The New Yorker

contributions to the new yorker are paid by the line. source code contributions could be paid by the line of code (LOC). contributions with high lines of code and little value would be posted for the return that comes with contributing to the project. this approach still works for the new yorker because they accept contributions by those with a high reputation.

the story contributions are paid by the line but evaluated by the reputation of the author, the originality of the content. the reputation of a coder could start to be assessed. github measures contributions to github-hosted projects. number of projects, lines of code can be counted.

once a contribution is accepted, that person has a history with the project - which is especially valuable.