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On Being a Free Software Maintainer

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Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#61

Post by legel »

mikekchar wrote: post #29
dingallero wrote: post #4

This has been discussed before and it has been true for me as well. I don't have a large, super-popular package I maintain, but several lesser known ones, some of which I wrote, and several of which I just adopted and passively became a maintainer over time. At some point the pressure from the community made me pass the magical threshold between fun/useful/rewarding and downright chore. It has permanently changed my…

> useless code of conduct #Code of Conduct This is not a community project. This is my project. I know that will disappoint some people, but I do this for fun in my own spare time. If it stops being fun, I will stop working on it, which will pretty much kill the project. There are millions of projects in the world and the only reason they continue (if they actually do) is because the maintainers stubbornly stick at i…

This is cool and valuable. FANG or FAANG seems like an unproductive reference though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Apple,_Amazon,_Netfl...

If you're not representing one of these companies, you feel excluded. If you are, you don't want to be represented by the word FAANG.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#62

Post by vinceguidry »

peterkelly wrote: post #43
vinceguidry wrote: post #12

One of the things I've started to wrap my head around lately is the essential inhumanity of technology. It's a near-daily occurrence of mine to having to deal with something that's just plain dumb, and just have no way at all to fix it. I can't make the system better, I can't make any kind of suggestion to anyone so that my situation won't come up again. There's nothing to do but to just accept it, put whatever worka…

This reminds me of the author of libcurl saying that he gets a ton of emails from people asking about their cars infotainment system, because when they try to find an email address to contact for support, the closest thing they can find is his address in the libcurl license text: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/

Yeah, I remember that.

This sort of thing seems to hit senior citizens harder because of their general unfamiliarity with technology. So they use the toolset they're familiar with, to find somebody to get on the phone to make them deal with the problem.

I'm tempted to take vicious glee in the notion that this is the comeuppance Baby Boomers are getting for selling future generations down the river to fund their own retirements. If they could have just shared the post-war wealth equally their children wouldn't have needed to destroy the world that made it.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#63

Post by dahart »

Having worked on commercial applications with freemium models, I’ve had the distinct impression that the free users are more demanding and pushy and rude than the paying users.

I’m not certain about that though, because there are always like 10x or more free users than paying users, so the volume of interaction with free users is simply much greater. It would be interesting to study and find out whether free users are more entitled than paying users, statistically. Anyone know if such research has already been done?

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#64

Post by protomyth »

legel wrote: post #61
mikekchar wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> useless code of conduct #Code of Conduct This is not a community project. This is my project. I know that will disappoint some people, but I do this for fun in my own spare time. If it stops being fun, I will stop working on it, which will pretty much kill the project. There are millions of projects in the world and the only reason they continue (if they actually do) is because the maintainers stubbornly stick at i…

This is cool and valuable. FANG or FAANG seems like an unproductive reference though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Apple,_Amazon,_Netfl... If you're not representing one of these companies, you feel excluded. If you are, you don't want to be represented by the word FAANG.

Think FANG level money. If you don't have FANG level money that you are willing to give me in exchange for drama, just don't do it -- even if you think it is the most important thing in the world.

The poster is talking about a level of money, not the exact companies. The whole point of the line is that you should feel excluded from bringing drama if you don't have that level of money to give the developer.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#65

Post by grigjd3 »

StavrosK wrote: post #2

This has not been my experience. I maintain various popular and not-so-popular projects (although maybe not to the level of gnome calendar) and I just work as much as I want. If I don't feel like handling an issue right then, I say I won't have time soon and that PRs are appreciated. The vast majority of people are understanding, I don't remember anyone making a fuss about it.

I think the worst experiences are always what stands out in peoples' minds.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#66

Post by mercora »

ThJ wrote: post #31
0815test wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "free" in free software is about freedom, not getting stuff free-of-charge.

English has a serious problem with ambiguity around the word "free". In the closely related Scandinavian languages, there is a difference between "fri" (as in freedom) and "gratis" (as in free of charge). Unlike in English, the Latin borrowing "gratis" is the common everyday word for things that are free of charge. Free software is known as "fri programvare", whereas free-of-charge software (a.k.a. freeware) is "grat…

In German there are at least 3 words that describe these somewhat related concepts. The word "Frei" is mostly meant as in freedom but can also describe absence of something. The latter form is usually used in compound words like "kostenfrei" which means "free of charge" however, most of those words can also be compound with "los" like in "kostenlos" which means the same thing and is used more often in this case. We also use "gratis" but mostly if something is given complimentary in addition to something else. Something like "buy one get one free" for example. Then we also have "umsonst" which is actually not related but commonly used by people to mean the same thing as "kostenlos". However, it really means "for nothing" like in "ich habe vermutlich all das umsonst aufgeschrieben" or "i probably wrote all of this up for nothing". So the differentiation between getting something for free and something being free (as in freedom) is quite clear. However, there is no german word for freeware as far as i can tell and nobody i know says something like "Freie Software" instead of "free software" or "kostenlose software" instead of "freeware" but that might be caused by my circle and is more often used then i recognized :)

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#67

Post by username223 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #54

I use a lot of open source packages, and I’m immensely grateful to anyone who maintains one. I also want to mention that I donate whenever the option is available. However, here is my personal opinion that will most likely get downvoted to oblivion: if you are putting a tool out there for others to use (not just software but any tool), then you are responsible for its wellbeing and maintenance, regardless of whether…

> if you are putting a tool out there for others to use (not just software but any tool), then you are responsible for its wellbeing and maintenance, regardless of whether you charge money for it.

I think there's also room for software that's dumped on the internet like a free couch left on the sidewalk, but it should be treated similarly: probably full of bugs and not worth your time. I agree that software maintainers shouldn't feel entitled to gratitude without obligation.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#68

Post by smoyer »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #36
vinceguidry wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bible. Wish I could offer something more accessible. But a better read on the nature of hells, belief, faith, false gods, and how to find a true path to salvation can't be found. Haven't picked mine up in awhile. Should probably fix that. I spend my time these days writing rather than reading. Chasing my own muse. Quora is my usual outlet, though I'll occasionally feel compelled to comment on HN.

Having wasted a significant portion of my youth on said book I would not recommend it. The whole thing boils down to devoting yourself to a (IMO) demanding, bigoted, homophobic, and imaginary being. Whatever crumbs of truth (treat others like you want to be treated, life is short, etc.) included are better expressed elsewhere and without all the baggage.

But the greatest commandment is this ... love one another.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#69

Post by meruru »

mikekchar wrote: post #29
dingallero wrote: post #4

This has been discussed before and it has been true for me as well. I don't have a large, super-popular package I maintain, but several lesser known ones, some of which I wrote, and several of which I just adopted and passively became a maintainer over time. At some point the pressure from the community made me pass the magical threshold between fun/useful/rewarding and downright chore. It has permanently changed my…

> useless code of conduct #Code of Conduct This is not a community project. This is my project. I know that will disappoint some people, but I do this for fun in my own spare time. If it stops being fun, I will stop working on it, which will pretty much kill the project. There are millions of projects in the world and the only reason they continue (if they actually do) is because the maintainers stubbornly stick at i…

It's perfect.

Re: On Being a Free Software Maintainer

#70

Post by meruru »

mikekchar wrote: post #35
qaq wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you OK with other people using this ? This looks to be the perfect #Code of Conduct

Feel free :-) I warn you that the only way I had the courage to write it was that I drank a considerable amount of nihonshu (Japanese sake). It was pink. The label said that the pink colour was a natural result of the kouji (aspergillus oryzae). I'm skeptical :-) But, in all seriousness, I've been thinking about it a lot and really the main thing, I think, is for everyone (even the maintainer) to avoid drama. If you…

You should definitely host this document somewhere.
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