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Why we never thank open source maintainers

windsooon.github.io

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Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#111

Post by iforgotpassword »

naturalgradient wrote: post #5

As the maintainer of a reasonably popular library, I actually get irritated by a lot of 'thanks', because they are in the form of this sentence: 'Hi, can you implement ? Thanks!' Usually from people who have never contributed anything. Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me, Id rather have users be more considerate of our time and not abuse issues and the community for supporting their lazin…

> Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me

So a genuine "hi there, thanks for all your work, I've been using your lib for months and its awesome" is an annoyance to you? You must be fun at parties.

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#112

Post by no_one_ever »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #111
naturalgradient wrote: post #5

As the maintainer of a reasonably popular library, I actually get irritated by a lot of 'thanks', because they are in the form of this sentence: 'Hi, can you implement ? Thanks!' Usually from people who have never contributed anything. Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me, Id rather have users be more considerate of our time and not abuse issues and the community for supporting their lazin…

> Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me So a genuine "hi there, thanks for all your work, I've been using your lib for months and its awesome" is an annoyance to you? You must be fun at parties.

yeesh, that wasn't what he was saying at all

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#113

Post by coldtea »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #111
naturalgradient wrote: post #5

As the maintainer of a reasonably popular library, I actually get irritated by a lot of 'thanks', because they are in the form of this sentence: 'Hi, can you implement ? Thanks!' Usually from people who have never contributed anything. Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me, Id rather have users be more considerate of our time and not abuse issues and the community for supporting their lazin…

> Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me So a genuine "hi there, thanks for all your work, I've been using your lib for months and its awesome" is an annoyance to you? You must be fun at parties.

It's like you didn't even care what parent said, just picked a part out of context, built a straw man, and commented on it.

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#114

Post by dictum »

skybrian wrote: post #95
dictum wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, this exudes arrogance, even if the intention is completely free of ill will. It's better to say a clear NO ("I will not add this feature" or "I cannot implement this at this time"), and let them figure if they want to pay/use something else on their own, than to talk down to users.

It's going to depend on how the response is worded. I wouldn't want to assume that someone asking for a feature is willing to pay for it. I also wouldn't want to make an offer unless I'm serious about doing it if they say yes. But, if you are doing contract work, letting people know it's an option seems like a good thing?

Agreed on all points.

Perhaps I'm advocating for a frivolous courtesy versus a fully rational process. Maybe the rational process works better than my suggested approach, but my intuition says no, and would prefer that it be done in a way that communicates "I can help you, but money is a requirement", not "I really wish you would fuck off, but here's an alternative".

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#115

Post by iforgotpassword »

no_one_ever wrote: post #112
iforgotpassword wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me So a genuine "hi there, thanks for all your work, I've been using your lib for months and its awesome" is an annoyance to you? You must be fun at parties.

yeesh, that wasn't what he was saying at all

No it was exactly what he said. First he complained about those feature requests with a meaningless "thanks in advance" attached (OK fine with me so far) but then with the phrase I quoted he made it clear that he doesn't like to be thanked in any shape or form.

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#117

Post by kazinator »

naturalgradient wrote: post #5

As the maintainer of a reasonably popular library, I actually get irritated by a lot of 'thanks', because they are in the form of this sentence: 'Hi, can you implement ? Thanks!' Usually from people who have never contributed anything. Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me, Id rather have users be more considerate of our time and not abuse issues and the community for supporting their lazin…

> thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me

$$$? Beer?

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#118

Post by iforgotpassword »

coldtea wrote: post #113
iforgotpassword wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me So a genuine "hi there, thanks for all your work, I've been using your lib for months and its awesome" is an annoyance to you? You must be fun at parties.

It's like you didn't even care what parent said, just picked a part out of context, built a straw man, and commented on it.

It's not out of context. He first gave a specific example of what kind of "thanks" he doesn't like, but then with the part I quoted he made clear that he not only doesn't like those hypocritical thank yous attached to feature requests, but that he doesn't want/care to be thanked "in any shape or form". That's a crystal clear statement that was not taken out of context.

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#119

Post by jakobegger »

davidjnelson wrote: post #107
notzorbo3 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an awesome way to reward people! I've gotten offers for money, but actually getting to money to me is more of a hassle than it's worth, so I just decline.

What makes receiving money difficult?

Not the OP, but if you run a business, you must be very careful to correctly declare all your income, make sure you invoice properly, pay taxes, etc.

Just because soneone “donates” money, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay taxes.

So in general it only pays off if it is above a threshold. If a company offers to donate 2000€, I would find a way to make it work. But if it’s just a one off donation of 10€, I’d rather not bother my accountant with it.

Re: Why we never thank open source maintainers

#120

Post by kazinator »

politelemon wrote: post #21
naturalgradient wrote: post #5

As the maintainer of a reasonably popular library, I actually get irritated by a lot of 'thanks', because they are in the form of this sentence: 'Hi, can you implement ? Thanks!' Usually from people who have never contributed anything. Honestly, being thanked in any shape or form does nothing for me, Id rather have users be more considerate of our time and not abuse issues and the community for supporting their lazin…

Mine usually go something along the lines of: "Hi, I use your app and it's wonderful." So far so good. It's immediately followed by "But it would be perfect if it had "

You'd be surprised how many others had the same use case.

This kind of feedback is wealth.

Even if the use case seems very individual, maybe a useful generalization of it can be found which still covers that case but is of broader use.

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