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Just Wanted to Say Thanks

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Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#221

Post by bartvk »

nicbou wrote: post #141
delgaudm wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 repl…

The website already earns enough. Donations wouldn't make a big difference, so I don't feel comfortable directly asking for them. Nonetheless, I'll give it a try. Thank you for the suggestion!

Think of it this way. I really like donating to free software. But sometimes I have to actively hunt for a donation link. So in my opinion, it would be good to low-key advertise it whenever appropriate.

Also, while we're on the subject: I would love it, if free software came with a token product. For example: a "star" tier that shows up in your online profile, or something. This way, people can donate and make it into a business expense.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#222

Post by enw »

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…

Is there a psychological explanation as to why criticism is more prevalent?

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#223

Post by cutemonster »

scoot wrote: post #48
OJFord wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What's awkward about it?

(I haven't used it yet)

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#224

Post by atoav »

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.

#1 can be written to more than one person

#2 can be combined with #1 to let them know

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#225

Post by yoricm »

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.

Personally, a text area is the only thing I need to express my gratitude. I'm doubtful about a UI that would "encourage" it. The last time I wrote on a GitHub issue, I started my message with a warm thankful line to the maintainer for his fabulous work. I meant it, and I didn't need any "reminder" to say so. It felt natural and important to me. I also put relevant informations to show my interest and the time I spent thinking about it. In the end, I believe it's more about the person posting, rather than the interface encouraging it, but I may be wrong.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#226

Post by da39a3ee »

kostarelo wrote: post #126
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #90

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 anoth…

On every retrospective session we do, every other week, there is an additional column called “stars” or “heros” and we add a note each there giving praises to someone else for something they did those two weeks. We then read them all out followed by a round of applause for each one of them. It brings great positivity to the team.

I think you've missed the point. The article was about genuine emotions.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#227

Post by vinay_ys »

kostarelo wrote: post #126
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #90

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 anoth…

On every retrospective session we do, every other week, there is an additional column called “stars” or “heros” and we add a note each there giving praises to someone else for something they did those two weeks. We then read them all out followed by a round of applause for each one of them. It brings great positivity to the team.

Sounds like a psychological conditioning (behavior modification) regimen. Beware, it has a very sharp slippery slope towards unethical conditions.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#228

Post by vinay_ys »

J5892 wrote: post #171
berkes wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear you. But having once worked with team-members who take critique at anything, personally, I feel there is more to this. I always try to praise a person. But I also want to "reserve all rights" to say that a codebase is crap or a choice made in the past was evidently a bad choice. Finding the balance to critique work that a person contributed to, without criticising that person itself, is hard. A true challenge,…

I've found that if part of a codebase is truly shoddy or just plain badly written, the developer who wrote it generally knows how bad it is, or at least that it's not up to snuff. Criticizing the code itself (with useful feedback), and not the person who wrote it, gives them a chance to own up to it if they're comfortable with doing that. And if not, you're still able to improve the codebase without directly calling…

For someone to see your criticism as objective, the objective standard should be established ahead of time. For design/code reviews this means having coding standards/guidelines and training everyone to stick to them – rules of the game are known ahead of time to all participants. Then it is much easier to convince someone that it is objective feedback.

A critical skill for a senior engineer in a team is to define and establish such standards for the team. Rather than reacting to each design/code review, taking the time to setup these process mechanisms is a lot more productive and healthy for everyone involved.

This requires strategic thinking (a skill that comes with practice) towards how you choose to spend your time at work to accomplish anything.

Re: Just Wanted to Say Thanks

#230

Post by plibither8 »

rsync wrote: post #220
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #90

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 anoth…

"I’ve learned that when I have a positive thought about someone, it’s generally worth communicating it." I've started to do this on a regular, almost daily basis. If I come across something that sparks joy or interest - usually something I find here, on HN - I reach out to the author and let them know with a personal email. I also sometimes offer a free-forever-no-strings-attached rsync.net account on the off chance…

I've been using rsync for months now to backup my files onto Google Drive, but that's hardly ideal. Ideally, I'd want to self-host or use a storage service other than Google Drive, but as a student I've got barely any money to spend on subscriptions.
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