Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

thechangelog.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 36 posts

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#21

Post by leon_ »

Wow, that post is just wrong.

Open source is not a product. Open source is a community effort. If you don't want to use it - well, it's your problem. No one will shed a tear about it.

If you actually would care about open source you wouldn't be making shitty top10 lists. You would get your ass up and contribute to the project of your choice. If you think twitter is important ... fine! Start a twitter account for that project. Draw fancy icons. Do "SEO". Do something to help. And do something to get rid of that false sense of entitlement.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#22

Post by rbates »

I disagree that GitHub's project pages "suck for SEO". GitHub's pages rank quite highly on Google. A search for "cancan" for example returns my project as the first result. A search for "homebrew" returns GitHub's page as the 3rd result and the custom project page as the 4th result.

Also, creating a separate page for a project means there will no longer be one page for people to link to. Links will be split across the two pages, and links are important for SEO.

I agree a separate project page is great for branding and makes it look like a dedicated, serious project; but I wouldn't do it for SEO purposes.

Otherwise thanks for the great list of ideas.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#24

Post by iuygthn »

amh wrote: post #12

6. You don't have a Twitter Account Seriously? This would never in a million years have crossed my mind as a reason to avoid using something.

Depends on the product - this pitch is aimed at 'cool new web framework' type opensource projects.

If I'm looking for a heavy duty technical library, say 3D mesh generation or image processing I want someone serious behind - preferably with a full time academic job in the field and some papers, more than a twitter account and a cool logo.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#25

Post by adamstac »

leon_ wrote: post #21

Wow, that post is just wrong. Open source is not a product. Open source is a community effort. If you don't want to use it - well, it's your problem. No one will shed a tear about it. If you actually would care about open source you wouldn't be making shitty top10 lists. You would get your ass up and contribute to the project of your choice. If you think twitter is important ... fine! Start a twitter account for that…

I know Wynn and his sense of humor, and I can see how easy it might be to totally miss his comedic tone with the loaded title and seemingly "preechy" top 10 list. When/if you meet him, you will know what I mean after a few minutes into a good chat with him.

I will say though, that Wynn does contribute to Open Source - we all do at The Changelog. He also did apologize in the opening sentence of the first paragraph for the "loaded headline" as a hat tip to Mashable for an article they posted two years ago titled, "FOLLOW FAIL: The Top 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You in Return on Twitter". It's Wynn's character to reference and relate, but I can see how that could be missed. It's hard to "hear" someone's tone in plain text, especially when you are quickly scanning a top 10 list.

This post was more about concrete ways to build community around your code and things you can do to promote your open source projects.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#26

Post by netherland »

rbates wrote: post #22

I disagree that GitHub's project pages "suck for SEO". GitHub's pages rank quite highly on Google. A search for "cancan" for example returns my project as the first result. A search for "homebrew" returns GitHub's page as the 3rd result and the custom project page as the 4th result. Also, creating a separate page for a project means there will no longer be one page for people to link to. Links will be split across th…

Thanks for the comment, Ryan. I think you make my point. If I know the project is called 'cancan,' you're right GitHub results are favored. But when I search for 'ruby authorization,' the only CanCan hit is a blog post from someone else giving an overview of the project.

Love CanCan btw.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#27

Post by rbates »

netherland wrote: post #26
rbates wrote: post #22

I disagree that GitHub's project pages "suck for SEO". GitHub's pages rank quite highly on Google. A search for "cancan" for example returns my project as the first result. A search for "homebrew" returns GitHub's page as the 3rd result and the custom project page as the 4th result. Also, creating a separate page for a project means there will no longer be one page for people to link to. Links will be split across th…

Thanks for the comment, Ryan. I think you make my point. If I know the project is called 'cancan,' you're right GitHub results are favored. But when I search for 'ruby authorization,' the only CanCan hit is a blog post from someone else giving an overview of the project. Love CanCan btw.

Thanks for the clarification. I misunderstood your post as saying GitHub's project pages don't rank well in Google in general. I agree that a custom project page allows you to better target other keywords (such as "authorization") for SEO.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#28

Post by dhimes »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #5
dhimes wrote: post #2

#1,2, and 7: Yes. The others: not so much. When it matures (jQuery) perhaps worrying about branding is in order. But if you are spending your hours making a tool for me to freely use, I'm ok if your design isn't so pretty. And if you don't want to spend much time on Twitter. And ...

I don't think the issue is as much about design as it is about seriousness. Having a homepage for the project, spending some time or money on design and reaching out to the community shows you're committed to the project which will get others to commit. That's the best insurance a user can get against the project being completely abandoned one day. As someone whose tried to use open source whenever possible I can tel…

It's a good list for "What you should be doing to call attention to your open-source project (when it's ready for prime-time)."

The current title reads like: "this is what you owe me if you want me to look at you." Well, ok, but I don't feel that way. I'll use smaller, humbler projects. But I do agree that in doing so I must be prepared for the day that it is no longer updated and the bugs aren't being fixed. I'd certainly feel more comfortable with projects that met most of the lists' criteria, and would be willing to bet more on them for the long haul. But I would still use smaller projects.

Some things (couchdb) seem riskier than others (php), and some very small projects (php-on-couch) seem quite risky indeed. However, I could pick up and go if php-on-couch stalled, I could probably manage if couchdb stalled, but I would be in trouble if php did.

Re: Top ten reasons why I won't use your open source project

#29

Post by juddlyon »

adamstac wrote: post #25
leon_ wrote: post #21

Wow, that post is just wrong. Open source is not a product. Open source is a community effort. If you don't want to use it - well, it's your problem. No one will shed a tear about it. If you actually would care about open source you wouldn't be making shitty top10 lists. You would get your ass up and contribute to the project of your choice. If you think twitter is important ... fine! Start a twitter account for that…

I know Wynn and his sense of humor, and I can see how easy it might be to totally miss his comedic tone with the loaded title and seemingly "preechy" top 10 list. When/if you meet him, you will know what I mean after a few minutes into a good chat with him. I will say though, that Wynn does contribute to Open Source - we all do at The Changelog. He also did apologize in the opening sentence of the first paragraph for…

Wynn is one of the nicest guys around and is very passionate about OSS. He's the polar opposite of entitled or preachy - he writes, codes, interviews, and speaks regularly. Perhaps his linkbait parody missed....
Post reply on HN