I mentioned previously that I mentioned this idea briefly to theymos, and here is what he said about it. I am sharing his entire quote but I would like to emphasize the last thing he said:
Problem will start when there will be conflict of interests among forum users when some will not get the opportunity, they will think it was unjustified for them.
There is no perfect system and you can't make everyone happy. You can try your best to stay neutral and professional though. Ultimately, each person should have the right to promote what they believe is right or better.
I don't expect anyone to leave a (well) paid signature campaign for the free promotion of something new. Most of the good posters and most active members have been in long-term campaigns for a long time. I think that the number of users who are free and want to wear signatures for free is too small. too small to adapt the forum to them.
it is easy for us from a comfortable position (from a well-paid campaign) to encourage others to carry the advertisement for free.
That's not something I expect either. It could be something that posters who aren't in a paid campaign would be interested in. Let's take ChipMixer as an example. This campaign doesn't require their participants to wear avatars and personal texts. I am sure that some of them would be willing to wear an avatar or text for free as they have done in the past as well. With that in mind, you get good good posters that have room to promote other services as well.
Clearly we have a news filed and I supposed its working very well and I perhaps your proposal would be maybe a subboard or pinned post that carries these projects.
Not a new sub-board. It's complicated enough with the ones we have.
* Every developer would try to reap from the opened window. I mean, why should I pay when I can get it for free right?
* How do you determine a genuine broke guy with an idea from a financially capable one in an anonymous space?
These are legitimate questions and concerns. That's why we have discussions like this one to find the best solutions.
* Sure this isn't so much for something your not exactly on the team?
Sorry, I didn't understand what you are asking here.
And speaking of those that might want to offer their Avatar and personal text, how many are they? is it really worth the effort?
Like dkbit98 mentioned in his post, I can always create a poll and ask. But the results can be totally fake and people could lie intentionally. We might not know for sure until such a campaign starts.
This will only end up being another way scammers and fraudsters going to use to get free advertising on the forum, and you know what? its not just going to be walking away with free advertising, they are also going to be walking away with money belonging to many forum members, and this, honestly wont be cool.
You are thinking about some type of fundraising. That would surely not be something I would advertise. If someone wants to donate to a project, it's their responsibility to research what it's about and not trust me or anyone else just because we are advertising it. It's the same thing as with the casino ads you see. You are not just gonna deposit money in one unless you have checked their history to make sure they don't have a tendency to scam their players.
And I would have suggest that for a project to be eligible for free advert, it has to be scrutinized and ensure its not a scam, and like 2 trusted members on the forum can be selected to do that job so that the work load not be much on you
I am surely not a scam hunter nor do I plan to spend my days inspecting everything there is. There are many people who like that sort of thing and are good at it and they can do it if they want.