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Tried out Sync for Lemmy today... I'm back (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by elboyoloco@lemmy.world to c/voyagerapp@lemmy.world

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I just don't want the data collection and subscriptions.

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[-] AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Haven't tried it but I just decided to put a recurring donation for aeharding on Github, Sync for Lemmy's tracking-infused ad model and the pricing for the ad-free versions just convinced me that we need to support open-source devs even more.

I find it sad that lots of people seem to be excited to pay $20 for a closed-source app but very few supported the devs that have been developing the apps that carried us on their backs until now for free.

Voyager has only 22 sponsors right now and hasn't even reached his $250/month goal on Github, while Sync for Lemmy is already asking for $100 for a OTP for the Ultra version.

EDIT: aeharding also just added a Liberapay in the sidebar!

[-] aeharding@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

Hey, thanks for sponsoring! 💙

[-] PurpleReign@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People have a certain familiarity with Sync. I would pay $20 if "Relay for Reddit" were ported over. The other apps just lack a ton of polish unfortunately. Liftoff is the closest to being what I want (besides Sync).

Even still, I don't understand the backlash against the Sync dev charging for his work. If he's successful, others may see a viable path forward and follow him. We should WANT a variety of quality Lemmy clients out there for users. A good experience is how you gain/retain users. I'm also all for open source options for users. Users should have a choice.

[-] NightOwl@lemmy.one 18 points 1 year ago

It's not charging people have issue with, but the initial subscription model approach to ads it took.

It might have worked for Reddit with its api calls they were charging for and the space of reddit generally being full on monetization of its users, but for something related to the fediverse it was off putting. And I think people here are more adverse to ads even being present in an app than paying.

Approach to subscription requests I've found best has been Christians approach with Apollo of having no ads but less features on the free version like limits to filters, no multiple account logins, and no submissions.

[-] Madbrad200@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Submissions is a shit thing to paywall imo

[-] NightOwl@lemmy.one 7 points 1 year ago

Maybe, but I do greatly prefer limited features to push users towards the paid option over the ad model.

[-] J12@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Can you post a link for the donation for Voyager

[-] adj16@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

https://github.com/sponsors/aeharding/

[-] J12@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Do you think you could add a donate button in the app like Apollo used to? So I can give using my Apple account.

[-] adj16@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I’m not the dev but my general feeling is that he doesn’t want to do anything like this. He seems to kind of dodge questions about payment or supporting him more. Which is a shame, cause I’d love to see more people contribute

[-] AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

you have a "sponsors" button in the sidebar of this community 😁

[-] Owljfien@aussie.zone 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

TIL I can give people money on github, also didn't realise I already have github account so that made it easy

[-] Deemo@bookwormstory.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Voyager has only 22 sponsors right now and hasn’t even reached his $250/month goal on Github, while Sync for Lemmy is already asking for $100 for a OTP for the Ultra version.

I think this boils down to two reasons:

Sync has more features than other lemmy apps out of the gate (since its a continuation of sync for lemmy). No waiting for features it just works, etc.
The definition of a sponosor and the definition of a subscription have potential different implications. From my point of view sponsoring encourages development and acts as a way of saying thank you for your hard work. However it is important to note sponosoring doesn't necessarily guarantee that you are entitled/owed specific features or support in a timely manor. By contrast when you pay for sync's subscription the role shifts from a simple donation to a buisness relationship (in a sense). You pay $16 a year and now the dev (lj) is on the hook to make sure features listed in the subscription work for that year, responsible for any support queries, and as its his primary job incentivized to continue development (though you could say this last point is sort of equivalent to sponsoring).

I hope this post didn't come of as a bit to dark, my view points especially on the community/developer relationship in a donation/sponsor context versus subscription context could be way off.

Curious on your thoughts (love the work on voyager 😄 )

Edit Just wanted to link photoprism (a opensource ai powered photos app) subscription policy (I think it does put a interesting case on subscriptions versus donations).

https://www.photoprism.app/membership/faq

Pricing (not sponsoring them or anything just as a point of reference):

https://www.photoprism.app/editions