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Vercel ends open-source sponsorship program giving projects 24hr notice

(vercel.com)
118 points jenny91 | 5 comments | 14 Jun 24 17:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.815s | source
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vikramkr ◴[14 Jun 24 22:40 UTC] No.40685820[source]▶
Heads up that vercel updated the copy on the page that's linked to by this post. It's not a blog post, it's a guide page, so obviously we'd expect it to change, but it's probably useful to track it in case comments here are responding to an older version.

This is what it originally said: https://web.archive.org/web/20240614182520/https://vercel.co...

Here's what it says at the time I'm posting this: https://web.archive.org/web/20240614223830/https://vercel.co...

Seems like it's mainly an update to clarify things because of this thread. But honestly, they'd probably be better off just making a new post explaining what's going on. They might also want to clarify why some sponsorships seem to have coincidentally expired right around now (if that's what's happening), and what's up with this $300 credit thing.

replies(1): >>40686055 #
leerob ◴[14 Jun 24 23:14 UTC] No.40686055[source]▶
Correct, I updated this page – the title of this HN post is misleading. Nowhere in the original guide did it mention anything related to the title, causing confusion in this thread.

We are not ending the program, clarified here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40684147

replies(1): >>40689704 #
1. meiraleal ◴[15 Jun 24 13:33 UTC] No.40689704[source]▶
Your interjections in this thread is what is misleading. Let the people talk, you are on Vercel's payroll, the only one with a biased opinion here.
replies(1): >>40689875 #
2. leerob ◴[15 Jun 24 14:01 UTC] No.40689875[source]▶
Yes, I run the sponsorship program at Vercel. I'm the person working with these teams. Feels pretty fair to clarify.

Your bias is showing in your comment history.

replies(2): >>40690159 #>>40690925 #
3. meiraleal ◴[15 Jun 24 14:50 UTC] No.40690159[source]▶
I dislike Vercel a lot, it doesn't mean my opinion is biased. You guys have zero morals and are moved only by profit. The earlier it goes bankrupt, the better for everybody besides Vercel's investors and employees that were not laid off yet.

Btw your "clarification" is BS. "Our program goes nowhere but we cancelled most sponsorships and don't plan to renew or accept any projects for now".

4. vikramkr ◴[15 Jun 24 16:52 UTC] No.40690925[source]▶
I don't think your defensive stance is really helping here - it didn't blow up into anything big this time but next time you should just be transparent about what's going on to avoid having everyone else trying to fill in the gaps. Like just say - we paused our program, coincidentally (if that was the case) some people's sponsorships expired, we gave them 6 months to reapply, etc. You should probably run the copy of that email by PR/marketing next time. Since the copy pretty clearly indicates that the sponsorship program is over for them and there's no indication on what it would even look like to reapply, and clearly people didn't think their sponsorships had an expiry date. Also, how are they supposed to reapply if the program is paused lol. And how would anyone else reading the email know that 300/mo is enough to cover their spend? It's needlessly confusing and the general public isn't exactly in a "assume good faith" mood when it comes to tech companies at the moment, couldn't hurt to be a little bit more defensive and careful before the fact compared to after. Especially if it's the case (as it seems to be) that you really don't want anyone to know why you paused the program or even that you paused the program. That's totally fair, but like, that's an obvious opportunity for footgunning communication and triggering speculation about abandoning open source
replies(1): >>40691445 #
5. ◴[15 Jun 24 18:01 UTC] No.40691445{3}[source]▶