Ask HN: Why are people so mean in the open source community? (about xz again)

Browsing the xz repo in GitHub and checking the recent entries in the Issues tab, I just found this entry:

https://github.com/tukaani-project/xz/issues/121

The person wasn't able to compile the project and he starts by being mean when he asks for help:

- "it shouldn't be this hard" - "the INSTALL file being a TLDR nightmare" - complaining about the compilation steps.

I know Larhzu went through a lot in the past but facing again those comments are too much. I appreciate his polite comment to the issue but I would appreciate if he can put people like that in their place like thesamesam did.

I don't think it's necessarily meaness. It's frustration, a type of frustration that feels like it's private, and hence can sound more vitriolic, even though it's not because we are all removed from each other via the computer.

I find it best to "kill them with kindness" ignoring such anger and just assume they are having a bad day and didn't truly consider what they said.

Is there any reason to believe that this is specific to the open source community, or that people are any less "mean" elsewhere?

Some people are thoughtful and considerate in their interactions, and some people are not. Just look at most social media sites - they're far worse than what you see on GitHub.

Those two innocuous comments are being mean? Seriously?

I pity your ears if you would hear me building piece of sh@t projects without clear instructions how to build. This is the prerequisite for contributions to your project.

If you don’t have robust building process then I have a lot of mean words for you.

I don't think this specifically is a great example of "being mean", but in the broader ecosystem it's definitely a problem that can wear down maintainers over time. I think it boils down to a widespread sense of entitlement from users of free software. It's amazing the demanding and disrespectful things people will say when the project you've shared with them, for free, doesn't meet their exact needs or preferences.

If something is provided free of charge and it's not working for you, there are constructive ways to engage and help nudge a project in a beneficial direction. But if you're not up to doing that, just move on.