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Just Wanted to Say Thanks

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Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#71

Post by sonotmyname »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #42
brigandish wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

More like a form of popularity, not necessarily approval.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#72

Post by evantahler »

whatl3y wrote: post #24

This inspired me so I will find more time to do this as well. Went ahead and started at one of my favorite projects that I use across several professional and personal projects :) https://github.com/actionhero/node-resque/issues/496

Thank you!

I guess I’ll chime in and say - as an OSS maintainer, please flood my inbox with messages like this. It really makes my day!

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#73

Post by atoav »

momokoko wrote: post #62
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.

Idk. I think your comment sums up a general change that internet based interaction has created. I used to think it was generational but now I think it has more to do with spending most of your socializing online as opposed to in person. In person interaction naturally flows towards gratitude. Online interactions, like the one I’m having right now feels disposable. I don’t see your face and we can’t form much human co…

You have to work against that. It is usually totally possible to write an email to people with good repos. If they made your day, this is just part of giving back.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#74

Post by hombre_fatal »

atoav wrote: post #69
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

While opening an issue might be the lowest effort option I think there are two better options: 1. If you just wanna thank them, write an email 2. If you want to do so publicly, do so on a public channel (e.g. Blog post, HN, youtube channel, etc)

#1 only targets one person.

#2 possibly won’t even be seen by the target.

Opening an issue is seen by the whole team and becomes a place for the community to weigh in. Seems ideal until Github provides better.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#76

Post by simias »

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.

Maybe we should bring back the "guest books" of the early internet, where you're expected to leave positive feedback if you want to.

I'm not sure that general purpose reviews/forums are the right way to address this issue, because those can generate negative feedback as easily as positive and generate additional stress for the maintainer. I think a simple dedicated "you can leave a public thank you message to the maintainer here if you want" text box would do the trick.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#77

Post by rglullis »

sonotmyname wrote: post #68
rglullis wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave browser has made this integration where you can tip their token to people on GitHub (and Twitter, reddit and any site that people can verify domain ownership). Seems one of the best ways to show appreciation and gratitude without making it feel like a transaction or causing any kind of expectation like becoming a sponsor or patron of the project.

I dunno, if I got ‘tipped’ wouldn’t that mean I’d have to figure out what Brave is, create an account, realize I got $0.03, and then just be annoyed?

Besides being a global payment system that allows people to send micropayments across the world without having to disclose any financial data publicly, while fighting surveillance capitalism in the process, what have the Romans done for us?

The "hassle" of doing KYC at one of the exchanges and verifying your identity is only once. The benefit of being able to receive little cash for privacy-preserving ads and use it to contribute to a healthier digital economy can last for a long time.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#78

Post by rglullis »

the_arun wrote: post #70
rglullis wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I star projects that have caught my attention and might be relevant for my work, or that I will need to reference later. I don't see how this relates to a display of gratitude.

Wouldn’t “star” express gratitude?

Interest, relevance? Yes. Gratitude, not so much.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#79

Post by leeoniya »

dheera wrote: post #40
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 think it depends on the scale of the project. If it's a project that isn't full of all kinds of bug reports and issues already, thank you notes aren't a bad thing. As a developer what I like even more than thank yous are thank yous that explain how my code helped you in some specific way.

> As a developer what I like even more than thank yous are thank yous that explain how my code helped you in some specific way.

i'll second this.

post some screenshots of the thing you've made with my thing, or how it's improved the user experience or performance improvement metrics. what has my project unlocked for you, e.g. new use cases that were not possible before. compare it to what was there previously. i build open source stuff to scratch my own itches. knowing that it scratches the itches of 10k people instead of just 1 is the best outcome -- maximized impact.

just a thanks is nice but ultimately lowest effort and not that gratifying.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#80

Post by rattray »

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 wonder if fairly standard reviews might be helpful here. 1-5 stars, with text, and perhaps also links to issues if there are problems and an opportunity to share "used at $company" for endorsement.

Or perhaps just a built-in "endorsement" feature, which companies can use to indicate that they use a project and find it valuable, perhaps listed on the sidebar. Could also segue into paid sponsorship and support.

Insofar as GitHub provides package management, they could also prompt companies to endorse the packages they use.

All of this might get annoying, nasty, or inauthentic, of course. Would need to be careful...

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