On Being a Free Software Maintainer

Post by enraged_camel » Sun, Mar 31, 2019, 10:45 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #103

jryb wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the downvotes for this. I feel that by making something public and open source, there is an implicit assumption (unless otherwise stated) that the software is worth sharing. The problem is that this puts what I consider the right amount of responsibility squarely in the middle of a continuum: library authors shouldn't be totally free of obligations to others, but the insane abuse that people level…

This rule accepted in general would mean that all students who put their homework on github are doing something wrong. Or that all professionals who just play around technology or mini projects are required to keep them secret until they are totally sure they will maintain it forever. That is just not workable and overly limited. While owner can not expect gratitude, the "I’ll work on this when I want, however much I…

Post by rcw4256 » Sun, Mar 31, 2019, 10:57 PM UTC

mistrial9 wrote: post #59

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 in the United States, the development of the Code of Conduct appears to be a mechanism, refined by lawyers, to make a legal case to -> kick someone out The code of conduct uses words to describe desired outcomes of cooperation, but actually, it defines boundaries such that there is a specific reason to require a person with some behavior pattern, to leave, be blocked and re…

Post by coleifer » Sun, Mar 31, 2019, 11:11 PM UTC

etimberg wrote: post #122

coleifer wrote: post #81

Oh this is infuriating: > You will be told that you need to develop a thick skin. It's the equivalent of a bully taunting with "stop crying!" I have been doing open source for about 10 years. A couple of my projects have 1000+ stars on gh for what it's worth. Most people are chill. Some people disagree without being disagreeable. Then there's others who are completely toxic. A guy who was cto of a company and wanted…

Chiming in to add that I've definitely had my ups and downs with open source. When it's going well it feels incredibly rewarding but when it's not, it absolutely sucks and I've gotten to the point where I avoid GitHub and try to take a break. It's part of the reason I've avoided taking donations for any project I work on. I'd feel a lot worse about taking a break if people were paying for higher expectations.

Post by paulryanrogers » Mon, Apr 01, 2019, 12:10 AM UTC

rsyring wrote: post #118

paulryanrogers wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Having wasted a significant portion of my youth pursuing whatever I wanted only to later realize I was enslaved to the very things I thought I was pursuing freely, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Bible as that which gave me true freedom. Many of it's teachings are certainly counter-cultural. And it does take time and effort to learn and interpret wisely. But I find much in the Bible that is very applicable to life…

Post by euske » Mon, Apr 01, 2019, 12:46 AM UTC