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So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

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Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#131

Post by kilburn »

nevernude wrote: post #31
akudha wrote: post #26

In one of my previous jobs, my CTO asked me who I thought was the most important person in the company was. I wasn’t sure. He pointed to the lady who was responsible for entering and maintaining data, on which the entire business was built upon. She was a quiet person, who did her job exceptionally well. Yet, most people didn’t know her or didn’t realize her importance. I am certain she wasn’t paid that well either.…

But the thing is he DID ask for help, quite a few times and was only met with the hate and vitriol you mentioned. Depressing indeed.

You have to ask to the appropriate forum though, and that's what he got completely wrong. Getting npm to scream for help when a developer installs your package is equivalent to asking your peer for a raise.

I'd say that over 99.999% of the people who saw that message, created memes about it, etc.. did not have a corporate credit card and the power to use it at their discretion. If you want money from corps, THOSE are the guys you need to find and ask money from.

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#132

Post by szastamasta »

I’m very sorry for the guy. He really should focus on his family well being.

Open source is not feeding of the poor nor helping victims of crime. People give it too much emotional weight and think that it’s important for the whole human kind. But it’s not. It’s just some nice to have utility. And, to be honest, it’s not the OS as it used to be. Now it’s mostly big corps wanting some internet fame or free labor or companies wanting to use your software for free. If you do it for fame or better job, sure, try your luck. But don’t base your income on it. It has almost never worked.

I wish you all the best Denis. Hope it all ends good for you. Please don’t feel sorry if you abandon the project. You gave people something good and don’t owe them anything. And don’t be worried, no one will suffer if you do it. It might sound harsh, bit it’s also relieving. You are not responsible for internet people inconvenience.

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#134

Post by EugeneOZ »

SergeAx wrote: post #69

I do understand that not a lot of people here really understand the sheer direness of his situation. He stuck in Russia because of unsettled problems regarding his conviction. He almost certainly cannot immigrate into most of the countries because of said conviction - to have a work permit one have to provide a certificate of good conduct. He is cut off most options to receive money from abroad and several means to r…

HN is a little bit more “filtered” place: on Reddit and Twitter there are enough people who hate him just for the sake of hatred. He is Russian - they call him “fascist”. He has a road accident - they are intentionally omitting a little detail that a victim was crawling the road at night.

I didn't know about the memes and Twitter jokes. Even after that post, people still try to blame him.

I’m pretty sure this situation will convince some developers to instantly stop maintaining their OSS projects - and the world deserves it.

I would understand some criticism or not politely worded bug reports (especially from young users), but hatred... All of this filth... Today I’ve been disappointed in developers a lot.

I really wish Denis to stop maintaining core-js and find a real job. Haters will get what they were fighting for, his family will get the money.

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#135

Post by __m »

green_on_black wrote: post #21
phpnode wrote: post #16

It's definitely time for him to let this project go, working on it is a literally thankless task and the level of entitlement shown towards his work has been infuriating to watch. The outrage towards him daring to ask the community for help , something done in an act of desperation, is a real wake up call for open source maintainers - the community doesn't give a fuck about you, they want your code and they want it f…

The guy literally went to prison when he didn't have to. Holy shit.

At least that's how he frames it

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#136

Post by ebjaas_2022 »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #128
ploxiln wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. But I think it also shows a common misunderstanding of "open source" (and even "free software"). What he did was incredibly valuable to a huge number of successful people and corporations. But no one owes him anything. That's the point of open source. If they did owe him something, they wouldn't have used it. They used it because it was great, it was established/known, it was available with no strings attached w…

> But no one owes him anything. I strongly disagree. Only because so many people feel that he owes them something.

It's the nature of most types of volunteering work. If you sign up to be the conductor of your local choir, you have the same thing. People start expecting you to do stuff. If you're going to be in that role, as ploxiln says, you need to be OK with that part of it. You have to be OK with the thanklessness of the task, and you have to seek your rewards elsewhere. Still, I feel very sorry for zloirock, and I hope that he gets some kind of compensation for his work, at least enough to get his life back together.

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#137

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

politician wrote: post #54

If he weren’t Russian and subject to OFAC sanctions, I would gladly wire him $1000 tonight if he would give up this project. The web is utterly broken. This one guy is enabling a multi-billion dollar advertising ecosystem for nothing? Absolutely insane.

> If he weren’t Russian and subject to OFAC sanctions

Wrong. OFAC has sanctioned a number of Russian individuals and entities, including many of the country's banks. OFAC has _not_ sanctioned all Russians.

Check for yourself at https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov

Man up and send him the money. You can figure it out.

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#138

Post by jabl »

karlshea wrote: post #97
ricardobeat wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Babel has four paid developers, an almost $200k/year budget and hundreds of contributors. I'm sure that's enough to maintain the polyfills, if someone else wasn't already doing it for free - not to throw shade on them, but that's reality (not one I particularly like). I do agree with that second statement. It is unfortunate that he got into this situation, but there is absolutely no reason to continue if it's not wor…

If you would have read the article, you would have seen the image from a Babel maintainer saying they won't fork because they don't have the resources to maintain it.

If the coreJS maintainer stops working on it and it bitrots for a year or two, maybe the babel people will magically find the manpower to maintain it then. As it stands, why should they spend their time maintaining a fork of a project that is still maintained and in good shape?

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#139

Post by yunohn »

white_dragon88 wrote: post #130
cyral wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - The idea that companies would pay for a JS library that is patching browser support is wild. Companies make more money by having their websites work in older browsers. If it wasn't for core-js, they would be paying developer time to write polyfills or compile and maintain them from various other single polyfill packages. Surely if they are willing to pay developers to do this in return for increased profits they…

Polyfills aren’t some dark art, a 2nd year comp sci student could write them quickly as needed.

Your attitude/POV is common, and yet no one has built a comparable competitor to core-js?

Maybe you are wrong then, and could show some empathy.

Re: So what’s next (personal news from developer of popular CoreJS polyfill)

#140

Post by 5e92cb50239222b »

__m wrote: post #135
green_on_black wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy literally went to prison when he didn't have to. Holy shit.

At least that's how he frames it

The court documents on that case are publicly available if you're willing to look for them (and can read Russian). I haven't read everything, but I didn't see anything contradicting his side of the story.
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