Stack Gives Back to Open Source 2022
Stack Gives Back to Open Source 2022

I've a lot of thoughts about this – and admittedly while I'd asked out of curiosity I was disappointed to realise it was another cutback in a period where well, the company was paring things to the bone. And well – while it's 'about the money' it's also not about the money. And while 'it's the thought that counts' – and well, the donations do help the developers and organisations, it's also about the culture of the organisation behinds the sites.
I joked on chat that Stack Exchange's heart had shrunk 2 sizes, and while it was a joke at the time, there's a lot of downsizing, and penny pinching at the tech industry right now. Giving back to open source projects that helped at any level is a right thing to do.
To me – more importantly than the dollar value of the donations, that it's seen as important and kept being done with thoughtfulness is critical. This is a right thing, not done for a while, and done again.
There's some critiques over the exact amount but – it's worth remembering that a lot of work probably happened behind the scenes to make this happen. Is it perfect? I have a long list of things that could be better. Is it a thing again as opposed to not a thing? Yeah. And it's a good thing. And well – it's better than 'exposure'. It's also something that SE chose to do again.
These are also in addition to the donations made on behalf of mods to more 'generic' charities. These donations are very much direct to projects that SE uses.
I do hope that SE keeps doing this – and well, if things go well, they can always look at their donation amounts in future iterations.
    