Hi, I'm Radon (@raxod502) and in my free time I develop free and open-source software projects. Many of these are just tools you can use on your own, but some need web hosting to be useful to people. For example:

• Riju, a free coding sandbox that lets you explore 226 different programming languages
• GNU ELPA Mirror, a critical component in the corner of the Emacs package management ecosystem powered by straight.el
• Tidier, making it easier for me to help people with a large number of open-source projects with minimal overhead

The point of taking donations is so that I can easily host these services for the community without needing to worry about using my personal savings, which makes it easier and less stressful to spin up new project ideas that I think people might find useful.

My design philosophy in software comes down to "don't be a jerk, even when everybody else is doing it". So:

• No tracking people through pointless analytics
• No advertising
• No sending people emails they didn't explicitly ask to be sent
• No overly advanced frontends that won't work properly except in the latest browser on the latest hardware
• No charging money for things that can be provided for free
  Basically, treat users like people. I like the principles on Healthchecks.io and I try to follow those in my own work as well.

Because a lawyer told me to, I do most of my open-source work as part of an LLC that I formed in California, and keep all of the infrastructure and financial records separate from my personal accounts and spending. Since I publish all of the LLC's financial records, this means you always know exactly what your donations are being spent on.

I don't make a profit from this work. If I ever get enough donations that it surpasses hosting costs, then I will donate the excess to charity, most likely to the EFF.