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Open source is not about you (2018)

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Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#21

Lately I'm seeing more and more value in writing down expectations explicitly, especially when people's implicit assumptions about those expectations diverge. The linked gist seems to mostly be describing a misalignment between the expectations of the project owners and its users. I don't know the context, but it seems to have been written in frustration. It does articulate a set of expectations, but it is written in…

> I don't say this to criticize the linked post

What you have written is obviously a criticism of the linked post.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#22
post #19
post #17

[dead]

It's an interesting world for sure, I maintain a somewhat popular package and got a form to fill from a Deloitte consultant about security once. They seemed genuinely confused when I told them I was not going to fill compliance form and make patching commitments for free. Really makes you wonder how many maintainers are letting themselves be taken advantage of.

Maybe that would be a good opportunity to offer them a quote for how much you could do the work for.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#23
Tangent

It's funny how a hobby project becomes "a burden" when you have to consider making it friendly/easy to consume by everyone eg. writing docs from the basics like how to make a venv in python, get your env setup...

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#24
post #19
post #17

[dead]

It's an interesting world for sure, I maintain a somewhat popular package and got a form to fill from a Deloitte consultant about security once. They seemed genuinely confused when I told them I was not going to fill compliance form and make patching commitments for free. Really makes you wonder how many maintainers are letting themselves be taken advantage of.

Missed opportunity here. You could have offered consulting services, $10,000/hour. Compliance form requires at 40 hours of work minimum.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#25
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interesting world for sure, I maintain a somewhat popular package and got a form to fill from a Deloitte consultant about security once. They seemed genuinely confused when I told them I was not going to fill compliance form and make patching commitments for free. Really makes you wonder how many maintainers are letting themselves be taken advantage of.

Maybe that would be a good opportunity to offer them a quote for how much you could do the work for.

Yeah, that's what I do. Anytime anyone from a company sends an email about whatever, who wants me to help them (for their company) in private with something, I ask if they're willing to pay for my time spent on it, maybe 20% says yes. Most of the time they end up getting redirected to use the same venues the rest of the community has access to too.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#26

I think community development with repos out in the open and all that is increasingly a too high cost. I will migrate my little open source projects from GitHub as soon as I can decide on what site to post source code releases (tar.gz). Happy to share my code, but no need for everything to be out in the open.

I fail to see the difference between public on github or public elsewhere.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#27
I dislike this essay so much

I can't say whether it accomplished its original intent, but my experience is that it's held up in really disappointing situations which sit counter to my collectivist values

I have a ton of experience with community-building, and what's espoused in this essay is an attack on the values of that world imho.

My take-home is that there are many conceptions of what "open source" is about, and from where its value flows

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#29

Lately I'm seeing more and more value in writing down expectations explicitly, especially when people's implicit assumptions about those expectations diverge. The linked gist seems to mostly be describing a misalignment between the expectations of the project owners and its users. I don't know the context, but it seems to have been written in frustration. It does articulate a set of expectations, but it is written in…

> I don't say this to criticize the linked post What you have written is obviously a criticism of the linked post.

If I'm criticizing the linked post, then I'm also criticizing myself, because I could easily imagine having written it.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#30

Lately I'm seeing more and more value in writing down expectations explicitly, especially when people's implicit assumptions about those expectations diverge. The linked gist seems to mostly be describing a misalignment between the expectations of the project owners and its users. I don't know the context, but it seems to have been written in frustration. It does articulate a set of expectations, but it is written in…

Agreed, TFA is a good example of how to write down expectations explicitly.

But as far as dinging Hickey for the fact that he eventually needed to write bluntly? I'm not feeling that at all. Some folks feel that open-source teams owe them free work. No amount of explanation will change many of those folks' minds. They understand the arguments. They just don't agree.

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