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Just Wanted to Say Thanks

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Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#41

Post by Twirrim »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #31
civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

This is what I wonder. I've opened "thank you" issues before, and wondered "how much will this annoy the owner/watchers?" For anyone tasked with maintaining a repo, any email notification of new issues must come with a certain level of dread. At least that's what it's like for me, even if I sincerely appreciate and enjoy receiving issues! I do, then, immediately close "thank you" issues so owners are not tasked with…

> I've opened "thank you" issues before, and wondered "how much will this annoy the owner/watchers?"

I've deliberately not opened "Thank you" issues, because I didn't want to annoy the owner/watchers. Certainly frustrating there is no way to express gratitude.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#42

Post by MaxBarraclough »

brigandish wrote: post #32
colonwqbang wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why this is on HN; is it really considered so unusual for a someone to express gratitude to an open-source project? Concretely, you answered your own question. The "star" button is the default way of saying "thanks" to a project which was useful to you.

I thought the star button was a convenient way to keep track of projects you're interested in. > is it really considered so unusual for a someone to express gratitude to an open-source project? I would say yes, it's very unusual. The general lack of basic civility is, in my opinion, just one more reason for the lack of diversity in projects and lowers the number of contributors to open source.

> I thought the star button was a convenient way to keep track of projects you're interested in.

Not exactly, as star numbers are made public, meaning it's also a form of public approval.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#43

Post by runarberg »

civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

This is not what you are talking about but I would like to mention that as a contributor I feel like I often get a thank you note after I open a PR or even an issue in stranger repos. In my experience gratitude towards contributors is the norm, not the exception.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#44

Post by jblarneyforward »

civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

Often I email the person directly to thank them, but only works if there’s a public email.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#46

Post by Rompect »

civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

Isn't that the purpose of the star feature?

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#47

Post by mysterydip »

civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

I loved a library on github enough to track down the creator on twitter and thank him there. Not sure if he never saw it, or just didn't acknowledge it.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#48

Post by scoot »

OJFord wrote: post #29
flafla2 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would make a lot of sense for Github to support discussion forums natively, separate from issues. Or perhaps user reviews.

It does, in beta as of a year or so ago, and out of beta a few weeks ago. You can turn them on or off per repository.

The trouble with GitHub discussions is that GitHub couldn't decide if it wanted discussions, or Stack Overflow style Q&A with upvotes, so it morphed into this awkward hybrid.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#49

Post by kissgyorgy »

civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

> but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it.

I think this would be a nice new Category in Discussions; ":heart: Thank you"

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#50

Post by pault »

civilized wrote: post #22

Some people are pointing out how rare it is for GitHubbers to express gratitude, but GitHub doesn't exactly encourage it. Doesn't it feel inappropriate to express gratitude as an "issue"? Maybe if there was a natural place for these messages they'd be sent more often. To the extent that there are affordances for it (stars, emojis) it is actually quite popular to praise good work on GitHub.

There's an "ask a question" feature out of beta now that is designed for not cluttering the issues. I believe it has to be enabled on the repo.
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