sponsored vs volunteers

[Rahul Sundaram]

Jeroen van Meeuwen wrote:

> Then would you also want to know by whom a person may be paid to make
> the contribution?

I dont think we really need that level of information

  Does this go per change? Would you suppose I click the
> sponsored button if I'm being paid for package X most of the time but
> John Doe has volunteered to provide me with a patch I update the package
> with, is that sponsored or not sponsored?

Per patch would be more accurate but too intrusive. I prefer to have 
metrics that give you information with some amount of fuzziness. We know 
that such stats are not entirely accurate even it it is done on a per 
patch basis but it does give you a basic understanding. That is all I am 
aiming for.

  Isn't this more appropriately
> addressed with a questionair you request your contributors to fill out
> (wiki poll)?.

I had already thought about that. Polls are asynchronous and has to be 
done on a periodical basis. Having this information as part of 
infrastructure is going to be successful in giving you more complete 
metrics.

Rahul