I've never heard of Gittip nor Patreon before reading this article. Looking at both websites the website for Patreon is much more engaging and less cluttered. Gittip looks intimidating with all those small pictures and numbers going around.
A good redesign for the index would propel the business more than all those commits. Love both ideas though :)
I kinda agree with you here. I have not heard of Gittip either before this post came on HN. So I visited it, and upon seeing the front page, I immediately thought that this is like a competition where the rankings of the highest givers and highers receivers were showcased.
I think that the site should show something that tipping the projects is a good idea. (Shooting from my hip here) maybe they should pick out a couple of projects and show how the tipping has benefitted the project?
I agree with you about the competition bit. I immediately thought: "Oh how surprising the cute girl is in second position" (I dont have a clue who shanley is). So focusing more on how they make a difference instead of a silly selfie would be a good first step indeed.
A bit OT, but "Oh how surprising the cute girl is in second position" is casual sexism and really dismissive. Read her statement on gettip for some extra irony.
