Alternative question: which Github projects would you work on for around 6 months with no guarantee of payment, and why?
Alternative question 2: what open source projects have you worked on that have had unexpected benefits?
Alternative question 3: what makes an open source project enjoyable to work on?
Rather than open source the entire website, there's a number of companies that open source very specific components of their much larger website. By focusing in on a very specific use case, it's easier to 1) comprehend, as a newcomer, and 2) contribute back to. You're also forced to write the library internally differently since you know it'll be open source and will need to stand on its own (so no hackish, dirty implementations on your own site!) In many cases, this "forced abstraction" makes for much better code for yourself.
I really like the latter approach. It's what GitHub does with Grit or Resque, or Shopify does with active_merchant, or Intridea does with OmniAuth. But note that releasing specific components doesn't prevent you from releasing your whole site as open source, either... you can certainly do both (which may be the best of both worlds!)
Another benefit of open sourcing specific modules and libraries is that you can share your complementary code without exposing or commoditizing your core technology. Github is a perfect example of this - they open pieces that are helpful to other developers, but not enough that somebody could clone their site or compete with them.
Actually, this sort of site it really useful to people, especially if it has a better design than default Pinax.
An unexpected benefit is that if a lot of people use your software, than a small percentage of them might be willing to pay for improvements and support, which you can push back to the core and use to support further development.
This is what is done by Eldarion, the contract shop that includes core Pinax developers. This is also the business model used by Chris Wensel, who developed Cascading.
You only stand to benefit from getting feedback on your code.
For example: Shopify open-sourced ActiveMerchant, a core component of our product. Even though our competitors use it, we still derive a lot of benefit from the community around it. Many of the gateway implementations that are used in Shopify were written by ActiveMerchant contributors. Every time someone implements a new gateway, we can add it to Shopify in a few minutes.
We've got pretty much all of the gateways that North American businesses use, so to get a new gateway into Shopify it generally has to service a region that doesn't have good coverage with our current gateways.
My partner and I have been thinking of open-sourcing our site Scriblink.com, which is the leading online whiteboard. It's a Java app (how old is that) but still the dominant way people access online whiteboards. We dont care to invest time in it anymore but it brings in some good revenue. Another thought was to donate it to the MIT media lab. Sounds like the general consensus here is that open sourcing isnt really that effective though. Any other thoughts on what we should do?
Knowing why also makes it easier to answer your question.
As for your questions: the most enjoyable open source projects are the ones that provide useful code. Useful to others, that is. Is your code useful to others (like, say, Wordpress)?
I think it could be an interesting way for people to get involved in a startup without the stress.
So, if it were a Q+A site, then I am creating a Quora rather than say a http://www.question2answer.org/.
If anyone's interested, it uses https://github.com/typeish/django-deploy
Am I just offloading development to other people on their time and dime? - yes, in a sense, but that's not the aim, the aim is to build something that will succeed, and see those that build it be an integral part of that success.
You can redirect to the site here: http://hackerbra.in/bop.html
(note: it is not ready for launch - the database will be filling with venues/artists/tours/shows data, even without any users)
I think I see where you're going with this. You want to "open source" part of your project to get help, but you want to retain control of the commercial aspect of the project in case "it has commercial possibilities". This is just infantile and demonstrate that you don't understand how open source works.
Correction: even those aren't good analogies because they are self-installed. But open-source and commercial do mix: everyone's in it for a different reason.
Not only infantile, but rude as well. I predict great success for your open source endeavor, not.