No... projects want contribution more than money, the idea of paying the author is that they can then continue to contribute in the long term by proxy for the payers.
But FOSS-systemwide, I give much more than I take. It just needs leechers, who systemwide, give nothing back, to do the same.
Let me try again: how do you measure how much you have given and how you have taken? If not (only) with money, how do you estimate the time and effort that you put into collaboration?
If you ask five different people to evaluate your contributions, how much would they agree? How much would these people be interested in contributing as well and/or paying for you to keep doing what you are doing?
The point I am trying to make: people express their preferences differently, and that is a Good Thing (tm). Market dynamics are a Good Thing (tm). Each of these critical RCEs work as shock on the whole ecosystem which makes it a little bit stronger. I'd rather have a dozen of RCEs on popular-but-amateurish maintained projects than a little totalitarian forcing everyone to "stop being a leech".
No... projects want contribution more than money, the idea of paying the author is that they can then continue to contribute in the long term by proxy for the payers.
But FOSS-systemwide, I give much more than I take. It just needs leechers, who systemwide, give nothing back, to do the same.