FAQ: Add information about commercial aspects

content/help/faq/index.adoc

@@ -80,3 +80,113 @@ https://librepcb.org/docs/quickstart/create-library-elements/[add the elements y
 
 In addition, you could ask in https://librepcb.discourse.group/[our forum]
 if other users already created the library elements you need.
+
+[#can-i-order-only-through-librepcb-fab]
+=== Can I order the PCB only through LibrePCB Fab?
+
+No! Of course you can always export traditional production data (i.e. Gerber
+files) and order wherever you want. Although LibrePCB Fab makes life easier,
+we understand that you might not be happy with the provided manufacturers or
+you like to have more control over the ordering process (e.g. reviewing Gerber
+files).
+
+In our opinion, LibrePCB Fab is a win-win-win situation because users profit
+from a simple and quick order process (without any drawback at all!), the
+LibrePCB project profits from an additional income to fund the development,
+and manufacturers profit from gaining more customers and publicity. Thus it
+is a perfect way to support the LibrePCB project.
+
+If you still don't like it for some reason, just don't use it - we're
+totally fine with that and we're committed to keep the traditional production
+data export intact since we strongly belive in freedom. Choosing a PCB
+manufacturer must always be made on your own decision.
+
+[#who-operates-librepcb]
+=== Who operates LibrePCB? Is there a company behind it?
+
+LibrePCB is an open-source project founded and coordinated by
+https://github.com/ubruhin[@ubruhin]. Although he's the main developer, the
+project receives lots of contributions from the community -- for example
+translations, documentation and code contributions.
+
+There is no company involved in operating the project (see also
+<<how-is-librepcb-related-to-sponsors>>), and the project is not following
+any commercial interests.
+
+[#how-is-librepcb-related-to-sponsors]
+=== How is LibrePCB related to its sponsors?
+
+LibrePCB has several commercial sponsors which support the project in different
+ways. Some are donating money, some are providing a particular service we need
+to operate the project (e.g. webhosting). In return, we list them on our
+website as a simple and honest form of publicity. We think this is a very fair
+deal since LibrePCB users profit from getting a continuously developed EDA
+suite free of charge(!) without any downsides at all (no advertisement in the
+application etc.).
+
+Note that decision-making is not impacted by sponsors. We only decide about
+features from the user's point of view, not by commercial interests of
+sponsors. Also we take privacy very serious -- even through LibrePCB Fab,
+no data is forwarded to the underlying manufacturers at all unless you
+explicitly choose to forward the project to them.
+
+[#what-is-the-donated-or-sponsored-money-used-for]
+=== What is the donated money used for?
+
+To operate the LibrePCB project, various things directly cost money.
+For example:
+
+Virtual servers::
+  For hosting the website, library manager API, fabrication service,
+  automation tools used for CI etc. Actually our current server setup would
+  cost us at least 500 USD every year, but thanks to our sponsor luckily
+  we get it for free so the donated money is not used for that.
+
+Hardware::
+  From time to time, some hardware might be needed. For example to test
+  LibrePCB on macOS, we bought a second-hand Mac Mini specifically for
+  LibrePCB.
+
+Conferences::
+  When presenting LibrePCB at conferences (e.g. FOSDEM), we need to buy
+  flight tickets, hotels etc. to get there.
+
+However, operating a large and complex project as LibrePCB mainly takes a
+lot of time. At first glance you might see mainly the effort spent for
+development of the application. But in total, there are many different
+tasks which need to be done:
+
+Application development::
+  The most obvious and most time consuming part is to actually develop
+  the application (new features, bugfixes etc.).
+
+Website & webservice development::
+  Developing & maintaining the website, the API server service, the
+  fabrication service, documentation builder, translations synchronizing
+  script, ...
+
+Server administration::
+  The virtual server is entirely maintained by ourselves so we regularly
+  need to keep it up to date, fix problems, monitor it etc.
+
+Support::
+  Reproducing bug reports, answering user questions, picking up feature
+  requests, responding to emails from people not reading the "there's no free
+  email support" statement, ...
+
+Documentation::
+  Writing good documentation, creating expressive screenshots and useful video
+  tutorials is not only quite difficult but also very very time consuming.
+
+Sponsorings coordination::
+  Both financial and in-kind sponsorings are a manual task, often requiring
+  lots of communication between the involved parties (many emails, sometimes
+  videocalls).
+
+This list is by far not complete, but hopefully you now have an idea about the
+involved effort to operate the LibrePCB project and understand that all this
+cannot be done anymore by a volunteer in free time. Therefore the project
+founder and main developer https://github.com/ubruhin[@ubruhin] started
+to work full time on LibrePCB and thus heavily relies on donations and
+sponsorings to pay the rent, food etc. Any donated or sponsored money thus
+goes to him and he'll spend it for the mentioned usage.