Recovering costs to run the IOCCC

[lcn2]

IOCCC costs

There is a run rate for IOCCC web servers, GitHub Pro, and hiring folk. There are some $-ive costs for running the IOCCC.

For all the years, the IOCCC judges have paid for the infrastructure (servers, server hosting, domain registration, laptops, development tools, service accounts, etc.) out of our own pockets. From time to time we hire a contractor to help for things like web site design. The IOCCC has grown to the extent that it would be nice to generate a little revenue to recover some of those costs.

We are NOT looking for turning the IOCCC into a business. We simply want to get something to cover the on-going costs associated with the IOCCC.

Nearly all of the IOCCC costs paid for by one IOCCC judge. Now that IOCCC judge is retired and on fixed income. There is an effort to keep costs down, but nevertheless there are costs.

Option Patreon

We could recover costs via something like Patreon. That has its own issues including the need to keep a Patreon supporter happy and informed. We would need to describe what people get with Patron tiers, keep those subscribing up to date and happy, as well as to ask for people to become a Patreon. Care for a Patreon group is extra overhead that we might NOT want to take on.

Option Google ads

We could recover costs via something like Google ads. Adding google ads would be easy to do programmatically. And perhaps there is a way for add them without making them too intrusive. We know some people do not like ads and use ad blockers. That would be OK if some people did that .. we won't try to force Google ad on people who block them.

Option something else

Or we could do something else.

Option do nothing

... well that is always an option :-) but that does not solve the problem :-(

What do you think?

Comments, questions and concerns are welcome.

[xexyl]

I think ads is a problem in general and to encourage google ads is even bigger as they have been known to spread malvertisements. Also they allow websites to look legitimate but they aren't. I saw a website in google ads that looked authentic (if not careful) for GIMP but it was malicious. They allow this is my understanding.

So I would strongly recommend against ads. And yeah people use ad blockers and some of us use DNS blacklisting too (that implies I do that). But still they are both intrusive and dangerous esp with google (and probably others too).

I'm not sure how Patreon works but it seems wholly better than a service that wilfully allows people to manipulate how they look to spread malware. Even if we wouldn't do that (of course) it's not good to encourage them or use such a service I think.

I have some screenshots of the above but of course it's likely easy to find cases of their ads spreading malware. I wouldn't trust google at all for this whatever the costs might be unless it's absolutely impossible not to.

A question though that might help. What ARE the costs? Depending on the costs maybe some of us can donate a bit at times at least if not more regularly?

[SirWumpus]

Option Google ads

Nuke with extreme prejudice.

Option Patreon

I support a content creator, The Buur Pit, that make weekly videos for Elite Dangerous. The low tier is 5$/month and they have something like 150 supporters just now. As what to offer:

• Stats on contest entries that have remained a mystery for years (other than paper shredded).
• More judge bio/background.
• Where are people seeing obfuscation in real life (outside of politics).
• Video (blooper reel) of judging in progress plus commentary.
• Are there stories / places where winners appear for literature or teaching or launching pad for real world projects? (eg. Don Libes' book Obfuscated C and Other Mysteries).
• Interviews with past winners.
• If Monty Python were a programmer... (comic strip or humour article like BOFH.
• Monty Python vs Mr Bean code fest? (not sure what i had in mind with this pseudo title).

Monthly updates might be difficult, maybe Quarterly?

Option something else

• For a long time when I first offered my Sendmail milters for free, I encouraged people to say "thanks" by purchasing things from an Amazon Wishlist. While not a direct form of payment, it does reward the Judges so they can continue doing what they enjoy.
• Annual donation drives? Similar to NetBSD.org or Wikipedia donation drives.
• Sponsorship from other .orgs? Usenix, IEEE/ACM, Yuk Yuks, maybe a university math/computing dept., Indian restaurants.
• Write and sell a book about the IOCCC. Its been running a long time. There must be a wealth of history to tell from inception (which you already overview on the web site), to judging, IOCCC presentations, impact on life and views about tech. (and the World beyond Hello), etc.

[SirWumpus]

Add to my suggestions list of ways to thank the judges:

• Sometimes people do not want to give money for assorted reasons, like how a envelope of money for a birthday or Xmas is so impersonal. So on top of Amazon wish list, maybe a list of the Judges' preferred restaurants (offering gift cards (I know)) for which they can be "sent" for a meal out. Or maybe intl. pizza / curry / chinese / etc. food delivery :-D Something more targetted than an arbitrary donation.

[xexyl]

Add to my suggestions list of ways to thank the judges:

• Sometimes people do not want to give money for assorted reasons, like how a envelope of money for a birthday or Xmas is so impersonal. So on top of Amazon wish list, maybe a list of the Judges' preferred restaurants (offering gift cards (I know)) for which they can be "sent" for a meal out. Or maybe intl. pizza / curry / chinese / etc. food delivery :-D Something more targetted than an arbitrary donation.

European chocolate!

[xexyl]

Option Google ads

Nuke with extreme prejudice.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who agrees with this!

Option Patreon

I support a content creator, The Buur Pit, that make weekly videos for Elite Dangerous. The low tier is 5$/month and they have something like 150 supporters just now. As what to offer:

• Stats on contest entries that have remained a mystery for years (other than paper shredded).
• More judge bio/background.
• Where are people seeing obfuscation in real life (outside of politics).
• Video (blooper reel) of judging in progress plus commentary.
• Are there stories / places where winners appear for literature or teaching or launching pad for real world projects? (eg. Don Libes' book Obfuscated C and Other Mysteries).
• Interviews with past winners.
• If Monty Python were a programmer... (comic strip or humour article like BOFH.
• Monty Python vs Mr Bean code fest? (not sure what i had in mind with this pseudo title).

Monthly updates might be difficult, maybe Quarterly?

Some are these are fun though it might be nice for people who can't afford a monthly or quarterly payment too. But even so it could be an incentive to people for sure. Nice idea.

Option something else

• For a long time when I first offered my Sendmail milters for free, I encouraged people to say "thanks" by purchasing things from an Amazon Wishlist. While not a direct form of payment, it does reward the Judges so they can continue doing what they enjoy.

That's a great idea. I've actually pondered getting some DVDs for Landon - a brilliant sitcom (The IT Crowd). But I've not mentioned it for a variety of reasons. But might as well now.

• Write and sell a book about the IOCCC. It's been running a long time. There must be a wealth of history to tell from inception (which you already overview on the web site), to judging, IOCCC presentations, impact on life and views about tech. (and the World beyond Hello), etc.

I really like this. I once told Landon he should do something like that with his life story too. I'd definitely buy it and I'd definitely buy a book by the IOCCC judges about the IOCCC - or probably anything else for that matter. *hint*, *hint*

[SirWumpus]

That's a great idea. I've actually pondered getting some DVDs for Landon - a brilliant sitcom (The IT Crowd). But I've not mentioned it for a variety of reasons. But might as well now.

Maybe all 4 seasons of Halt And Catch Fire on DVD/BluRay? (Hmm. Landon strikes me a Laser Disc guy ;-) )

[xexyl]

That's a great idea. I've actually pondered getting some DVDs for Landon - a brilliant sitcom (The IT Crowd). But I've not mentioned it for a variety of reasons. But might as well now.

Maybe all 4 seasons of Halt And Catch Fire on DVD/BluRay? (Hmm. Landon strikes me a Laser Disc guy ;-) )

Afraid I don't know the show - I just know the phrase and the CPU instruction (though I couldn't name the CPU or CPUs that has/have it). I don't know if The IT Crowd is available in that format though. Is Halt and Catch Fire a good show? Well I'm sure it is in your view as otherwise you probably wouldn't be suggesting it :-) .. well the reason I mentioned IT Crowd is it's brilliant and I referred to it once and he didn't know what it was. Also I discovered a wonderful Easter egg on the first series (or if you prefer season) DVD esp for the first episode.

[SirWumpus]

Halt And Catch Fire is a historical fiction (much like a Guy Gavriel Kay's books) that roughly parallels the growth of the micro computer industry through to the Web. I found it to a very good series, but then I grew up in that era of tech. and enjoy that sort of thing.

[xexyl]

Halt And Catch Fire is a historical fiction (much like a Guy Gavriel Kay's books) that roughly parallels the growth of the micro computer industry through to the Web. I found it to a very good series, but then I grew up in that era of tech. and enjoy that sort of thing.

As far as being set in the 80s (as I think I saw)...

IT.Crowd.-.it.is.set.in.the.80s.mp4

Make sure to have sound on of course. I was going to do a few screenshots with subtitles but it'd be a tall image, maybe too tall. It's from one of my favourite episodes - The Work Outing.

Not that I have a thing against the 80s. It's when I first got a computer and my favourite band was formed in the 80s too. It just reminded me of this scene since I had brought up the show.

[xexyl]

One can get a lot of good laughs from looking at hair and clothing styles from movies and music videos from early 1980's.

Do you have any examples?

There are numerous films that I enjoy from the 80s but I have never paid attention to style. Not in films and not otherwise. Unless it's REALLY FAR out there I guess. But that's just a fleeting thing.

I do love Die Hard (though the first is not my favourite) and Lethal Weapon (though not my favourite of them - though the jump scene and the sniper scene are amongst the best in the series for me).

My favourite film is more recent. Iirc 2017. The Hitman's Bodyguard with Samuel L Jackson and Ryan Reynolds. I quite enjoy the sequel as well.

Anything with Jackson is great. My favourite Die Hard film is the third and I really find his character funny (it's hard to say whether Bruce Willis's character is funnier but the dynamic between the two is even better kind of like with Jackson and Reynolds and their characters).

But that's all besides the point I suppose. If you have an example though I am certainly curious.

[SirWumpus]

Its been a while. I suppose Pretty In Pink, Can't Buy Me Love, Electric Dreams, Footloose (1984). Maybe some others that come before 1985.

[xexyl]

Ah. Well I don't know those films (to be fair I don't know a lot of films that most people do as I tend to prefer reading) so maybe that's also part of it. Thanks.

[SirWumpus]

The blown back hair, hair spray galore, pastels, jacket shoulder pads (men & women).

[xexyl]

The closest I come to knowing any of that is Hairspray but only the play. And only because my mum has seen it. But that's not the same thing.

Thanks. I probably will never see them but maybe if I come across them I'll consider it.

[lcn2]

Your feedback @SirWumpus and @xexyl , along with other feedback has been noted. As do not plan to run Google ads for the moment.

[xexyl]

Your feedback @SirWumpus and @xexyl , along with other feedback has been noted. As do not plan to run Google ads at this point.

Thank you! That's great news.