Pligg Fundraiser

[Yankidank]

Even though Pligg is an open source project free for anyone to download or contribute to, we have found there is plenty of reasons to keep some capitol available to tap into every once in a while. One of our first thoughts would be hire professional designers and coders to take on some of the sub-projects of Pligg. Who knows, some of you might even be the one’s we’re paying for some of these projects. It would be nice to reward those who contribute the best mods and templates with a bit of green if only to make them feel like their appreciated. Not to mention the inevitable court case against Digg (don’t take that joke seriously) Pligg has only one PHP developer at the moment, AshDigg. Pligg is a side project for him (not his main job) and I think we can all agree that he has done wonderful work so far. Having some of the “burden” released from his shoulders can help him focus more on the future of pligg & feature implementation.


My goal for this fundraiser is to make $1,000 in 30 days. That would be enough to hire full-time PHP coder for a week (about $600) and have enough left over for other fun stuff like template designs, mods, user interface/accessibility and graphic design.


Here’s a general outline of what we will use money on to speed up the development proces and a look at what’s ahead for Pligg users:

1. New admin panel. A nice new interface to customize pligg for your specific options. No longer will you have to open up config.php in a text editor just to make some simple changes to your site!
2. New template(s). Our new template’s look will finally match our “web 2.0″ feel.
3. Bug Fixes. We want to finish squashing the final bugs that are driving you all crazy… And FINALLY release a “stable” release. Say goodbye to beta.
4. Collaborative filtering engine. Imagine being able to suggest articles based on how others have voted similar to how Amazon.com suggests items that you might like based on how others have shopped. This idea will take Pligg to the next level.
5. New article features. Graphs to display a stories voting habits, a users activity and popularity. We also would like to focus on article readability, for example: the ability to “read more”.
6. Improved user interface. We want to deliver a polished interface that will leave your users wanting more. Help us help you!
7. Social networking and groups. Why have only a friends list when you can create groups? Form groups based on similar interests (film, music artist, anime, etc.) and share articles with each other.

If you would like to participate in the Pligg fundraising please private message me via the forum with your email address and I’ll send you an invite to the pligg chipin.com fundraiser account where you can donate via paypal or credit card. If you're uncomfortable with using chipin.com you can send us a paypal payment directly to pligger@gmail.com Any donation is appreciated and I assure you that it all goes toward a worthy cause.

[hevnsnt]

Guys,

Anyone who uses pligg should take this time to help the developers out! Time & coding aren't free -- if you like pligg please give to keep it alive! Give whatever you can, it doesnt have to be much

I am in for $25

Also, lets get pligg some attention! Please DIGG this story

[fwebz]

me to

I am in for $25

[3dKiller]

I already gave, and I agree others should give too, but maybe a better way to get some cash would be to create a subscription service, a sort of “premium membership” where people who give get help with installation, a better template, and faster help with other issues.

Price it at $10 per/month. I think anyone serious about using Pligg successfully would be willing to pay that amount in exchange for a “potentially” excellent Pligg.

~3d

[webfanatic]

Count me in for another contribution ... I gave already didn't I?

[Yankidank]

Yes, I believe you have webfanatic... thanks again. For those who are suggesting a subscription method for Pligg I'm pretty dead set against such a method because it would really get rid of the whole open source roots that Meneame started. I think it would also clash with the Affero GPL, but I'm not sure about that. At one point when I was trying to come up with some good ideas for raising money for Pligg I thought about offering template downloads for a small price. This way not everyone has to pay for Pligg.

It's a pain in the neck to troubleshoot all of the issues that come up in the forum. The bugfixes really slow down development, so it would be nice to charge a subscription for support. At the same time we learn a lot through bugfixes and they help improve the code in the end. Getting swamped by bug reports and repeat-threads is a big problem for Pligg and we need some method of combating the problem without using all of our spare time and resources. This is why I thought that fundraising would be a good idea, so that users could show their gratitude rather than the usual bug complaints. Not only would the fundraiser help increase morale, but it would also speed up development and help solve problems faster.

A subscription-based initiative may become appropriate down the road if development through contribution slows down much more, or if the forums become littered with more repeat threads that have already been answered. I personally would rather just depend on the donations from users, but I don't think that it will be near enough to actually help us increase our development speed. Even if users aren't able or willing to donate money, we are always accepting additional help with development so please consider donating your time if you have the proper skills. If you have any other thoughts or ideas for helping us increase the speed of development please let us know, we are open to ideas.

[savant]

yankidank : i'm happy to help out with the development after july(my exams)

a knowledge base: once a problem from the user is fixed it is added to the knoledge base so users can check it out there first

Documentation: i looked at the code last night and wrote a bit of documentation for later on(should have been revising). like where to find a class and what function does what. it would help developers. doesn't have to be complete know just some of the functions that are in use now. This might get more developers to look into this

vote function:
changemnmvalues function
target1 = document.getElementById ('mnms-' + id);
target2 = document.getElementById ('mnmlink-' + id);

instead of adding mnms couldn't we just do id. and leave that work to the template designers ..so they don't need to keep adding mnms- in their css. its debatable.

for some web 2.0
http://wiki.script.aculo.us/scriptac....InPlaceEditor
For the commenting system.even when editing stories.

http://moofx.mad4milk.net/
use the height effect for comments. so all the comments are closed, and user clicks on the header, it slidesdown and walla comment.

i guess this could be the work for template designers not php code.
and voting method using simple get/post no ajax. what if there is not js, ajax would stop. those people browsing with their command line interface

[Coop1979]

I'm upping the ante - $50 sent.

[tyrant]

What how about if we all put donation butotns on our sites that link directly to pligg's account? I think with all the users of sites using pligg ould donate it would be more alot more funds than if we just do it, although I am thinking to donate $25 to $50 on my own anyhow...

Hum, my other idea is how about doing like codeweavers do, put a bidding scheme together and have people bid on the features they want to have implemented most, lord knows I would be adding to several bids that are important to me

[tyrant]

I am willing to give free hosting of any pligg site owners for 1 year if they donate $50 or more to the developers. That is free as in no ads or anyithng in return just free hosting with a control panel on a shared hosting server.

I think that ends up being cheaper then having to rent the space anyhow for most people. So what gives people lets see some donations, I just ask that 1 of the main developers keep me informed who donated the $50 or more and put me in touch with them.