[ Cc += debian-sponsors-discuss ] On Mon, May 06, 2013 at 12:14:36AM +0300, Vladislav Zorov wrote: > >> If it's possible to accept PayPal, an even better solution would be to just > >> use PayPal's donate button, thus most users will only need one click and > >> their PayPal password, avoiding the point where most users abort their > >> payments (the credit card details entry form). I understand if there's an > >> ideological reason to not accept PayPal, but neither Debian nor SPI said > >> anything about it. > > > > That's a good question for debian-project. > I bet they have a good reason, let's wait and see :) I don't think there's any particularly good reason not to accept donations via PayPal. There are various good reasons not to use PayPal in general, but from a strictly Free Software-specific point of view (which IMHO is the only one value horizon Debian should have) they aren't worse than reasons not to use any other bank out there. As a data point, many other Free Software projects (e.g.: Tor, GIMP, KDE, the FSF, OSI, SFLC, Software Freedom Conservancy, etc) accept PayPal donations without much of a hassle. They all seem to value more the simplicity for donors than other concerns; and I don't think that any of those project values Free Software any less than we do at Debian. In terms of fees, PayPal fees would actually be better than the fees that Debian pays to at least some of other Trusted Organizations that currently accept donations on behalf of Debian (e.g. SPI). As such they would be more respectful of donors' money, because a larger share of the donation will actually reach Debian. Last point: we wouldn't need to rely on any Trusted Organizations to take care of PayPal money, we would "just" need to coordinate with the Debian auditors for proper accounting --- I haven't spoken with them, so that *might* be a problem, but I don't think it would be. Just thinking out aloud, -- Stefano Zacchiroli . . . . . . . zack@upsilon.cc . . . . o . . . o . o Maître de conférences . . . . . http://upsilon.cc/zack . . . o . . . o o Former Debian Project Leader . . @zack on identi.ca . . o o o . . . o . « the first rule of tautology club is the first rule of tautology club »
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