I am getting paid by a fulltime job. I have some free open-source stuff I do in my spare time that is used by tens of thousands of people. Should I still go on Patreon?
You should. There's nothing wrong with asking for donations especially since it's helping fund an open source project that people use. If anything <i>not</i> asking for donations is worse since there's nothing really supporting the project but your interest in it. By asking for donations your making the project stronger.
Sure, why not?<p>I'm a patron of a number of people who have full-time jobs and do what I know them for on the side.<p>Another option is librepay too. Check the recent Patreon thread for alternatives and comments.<p>Why do you think you can't or shouldn't?
Definitely not, start dressing like a crazy person and use drip instead.<p><a href="https://d.rip/" rel="nofollow">https://d.rip/</a>
I would first check with my manager or my accountant, that I am not doing something that would violating my employment contract.<p>I.e. my manager is quite open about 20% of time arrangements, and we are working on several open-source projects at work, but I am not sure if taking money for working on something extra wouldn't violate something. It might be worth it to have it clearly spelled out in the contract.<p>On the other hand, a.f.a.i.k. in what do you do in your free time on your own hardware should be no concern to your employer, so accepting patreon donors should fall into that category as well?<p>Alongside patreon, I would attempt to introduce something like Varnish Moral Licence [1] as well. It looks like Mr. Kamp figured a nice way how to get a open-source sponsorship from big corporations (because from the procurement's perspective it still looks like a licence you get an invoice for even you don't promise them anything in return :-)<p>[1] <a href="http://phk.freebsd.dk/VML/vmlfaq.html#isn-t-this-more-a-sort-of-sponsorship-than-a-license" rel="nofollow">http://phk.freebsd.dk/VML/vmlfaq.html#isn-t-this-more-a-sort...</a>
What does your employment contract say about moonlighting in your own field of work? If it allows it, fine. If it forbids it, don't do it. If it doesn't explicitly say either way, consider at least informing your employer about this (even if you don't phrase it as asking for permission). It's better to have those kinds of discussions up front.
I would say make it clear that you're happy working full time. Sometimes patrons expect that money would go into allowing someone to quit their jobs to work on a project.
Maybe I'm missing something, but why even use Patreon, just ask for donations directly from people. As for the original question though, just because you have a job doesn't mean you shouldn't be rewarded for your open source work as well.
The only thing potentially <i>unethical</i> about running a Patreon is aggressively publicizing it, particularly in tools others use. (although I’ve done a call-to-action in GitHub READMEs and at the end of blog posts and there haven’t been any issues.)
yes. It depends more about the value you/your work brings to the world. If you are creating value , you should be able to monetize a part of it.
Mind you, you might realize that the marktet value of your end product is not in line with your own valuation of it.
BUt go ahead. More power to you