterable

it's a great excuse not to feel bad about not giving you money while using the software.

@Gargron Anyone who claims that doesn’t know a thing about how getting and maintaining 501c3 status works, and shouldn’t be taken seriously — by you or anyone else.

@Gargron "It's complicated".

@Gargron Thank you for everything you do. The people who are saying that are unhinged ideologues.

@Gargron people often find conspiracy wherever they can. Please don't worry too much about them.

I hope your weekend and partner / cats have a fantastic week.

@Gargron let me guess: these are Americans that are used to religious organizations hiding money like this, and all non-profits are tarred with this brush.

Just cause Scientology (probably) does this doesn't mean all non-profits do

Or they're sore about the Board of Directors (I read it on the internet; I am not allowed to consider it truth. My hot take on that is https://fosstodon.org/@yakkoj/112345465023936228 and I see you've responded to that part in this thread)

@Gargron I don’t agree with every direction you all are taking (But hey, that’s okay. Open standards mean I have a choice), but that’s just sad.

That’s less than half of any decent SWE salary I’ve seen. *What* money is there to hide?

@Gargron thank you kindly sir for your hard work and your sacrifice you are making this planet a nicer place

@Gargron The reactionary element here is as tedious as it is anywhere else. Thanks for keeping mastodon going.

@Gargron I think their point is that there are now blockchain & AI techbros in high positions over Mastodon, not that you're scheming to hide money.

@Gargron Some people in the FOSS community get really weird with their purity testing. It goes way beyond simple, healthy skepticism.

These people think that if a FOSS project's maintainers aren't willing to dedicate 100+ hours a week on their project for no pay, then they are "impure"/"compromised.""

For a project of Mastodon's scale, the recent donations are not the comically huge amount they think it is.

@Gargron on the Matrix side we’re trying to secure sustainable public sector funding for FOSS maintenance: https://matrix.org/blog/2024/04/open-source-publicly-funded-service/ and https://mastodon.matrix.org/@webmink@meshed.cloud/112223452003685677 etc. Would you be interested in this happening?

@Gargron Reading this thread with people calling you out for imaginary things about people on your board. 🤪

@Gargron If they don’t like it they don’t have to support it. Being a charity in the US encourages more Americans to donate.

Would be nice if there was an internationally-accepted “for the good of everyone” organization without having to file paperwork in 100+ countries.

@Gargron I can't speak to what everyone else is saying. I'm not saying that at all. You deserve a fair payday. I don't think any reasonable person would argue differently.

Having two board members so incredibly close to things a large number of people here have been hurt by (AI and Twitter) can you blame people for being like they may have put their faith (maybe not fair, but we did) in the wrong software and the wrong advocate for it?

This event was handled, at best, hamfistedly.

@Gargron As an American, I am looking forward to contributing to the 501c3 and supporting Mastodon in that way. I know that more resources are needed and want to help. Please post enough details so I can contribute money, have not seen that yet. Perhaps, though, you could reassure people if you could pledge that Mastodon will not get involved with some of the sketchier things Biz Stone has pushed (cryptocurrency and blockchain).

@Gargron A tiny minority is making the huge stink. We're with you. We appreciate and support what you're doing. And we know you're not planning anything nefarious. Thank you for everything that you do! Really!

@Gargron Thank you for doing all that you do and for not selling out to some large corporation. The 501(c)(3) move seems entirely sensible.

@Gargron thank you for your work and time. free, decentralized social media is the way to go.

@Gargron maybe people are just confusing you with the @mozilla foundation / corporation. @WMitchellBaker got multiple million USD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker#Negative_salary-performance_correlation

@Gargron From my point of view, 501(c)(3) organizations tend to be part of the "nonprofit industrial complex" ( https://www.teenvogue.com/story/non-profit-industrial-complex-what-is ) much more than German nonprofits. But it seems anyway the path you want to go. Good luck!

@Gargron sell me the damn plushie already!

@Gargron You shouldn't complain. I'm feeding two people on literally half of that.

@Gargron

And you would have got away with it too if it wasn’t for those meddling Mastodonians!!

Now you have to find some other convoluted nefarious scheme to rake in those sweet American dollars….

ROFL