Hi Stellar Community!
I'm here to announce a fascinating project we've been working on during the last 5 months. Well, at least I think that it's really fascinating, hope you'll like it as well ?
So, here it is – BountyExpress, a nonprofit community-driven platform designed to reward prominent open-source software contributions and advanced technical expertise.
I'd like to describe our philosophy and design approach. There will be no pompous marketing descriptions, it's a service made by developers and for developers. Here is a short Q&A and a few screenshots that will help you to understand how everything works.
Why would anyone post a bounty?
Open-source organizations strive to engage project contributors and support their technical community. Enterprise business is ready to pay for requested features in open-source products. And without any doubts, a lot of developers worldwide want to say "thank you" for the brilliant comprehensive answers on StackOverflow that saved them hours (or maybe even days) of work.
Who funds a bounty?
Everybody can start a bounty campaign. The campaign can be financed by a single person, or there may be more backers. Challenging tasks can be additionally funded by anyone desiring to participate.
It's really easy, simply copy-paste the link to a GitHub issue or a StackExchange question and fund the bounty. Once it is resolved, the winner will be able to collect the reward.
In order to let everyone know about the bounty you created, you can share a status badge on the corresponding page. It's a plain markdown code, so it can be effortlessly inserted into a question/issue description or comment.
How do you determine that someone is eligible for a reward?
We use StackExchange open API to retrieve the accepted answer and allow a user to collect the bonus. Identity confirmation is fully automatic based on the StackExchange OAuth Login. So if you answered the question, and your answer was accepted, you merely need to press the "Claim Reward" button and confirm login in the StackExchange pop-up window. It's that simple. No need to register or provide your personal information, everything is automatic.
GitHub bounties work in the same way. BountyExpress fetches all issue-related commits and merged pull-requests via public API, and then analyze this data in order to distinguish a contributor eligible for a prize.
What if there is more than one contributor? What if I disagree with an accepted answer?
Simply live a note on the bounty page. The jury of three independent anonymous arbitrators will review your request and make a decision either to pay, refund or split the reward.
For now, we just invite volunteer technical experts with relevant experience to mediate possible disputes. However, we have plans to establish a community around BountyEpxress and offer some bonuses (from donations or the bounty reward itself) for the arbitration.
Why do you use Stellar network? PayPal is far more common.
In c<>de we trust ?
Our primary goal is to build a fully independent and trustless system with transparent logic based on smart contracts. Why would you trust us or anybody else? What if we are dishonest guys? Better check it on the blockchain. BountyExpress doesn't store your funds, and we don't need to disclose your identity or report to tax offices.
And last but not least, we believe that fiat transfer fees are too high. Why should you pay 3-5% per transaction when you can get your money transferred in a few seconds with a fraction of a cent flat fee?
During the public beta period, all rewards will be denominated in XLM. But we are working hard to offer you more familiar USD/EUR rewards with convenient funding and withdrawal options.
Do you charge any service fees?
BountyExpress is a non-commercial organization, we do not charge any fees to publish or claim a bounty. Posting a bounty is completely free of charge. If you claim a bounty, you will receive the full amount displayed on the bounty description page.
Payment providers may charge some additional fees for cashing out your reward. In case if you are going to send your reward to another account/wallet/exchange, Stellar transaction fees will be charged.
The reward funds are stored on the blockchain, and our team has no access to the mediator accounts.
Want to try it yourself? Visit https://bounty.express/ and browse active bounties or create a new one.
In case of any questions do not hesitate to contact anyone from the project team here. The project is maintained by @Dilvish, @piezo-resist, and @OrbitLens.
