Lichess call themselves a non-profit-organization and I am quite sure that most people (especially the ones donating to the site) assume that their donations are used to cover the costs of the site.
But if you look here, the summary of lichess costs
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CGgu-7aNxlZkjLl9l-OlL00fch06xp0Q7eCVDDakYEE/edit#gid=0
you see that Thibault Duplessis, the founder of lichess.org (or how he describes himself – I suppose and hope, with self-irony- at Github „Benevolent dictator of lichess.org, a hippie communist chess server for drug fueled atheists“) pays himself a whopping 3.888,50 $ salary per months, taken from donations.
Is under this cirumstances the term „non profit organziation“ really the right word? OK, you do not want to become rich through lichess and you are not commercial. But as a fact you make a living from the donations.
By the way: I came here because some friends recommended the site. They told me that this place is free, non-profit, but I should therefore not expect a real customer support like at commercial sites and that several inquiries they sent to contact@lichess.org, never received an answer (and in the forums I find also some threads saying that inquiries never were answered). Well, if Thibault pays himself a not so small income for running this site, shouldn’t this salary then not include the duty to answer inquiries that are sent to contact@lichess.org?
And another thing that is bit amazing: according to this doc Thibault’s salary and the cost of servers etc. make approx. 6.000 $ per months. Amazingly much…But I see nearly nobody with a patron/donator sign. I see there is a list of patrons and this list is not so short but I am quite sure that most people spend not more then 10 bucks. Even if 100 people per months donate in average 15 bucks, you do not reach more then 1500 $. Therefore I find it hard to believe that you raise 6.000 dollar a months through donations.
PS: there is a subtile irony in the fact that lichess.org is so much anti-capitalist and open-source and whatever else is considered „good“ in the lefties-world but when it comes to donations, Paypal and VISA are highly appreciated, isn’t it
But if you look here, the summary of lichess costs
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CGgu-7aNxlZkjLl9l-OlL00fch06xp0Q7eCVDDakYEE/edit#gid=0
you see that Thibault Duplessis, the founder of lichess.org (or how he describes himself – I suppose and hope, with self-irony- at Github „Benevolent dictator of lichess.org, a hippie communist chess server for drug fueled atheists“) pays himself a whopping 3.888,50 $ salary per months, taken from donations.
Is under this cirumstances the term „non profit organziation“ really the right word? OK, you do not want to become rich through lichess and you are not commercial. But as a fact you make a living from the donations.
By the way: I came here because some friends recommended the site. They told me that this place is free, non-profit, but I should therefore not expect a real customer support like at commercial sites and that several inquiries they sent to contact@lichess.org, never received an answer (and in the forums I find also some threads saying that inquiries never were answered). Well, if Thibault pays himself a not so small income for running this site, shouldn’t this salary then not include the duty to answer inquiries that are sent to contact@lichess.org?
And another thing that is bit amazing: according to this doc Thibault’s salary and the cost of servers etc. make approx. 6.000 $ per months. Amazingly much…But I see nearly nobody with a patron/donator sign. I see there is a list of patrons and this list is not so short but I am quite sure that most people spend not more then 10 bucks. Even if 100 people per months donate in average 15 bucks, you do not reach more then 1500 $. Therefore I find it hard to believe that you raise 6.000 dollar a months through donations.
PS: there is a subtile irony in the fact that lichess.org is so much anti-capitalist and open-source and whatever else is considered „good“ in the lefties-world but when it comes to donations, Paypal and VISA are highly appreciated, isn’t it
