Gitcoin is, and always has been, an idea borne of the community. The community in the Boulder Colorado USA Tech Scene has a motto called “Give First”, which basically means that if you give first, then success will follow — but primarily that you should give without the expectation of return. We think that this mantra is a unique recipe for success in web3 and in Gitcoin’s mission, to “Push Open Source Forward”.
Gitcoin is, and always has been, an idea borne of the community. The community in the Boulder Colorado USA Tech Scene has a motto called “Give First”, which basically means that if you give first, then success will follow — but primarily that you should give without the expectation of return.
We think that this mantra is a unique recipe for success in web3 and in Gitcoin’s mission, to “Push Open Source Forward”.
The above community-centric mission in mind, I was excited to see that there are others that are seems we are working on similar problem. To name a few; CommitETH, BountySource, ETHLance, FundRequest, GitToken, Bounty0x, and Bounties.Network. It’s great to see validation that funding Open Source is an important infrastructure problem in web3. And it’s an opportunity to join forces in creating a new, distributed, workforce that _pushes open source forward_.
I was saddened to see that a member of one of the above projects attacked Gitcoin by signing up for the Gitcoin Slack and trying to poach our users. Even worse, the information s/he sent was wholly incorrect.
The message that was sent out contained some outright untruths. Let me correct them here:
In a way, it’s humbling to know that someone at a project that could plausibly be described as a competitor is worried about you. Especially one that’s still pre-launch but with a much larger team. On the other hand, I am of the belief that the best product with the best user experience is going to create a lot of winners, and that action like the above is not only petty, but contrary to the principles of community in Open Source Software.
I will not engage in the practice of trying to poach any of the above project’s momentum (whether users, code, or otherwise), and I invite others in the space to join me in disavowing closed door DM campaigns, or any other form of FUD or mud slinging amongst projects.
We are better together when we are focused on our mission, to “Push Open Source Forward”. Give First, and a rising tide in Open Source will lift all boats.
UPDATE: The developer who engaged in the FUD campaign has since apologized, as has the CEO of FundRequest. I accept their apologies, but am leaving this post up for posterity in order to dispel the untruths created during the course of the FUD campaign.