However your calculations arrive at a number you're OK with, I'm just saying most people I know of get paid by the hour, so that's why I was thinking it'd be a good indicator as to how much work you had to put into it. Of course, it's not only the coding, but all the other stuff that goes with it: equipment, electric bill, testing, etc. and it may not be for everyone. If you knocked an incredibly useful bit of code together in an hour, and it saves everyone a ton of time, maybe an hourly rate figure wouldn't be the wisest choice for calculating your compensation. But most coders I know are working on many things and all of that takes time and energy. Maybe you could aggregate all your work and arrive at a figure from that.

I'm just coming from the perspective that a lot of people seem to have a blind spot and won't see that "donate" button, and it turns them off to be nagged, so I was trying to think of a way to get their attention without being annoying and simultaneously make the coder more relatable as a fellow human being who wants to get rewarded for his or her efforts. I figure if they see an hourly rate, they'll know right away whether you're getting at least a living wage from your work. As an aside, interestingly, spellcheck doesn't match the word relatable. :huh:

I'm not a coder, and this may be a complete waste of your valuable time. I don't know what your various (whatever the plural for ethos is, see HERE) are. I was just sitting around contemplating the demise of one of my favorite apps, which relied on donations, and got to brainstorming. Forgive me if these aren't new ideas or are stupid, I'm just trying to help.

So I was thinking that if you coder types track the number of hours you put into your work, then display that along with # of downloads, # of paid users, and the resulting yearly income, also broken down to an hourly pay rate, that you might be able to guilt some folks into paying you for your work. This could be a display that gets updated any time you release a patch or update. Heck, it could be updated in near-real time, I guess. It could be on the website, in the installer, or in the "about" section of the GUI menu, or all three. Decide what you believe a decent wage is and have that displayed and make it change color depending on whether the goal is met or not (like they do on crowdfunding sites).

Another idea that occurred to me is the concept of group rates. I've seen plenty of deals on multiple licenses, for businesses. How about a deal like that, but for individuals? Have a website where people can sign up to set up or join groups and get a discounted price on the software, which varies depending on how large the group gets. Have a timer for each group that gives so many days/hours to join the group to get the discount, then the software will be purchased at the specified expiration date. The advantage to the user would be significant savings, the drawback being the wait. If people want to pay full price right away, of course they can.

Of course the first idea would expose you to public knowledge of your income, but I think people would appreciate the honesty.

Hope this makes  some sense. I'll respond to any replies if anyone thinks it's worth the time to do so.