On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 07:26:35AM -0400 or thereabouts, Seemant Kulleen wrote:
> > My fear is that the moment we start to help a dev in need, there will be devs 
> > in need all over.  What, then, becomes the criteria for selecting Dev A but 
> > rejecting Dev B?  If that becomes sketchy then the complaint could be made 
> > (to the IRS) that the Gentoo Foundation is no longer operating in the public 
> > interest.
> 
> I was not referring to power bills and such.  I was actually thinking of
> burnt harddrives, cpus, memory sticks etc.  Such things can be purchased
> and sent (and thus moneys tracked).  In other words, my statement was
> about things rather than cash.  Having said that, it is entirely
> possible that it would be a slippery slope with a lot of devs suddenly
> in need, but I tend to think people are basically good and that that
> won't happen.

In general, I don't support the notion of buying things for individuals,
for many of the reasons Corey already articulated, but also because I don't
think that such targeted purchases are really the best way to disburse our
funds.

I want to see the Foundation sending developers to conferences where they
can answer user questions, get a better feel for what our community really
wants, etc.  Broad-reaching type stuff.  I agree that providing a stick of
RAM to a developer has tangible benefit to Gentoo, but I'd rather see that
handled via other means.  (private donations, etc.)

That's my $.02, at least.

--kurt