Quote from: novacadian on January 27, 2014, 12:01:08 AM

My bottom line would be that if no one wants to do the bounty then the price should be raised until it finally attracts the talent that it obviously required to be sitting around for so long.

- Nova

An excellent idea... and if the good Asian programmers get it first before it goes up.. bonus for them!

As a freelancer who accepted the BS sum of $2.50 for my first 1000 word article in the foolish hope it would get me more work (not long before coming to Devtome) and even less per hour for my first web design freelance job (about 6-7 years ago?) while working my business outside a regular job, I guess I would have been considered an Asian programmer back then and writer now, apart from being an Aussie...

I now use freelancers myself and have a deep appreciation for the flexibility their services lend my business but it also gives me an insight into work-payment disparity across the world....Your comment raises the question (for me) of how fair it is to judge everything against the USD and what "we" think work is worth.

For example, there is one freelance programmer I use from the Philippines, He was delighted when I paid him Aussie rates (in Pesos) for his first project with me. Where he lives, that one (3-4 day) job amounted to a couple months salary. Over the years I have probably paid him 2 years wages for the equivalent of 4 months IT wages here and he appreciates me as much as I appreciate him.

On the flipside of that I have a guy in Adelaide (Australia) I use who wouldn't even get out of bed for what the first guy charges. Both do great work, and because of my business structure both get paid equally (I pass external costs directly to the client so all labour charges at the same rate) but both would charge very differently if quoting for themselves. For me, (and my clients) the work is worth x so I pay x but I determine x not the seller.

(on a side note : Ask me one day about the Russian guy who used my server as his personal porn playground way back when I trusted people... In that case I got much, much more than I paid for!!)

The point is, before Devcoin - in a competitive online marketplace - the buyer has always been the determining factor in the value of work...what someone will pay for it, is what it is worth. That could vary across the world and when working in a global environment I think it's important to consider.

Devcoin is an opportunity to equalise the value of every contribution by determining real value to the wider community. Responding to lack of interest by dropping the price, is just buying into the same FIAT mentality crypto currency should be free of. (IMO)

Having said that, determining that value is not easy, but I am not sure the USD is the benchmark - maybe there needs to be some real consultation with the developer communities outside of Devtome?

If the focus is supporting Open Source/creative works then it needs to be remembered that Open Source is voluntary...in other words people are already doing it or willing to open their code/studio/typewriter without being paid and for some of us it such an absolute honour to be recognised financially or with some reward for our work (speaking personally) and so I would accept less or even nothing for my work if it is going to contribute to the community that does that for me/other people.

If we dont give in to the fear driven FIAT mentality then there is no reason why this situation would not continue to benefit developers and the community. Growth since inception (a year?) is pretty amazing in comparison to other community projects launched in a brand new arena with a brand new concept - and I suspect its precisely because for the designers/developers who started it, it wasn't about the money - but as soon as it becomes just about the money it is just another alt coin doing ok in the market...

The model is already in place but it is foreign to "us" because we live in a FIAT controlled environment. I dont know How we maintain the original model, but I believe it is important to the long term outcome for the Open Source/Creative community