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Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

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Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#11

Post by nodata »

robflynn wrote: post #7

I spent a good many years managing and developing a popular open source project. While most of our users were/are good individuals, there were certainly some nasty ones in the bunch. I remember being cursed at many a time simply for politely refusing to implement whatever random feature a user requested. If a bug were to come up in the software, there were times where threats and/or demands were made that I fix the b…

Where does this idea of "owing" somebody something come into it?

If a user is unreasonably forcing a bug to be fixed, okay. But the "owing" part?

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#12

Post by gruuk »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #6
wladimir wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or pay the developers for "diligent support". Many open source projects offer some kind of paid support or commercial license. A lot of people seem to expect fully fledged support for free, and that's pretty crazy. If you want "free support" you either need to be able to fix it yourself or get on good terms with the developer. In any case, don't be a dick.

Well said. So if its mission-critical, expect to take support in-house or pay for it. Or don't use it. Is there some clearinghouse of OSS support suppliers?

> So if its mission-critical, expect to take support in-house or pay for it

Pretty much true of any software, proprietary or not; only a blind optimist or someone with deep pockets will use a mission-critical piece of software without developing in-house expertise. Also, free online resources are available for both. We use a mix of proprietary and OSS products here and we've found that paid support is somewhat better for proprietary (easier to get, though quality varies extensively), but free support is typically better for OSS products.

Still, the main benefits of OSS have little to do with free support, though it is a nice bonus. I've thanked many developers for their time spent not only creating a program/system I use, but also for supporting it. Especially for small projects, sending a few good words and a few bucks (when you can afford to) shows the devs their efforts are appreciated.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#13

Post by robflynn »

nodata wrote: post #11
robflynn wrote: post #7

I spent a good many years managing and developing a popular open source project. While most of our users were/are good individuals, there were certainly some nasty ones in the bunch. I remember being cursed at many a time simply for politely refusing to implement whatever random feature a user requested. If a bug were to come up in the software, there were times where threats and/or demands were made that I fix the b…

Where does this idea of "owing" somebody something come into it? If a user is unreasonably forcing a bug to be fixed, okay. But the "owing" part?

People are really strange when it comes to free stuff.

A friend of mine decided one day to buy a bunch of donuts and hand them out to some folks waiting in a long line out in the cold.

Most people were very thankful or even surprised that someone would do such a thing. A small subset of people complained that he only bought one kind of donut, or complained that he didn't also purchase coffee for them.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#15

Post by huntern »

jamesu wrote: post #10

To me an open source project is 1% about the code and 99% about the community. Without a good community, you might as well not bother open sourcing the code.

Agreed. That's a huge attraction for me as well, the people around it, working with them, and seeing the product(s) take shape.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#16

Post by DanBC »

wladimir wrote: post #5
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

...or try not to get into the situation where your financial/employment status is in the hands of volunteers. (Don't use OS for important things that require diligent support)

Or pay the developers for "diligent support". Many open source projects offer some kind of paid support or commercial license. A lot of people seem to expect fully fledged support for free, and that's pretty crazy. If you want "free support" you either need to be able to fix it yourself or get on good terms with the developer. In any case, don't be a dick.

> A lot of people seem to expect fully fledged support for free, and that's pretty crazy

It gets worse; A lot of those people expect fully fledged support for trivial "problems" which are clearly explained in the help file (that ships with the product) on the website, in the forums, and in a wiki. And they'll be dicks about it too.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#17

Post by gbog »

jamesu wrote: post #10

To me an open source project is 1% about the code and 99% about the community. Without a good community, you might as well not bother open sourcing the code.

I don't know how far this is true. I just checked Vim, which for me seem to be written mostly by one person (but I may be wrong here). Anyway, I'm quite sure there are some useful open source project which don't have a big community of developers. FSlint is one I use sometime.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#18

Post by Ein2015 »

robflynn wrote: post #9
starwed wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idly curious: is there a reason you don't just mention the name of the project? (I'm assuming Pidgin.)

I mentioned it initially but went back and removed it. I couldn't decide if the stating the project specifically was relevant or not. I often over analyze what I'm posting here for some reason. It was Pidgin, but back when it was called gaim. The pidgin transition occurred while I was leaving. I stuck around long enough to participate in deciding on the new name / logo / branding and then handed everything over to Se…

Oh wow. I've used your work almost every day for many years now. Thank you.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#19

Post by _delirium »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #4

...or try not to get into the situation where your financial/employment status is in the hands of volunteers. (Don't use OS for important things that require diligent support)

I've found this to depend more on the project and leaders than open-source vs. proprietary status. For example, I've been quite happy with the responses I've gotten to bugs submitted to Debian, some of which have been fixed on the same day--- which has never happened when I've reported bugs to any other operating-system vendor. With most of the commercial software I use (Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, etc.), I'm lucky if it's at all possible to reach anybody and get a response, much less a fix, even with a quite specific, reproducible test case. Heck, even GNU Octave's team, while understaffed, is more responsive than Matlab's, and we pay some mega-$$$ for a Matlab site license.

Re: Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

#20

Post by statictype »

robflynn wrote: post #13
nodata wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does this idea of "owing" somebody something come into it? If a user is unreasonably forcing a bug to be fixed, okay. But the "owing" part?

People are really strange when it comes to free stuff. A friend of mine decided one day to buy a bunch of donuts and hand them out to some folks waiting in a long line out in the cold. Most people were very thankful or even surprised that someone would do such a thing. A small subset of people complained that he only bought one kind of donut, or complained that he didn't also purchase coffee for them.

Great comment. Sums up the full range of humanity concisely - Generous people going out of their way to be awesome, normal people appreciative of someone being awesome, and whiners who manage to find something to complain about anyway.
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