I had such an interesting call today with someone from @ethereumfoundation about funding the #opensource ecosystem.

[jimsalter@fosstodon.org]

@jannem @Gina @ethereumfoundation "blockchain" implies grifting. "Ethereum" essentially screams it from the rooftops.

Blockchain is one of those sorts of technologies that does in fact have some very interesting uses, but it's been so widely used for fraud that legitimate uses generally avoid admitting to it by name.

Look at people bending over backward to claim that git isn't blockchain, for example: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46192377/why-is-git-not-considered-a-block-chain

[ramonfincken@mastodon.social]

@Gina @ethereumfoundation i stopped reading when I saw the word blockchain

[jimsalter@fosstodon.org]

@pitrh omg, what a fucking work of art. It's like the original xkcd had a baby with the old org chart meme:

[jimsalter@fosstodon.org]

@becomethewaifu @jannem @Gina I'm familiar with that argument--that "Blockchain" doesn't count unless it's "distributed"--and counter that this is an example of *exactly* the kind of NO WAIT THIS ISN'T BLOCKCHAIN! NOT REALLY! PLEASE DON'T WALK AWAY! that I'm talking about.

[slink@fosstodon.org]

@Gina @ethereumfoundation i cant find the reference any more, but this sounds like something which i heard of a couple of years back. that was an overdesigned concept where people would pour money in one end and it would magically distribute it "fairly" by relevance.

such a system will never work, and it never needs a blockchain.

the blockchain people still seem desperate to find a applications and still seem to think that their magic would save the world. won't work.

[slink@fosstodon.org]

@Gina @ethereumfoundation what does work is this: pay the devs who develop the software you rely on.

we do not have a problem of distributing funds more fairly, we habe a problem of funds.

[slink@fosstodon.org]

@Gina @ethereumfoundation the sexy top project should fund its dependencies

[cosmichorror@fosstodon.org]

@bryanredeagle @Gina yup, and there are existing projects that do it sans blockchain like https://thanks.dev

[efraim@tooot.im]

@jimsalter
How have I never seen this before‽
@pitrh

[renatoram@fosstodon.org]

@Gina @projectmoon there is currently no problem that can be solved with a blockchain that can't be solved better and cheaper WITHOUT a blockchain (well, except facilitating money laundering and crime).

Of course the people behind Ethereum won't tell you that, but as we say in Italy that's like asking the innkeeper if their wine is any good.

Also, Ethereum is *extremely* sketchy (international crime level sketchy)

[jimsalter@fosstodon.org]

@efraim @pitrh maybe you're not old enough? Notice that the chart says "Facebook" not "Meta." It's about 15 years old now.

[trevorflowers@hachyderm.io]

@Gina @ethereumfoundation Every project that chooses blockchain as a solution has terrible taste or is a scam.
Every.
Single.
One.
So, hard pass.

[darkasvim@fosstodon.org]

@Gina
@ethereumfoundation

I'm all for the developers at the bottom of the stack getting paid, but when you start talking "blockchain", like most people I'm already skeptical and wondering what flavor of crypto scam this is.

[gina@fosstodon.org]

@CosmicHorror @bryanredeagle oh I didn't know this platform yet, thanks for sharing.

[el_on_libera@fosstodon.org]

@projectmoon @Gina @ethereumfoundation I'm reminded of this article I saw only yesterday: https://www.seangoedecke.com/gas-and-ralph/

[sybrand@social.lol]

@Gina @ethereumfoundation Ik denk meteen aan Rian van Rijbroek.

[badrihippo@fosstodon.org]

@Gina like many commenters I'm a bit sceptical of the crypto/blockchain part, but I like the idea in general! For funding to reach down to the underlying libraries too

This might even invert the logic of wanting to make an end-user project to get more funds/contributions: now libraries will get more support (that they deserve) when they serve as the support for multiple projects!

@ethereumfoundation

[devanshmehta@fosstodon.org]

@projectmoon @Gina @ethereumfoundation

Im not the one that spoke to OP, but broadly blockchains help in price discovery which can be applied to getting weights across a large dependency graph

for example check out deep.seer.pm where we're trying to distribute $350k across 98 repos and their 3,677 dependencies

there's a genuine need for low overhead in weights to SBOM, unless you prefer government consultants like deloitte deciding how valuable dependencies are?

[devanshmehta@fosstodon.org]

@slink @Gina @ethereumfoundation

Not the EF person OP is referring to, but i think you're alluding to the idea of credibly neutral funding mechanisms! my specific area of work actually. they are basically recommendation algorithms deciding on the value of different contributions

here's the reference you may have seen. still an open question how they can be fair, but it solves a genuine issue of low overhead becoz otherwise consultants like deloitte decide allocation

Credible Neutrality As A Guiding Principle

When building mechanisms that decide high-stakes outcomes, it’s important for those mechanisms to be credibly neutral.

(balajis.com)

[devanshmehta@fosstodon.org]

@BenDoubleU another issue is also generating accurate SBOMs, as ive found with my work on deep funding (assigning weights to an open source dependency graph)

the 2 key issues were;

1. too many irrelevant dependencies that maintainers dont see valuable

2. some of the key dependencies not being in the SBOM

we actually had to go through 3 iterations before coming up with a proper dependency graph

(not the EF employee OP refers to, but i do work there)