I think what the person who made the large donation said gives us a clue as to what made 2018 so special and maybe even why after time has settled things feel different…they said “It feels like 2009/2010 again…” and what made 2009/2010 special was that with bitcoins inception there existed a techonolgy that would create an entirely different way to think about global finance, with a philosophical view that it would no longer be controlled and dictated by central powers. For many, Grin was the next step in this evolution. It’s no surprise so many were willing to be part of building these protocols without compensation. Media outlets reported on Grin, the message was amplified and many joined in. I don’t think we ever see that level of interest again, and naturally- the protocol is built, and this should have been expected, but there is a ton of interesting development happening here and by many different people.
The answer to the question, “how do we reach the people with the contribution mentality of 2018?”, I think is to amplify the technology that is now being built on-to and around these original protocols. Developers are still motivated by the same factors (desire to build cool shit, to solve problems, to participate with others on accomplishing a goal…seldom is financials a real root motivator)
How to amplify? share the concepts of the build and invite others to join- just like satoshi and ignotus did. Show outside developers whats cooking, maybe it peaks their interest, then we have a chance to get back to what 2009/2010-2018 feels like… I just saw a glimpse of this over in the Decode Slatepack with CyberChief thread, people interested in technology innovation troubleshooting and sharing interesting ideas about reading the binary of a slatepack message in-order to reverse engineer it. That’s the good stuff- but it is just here in a bubble, let’s get these ideas to the outside.
Side note: I think paying developers to maintain, update, build-out and on-to the code is necessary, also bounties can work to draw people in with some financial incentive, and even keep them involved when different motivations merge.