61 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# Ways to support open-source projects
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There are many ways to support your favorite open-source project. Even though code contributions are the most obvious method, not everyone - including me - can do so. I just want to share some ideas, on how someone can support the open-source space.
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#### Coding
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As mentioned before, the most obvious contribution to an open-source project might be to code yourself. This can be a small bug fix, a new feature, or even becoming a maintainer of the whole project, depending on your time and capabilities.
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#### Financial support & self-hosting
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Consider donating money to the project. A lot of open-source projects are maintained by people who spend their spare time to code. Even small contributions help to pay the bills for hosting, coffee, pizza, and so on.
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Check the project for the following options to donate money: [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/search?q=open-source), [Liberapay](https://liberapay.com/explore/), [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/discover?show=open%20source), ["buy me a coffee"](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/explore/opensource), PayPal (+ credit cards), direct wire transfer or cryptocurrencies.
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*Just for the protocol: Donations != Claims/ Commissions. Please do not donate money and demand or expect a feature you have requested. That is not how it works.*
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Not everyone is in the position to donate money, but I would consider it one of the easiest ways to support a project.
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Another method is to self-host a service. An example would be to host a Gitea instance, and keep it open for public use. This opens the door for new people to try it out and get used to it.
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#### Provide feedback, bug reports, & more
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Found a bug? Got an idea for a new feature or improvements? Found a security vulnerability? Reach out to the project team respectfully. Please be clear about what you mean and read the docs before you do.
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Use your individual skills to improve the project.
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#### Translations
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Providing a multilingual program or service can be challenging. From the technical standpoint of the localization, to the actual translation itself.
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There are various ways for the technical implementation. From managed services like [crowdin](https://crowdin.com/) or [Transifex](https://www.transifex.com/), to simple text files within the git repo. The how-to should be described in the documentation.
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Helping your favorite project to translate it to another language helps to make it more accessible for new people.
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#### Provide help to the community
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Being an active member of the community is an important part. Helping new users to solve problems or answer questions is a great way to build a healthy community. A significant side effect is that team member have more time to tackle coding related problems instead of answering questions. Some projects have forums, some use their bug trackers, some mailing-lists, some their social media accounts.
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#### Create and share content
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It doesn't matter what format you choose, but creating content about your favorite project is a great way to grow the community. Share your favorite functions, your use cases, exciting stories, or tutorials and guides. As mentioned, the format plays a secondary role: videos, blog posts, infographics, social media posts, and so on.
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#### Send some appreciation
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As mentioned before, many open-source projects are maintained by people that spend their free time to work on it. Sending them a simple 'Thank you' and 1-2 sentences, what the project is used for, can bring some joy and motivation.
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#### Spread the word
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Talk about it. Tell people why it is your favorite project, recommend it respectfully to others, and spread the word. I use Vim by the way. This is fairly similiar to a previous point and is self-explanatory anyway.
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## and ...
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I bet there are many more ways to support your favorite projects. Feel free to let me know.
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---
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