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Open source is not about you (2018)

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Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#31
post #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...

I get that. I am a non-programmer who vibe codes personal web apps for Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon TCG. I turn them into github pages for easy access for myself.

I don't share them with my hobby communities because I don't want to hear feedback because I don't want these finished projects to become eternal projects.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think some might get the impression that you're complaining about Hickey's tone. Perhaps your emotional terms "frustration," "defensive," and "exasperated" may be the reason.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#33
post #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…

I think "Open source is a licensing and delivery mechanism, period." is a statement that bears repeating.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#34

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.

codeberg is run as a foundation with the explicit aim to help open source projects prosper

github is run by microsoft to sell tools to your CEO with the ultimate aim of making you redundant

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#35
post #31
post #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...

I get that. I am a non-programmer who vibe codes personal web apps for Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon TCG. I turn them into github pages for easy access for myself. I don't share them with my hobby communities because I don't want to hear feedback because I don't want these finished projects to become eternal projects.

Curious what does your app do/web app? And how good is the vibe coding part, do you generally get what you're trying to achieve in first few runs?

That's cool you're able to make what you want with that tech.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#36
post #17

[dead]

The other common “entitlement” is getting miffed when their suggested enhancement isn't something that you intend to do, or will/might get done but is very low priority so it won't be soon. Common responses are to suggest that you should reconsider “for the community”⁰, or start a moaning campaign on social media to try to get others to chip in and nag you. Or “threaten” to use something else instead, which always amused me¹ [way back] when I had some f/oss stuff out there.

Expecting quick responses to security issues is one thing, and perfectly acceptable IMO, but new features/enhancements or major changes (that might break other workflows, most importantly mine!) is quite another.

---------

[0] My response years ago when I had f/oss code out there was sometimes “why don't you do it for the community, and submit a patch?” which usually got an indignant response. Though these days if I ever publish code again it'll be on more of an “open source not open contribution” basis, so I'd not be accepting patches like that and my response would be more along the lines of “feel free to fork and DIY”.

[1] So, if I do the thing I don't want to do right now, you'll stay and probably keep making demands, and if I don't do the thing that I don't want to do right now, you'll go away and bother someone else? Let me think about that…

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#39
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think some might get the impression that you're complaining about Hickey's tone. Perhaps your emotional terms "frustration," "defensive," and "exasperated" may be the reason.

I don't see anything wrong with the way he expressed himself, and I think his point is totally legitimate. I mostly just felt bad that he experienced so much grief about it, on account of a gift he was offering to the world.

Re: Open source is not about you (2018)

#40

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.

No public version control. No issues or pull requests or other social features. Like every project, more or less, before GitHub or Sourceforge.
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