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Just Wanted to Say Thanks

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Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#81

Post by darkerside »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #74
atoav wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So do both, letting them know about #2 in #1?

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#82

Post by ksec »

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 guess that is one features Github should "try" and work. Somewhere that users can express their gratitude ( in a non subtle way ) Sometimes it isn't just a dollar of sponsor, but people explaining what problem they had, how it help them, and notes of thanks.

After all, Github is more like a Social Coding Platform.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#83

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

rglullis wrote: post #59
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 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.

Yeah that’s the issue: “star” doesn’t have clearly defined semantics, so everyone uses them in their own way. In addition to bookmarking, I do star for gratitude because having repos with stars is very advantageous for contributors. I really appreciate getting stars on many levels.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#84

Post by bamboleo »

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?

Might thought exactly. I wonder if GitHub would change Star to Thanks.

Unstar however would become “No thanks”

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#85

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

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)

I do that sometimes. I sent an email recently to thank the author of XLD [0], an excellent piece of software hosted on Sourceforge, where I don’t have an account. I wouldn’t say it’s about low effort, so much as not taxing the recipient: with an email a person may feel more compelled to reply than with an opened and immediately closed issue.

[0] https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#87

Post by dochtman »

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 like to open issues or PRs I file with a note of appreciation, piggy backing on other feedback I have without opening a separate issue.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#88

Post by delgaudm »

nicbou wrote: post #51

I've been on the receiving end of such gratitude, and it always brightens my day. It's easy to think your hard work isn't noticed, until you realize how seldom you acknowledge other people's work. Unfortunately, explicit gratitude is very rare. Donations are even rarer. The "ask a question" and "support this site" buttons on my website are next to each other. I get 15 questions for every donation. About 30€ per 100 0…

>Those who email me with questions never donate.

Can you ask them to? It's not exactly the same problem, but I have a modestly successful youtube channel, and I get unsolicited email questions seeking help every day, and I personally try and answer all that I can. I've used the following technique and it helped me receive donations to offset the support effort.

I added a quiet but clear call to action my support replies. It's in a smaller font and below the actual support reply, but it significantly increased the number of donations, and it helps offset my support time. I went from getting no donations, to donations on over 80% of the support questions I answer. Maybe this would work for you too.

Here is what I add at the bottom of help questions I receive:

----

As you might expect, I get a lot of requests for help. If you found my response helpful, a small donation for my time is totally optional, but appreciated so that I can continue to offer it as a service. http://buymeacoffee.com/boothjunkie

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#89

Post by vidarh »

oshea64bit wrote: post #86

Maybe rebranding GitHub Sponsors as not just a means of giving money but one-off "thank you" messages would be a decent approach to encouraging gratitude in open source.

There's Ko-fi [1] which seems to be positioning itself pretty much as a low-pressure "buy someone a coffee" option for showing support more than as about the money. I'm very interested in to what extent that influences donations.

[1] https://ko-fi.com/

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#90

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

I’ve learned that when I have a positive thought about someone, it’s generally worth communicating it. If I think a coworker saved me on some project, I tell them. If my partner is making me feel warm and fuzzy, I tell her. If someone impresses me, I say so. I don’t think people express these things nearly as often as they feel them, and I expect that many of the positive things that do end up communicated have another motive behind them. Simple earnest positive comments are very much worthwhile.
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