LibreOffice and the art of overreacting

Post by peacebeard » Thu, Mar 26, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

jorvi wrote: post #59

ozim wrote: post #19

I disagree with take on Wikipedia or Wikimedia there was a lot of trash talk because they were totally obnoxious with their fundraising. I donated once to Wikipedia and then I was getting Jimmy Wales in my mailbox basically like everyday. That actually drove me away from ever wanting to donate to them. Then there was a lot of talking if they really are so much in need of money but that's different topic. In contrast…

I have this same feeling with donating blood (in most EU countries you don't get paid for this so it is completely charitable). If you have donated blood, every 2-3 months they will send you an e-mail for a new donation cycle. That's fine. But if you don't respond, they will send another reminder. Then a text. Then they will call you. Yes, you can just click the "Not this time" button, and click the reason for denyin…

Post by mikkupikku » Thu, Mar 26, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

alex_duf wrote: post #101

marssaxman wrote: post #100

It's one thing for you to put a banner up on your web page, which I will see when I visit you. I can just choose not to visit, if I don't want to see your message. It's another thing for you to put a banner inside my computer , on the software I use to manage my own data : that ought to be a tool I use for my own purposes, and not a place for you to do what you want. A tool which starts acting as an agent for its dev…

The same way you can decide to not visit a website, you can decide to not use LibreOffice. I think it makes sense, how else are they supposed to fundraise and develop the features that makes the software useful to manage your own data?

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 26, 2026, 4:30 PM UTC

ethin wrote: post #12

I don't understand this immediate reaction. What is it with people getting bitchy the moment a project starts asking for donations? Are people really that greedy that they would want something to be free forever? I mean sure, a corporation like MS might rug-pull like this (the freemium model or worse), but come on, guys, this is the Document Foundation that we're talking about. Unless I missed something massive, they…

Post by aucisson_masque » Thu, Mar 26, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

bartread wrote: post #64

II2II wrote: post #44

I understand that dealing with complaints is annoying, but the response in the article was very unprofessional. Feel free to say what the change is, why it is there, and perhaps even address some of the concerns. But attacking users, even if it is a small segment of the population, does not paint The Document Foundation in a positive light.

The response is fine. Entitlement and, really, some of this crosses the line into bullying of the foundation and the maintainers, should be dealt with robustly. It will help to reset expectations around what's reasonable for the relationship of those developing LibreOffice with the community of users. People need to recognise that they get a huge amount of value out of LibreOffice, for which they aren't required to p…

Post by Orygin » Thu, Mar 26, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

tux3 wrote: post #78

netule wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I donate to Wikipedia on a recurring, monthly basis and don’t get any of this.

Of course, recurring payments work completely differently. A shockingly large fraction of recurring payments are from people who never got around to cancelling it. They're already getting what they want, any email just risks disturbing this situation.