Re: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds

Sadly (to me), this article highlights why I no longer can support the Perl Foundation.

"The Perl Foundation board has already moved $20,000 from its general fund to the P5CMF (as well as a matching $20,000 to the sister Perl 6 fund) in July of this year..."

In other words, fully 50% of a nice chunk of funds, that were _not_ earmarked for Perl6, but rather given/raised to support "Perl," was diverted away from maintaining the actual useable product.

This is of course not to mention the funds spent to promote "Perl6" at conferences, etc.

If there's a way to donate directly to dave_the_m or Tony Cook via PayPal or something similar, I hope it can be published here. I can't overstate how much I appreciate those wizards wrangling the guts of Perl, incomprehensible to me.

I see that the TPF blog post mentions directed funds, but when I enquired in writing some months ago about making sure that 100% of my donation would go to the Perl 5 maintenance grantees, I got a vague answer to include a note and " I’ll make sure it is accounted to the correct category", but no answer to whether any portion went to general operating expenses (naturally it must, as in any organization).

The way forward always starts with a minimal test.

Comment on Re: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds

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Re^2: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds by chromatic (Archbishop) on Nov 20, 2017 at 20:57 UTC
I share those concerns. In an ideal world, I'd like to see measurements of the efficiency of the funds invested in Perl, as well as whatever information TPF has learned from its investments. For example, what happened with that $200,000 grant for P6 back a few years ago? $100k of that was intended for development, and the other half was intended to be invested in activities to encourage future donations? How much money was invested in Parrot development and promotion before Rakudo developers unilaterally decided to deprecate it? How many end users are helped by each dollar put into conferences versus Perl core maintenance versus research and development? When is R&D expected to pay off? How much volunteer time is invested managing grants, and how many of those grants lead to successful results? I know it's a volunteer organization and managing all of these details isn't fun (especially if the results suggest money and time could have been allocated more effectively), but I'd like to know where donations of time and money go.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds by ikegami (Patriarch) on Nov 20, 2017 at 17:23 UTC
If there's a way to donate directly to dave_the_m or Tony Cook via PayPal or something similar Sounds like you want to donate to the Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund instead of The Perl Foundation.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds by hippo (Archbishop) on Nov 20, 2017 at 15:44 UTC
I see that the TPF blog post mentions directed funds ... I'm rather uneasy about that too. The approach of the EPO seems much better whereby you can donate directly into the appropriate fund (eg. CPAN Testers or the QA Hackathons, etc.). A dedicated, ring-fenced fund like these would probably be more attractive generally. Doubtless there are good reasons why TPF doesn't go down this route but it isn't helping their cause.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Nov 20, 2017 at 15:43 UTC
Though we disagree completely about Perl6 in general, I agree with you 100% on this point.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund running out of funds by Discipulus (Canon) on Nov 20, 2017 at 20:23 UTC
hello 1nickt, Little variation: though I have no opinion at all about Perl6 in general, I agree with you 100% on this point. L* There are no rules, there are no thumbs.. Reinvent the wheel, then learn The Wheel; may be one day you reinvent one of THE WHEELS.	[reply] [d/l]