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Open source projects should run office hours

simonwillison.net

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Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#231

Post by Supermancho »

throwawinsider wrote: post #193
C4stor wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to the HN rule of "interpret everything with the most positive interpretation possible", when this is the top voted comment ? It seems pretty obvious that the author doesn't intend to coerce anyone into doing anything.

It seems pretty obvious to me that should means should. Pro tip: if you don't mean should, don't write should.

Another pro tip: Never use the word "should".

Avoiding reasoning about the nature of your beliefs (and why others might be subject to those beliefs) is a weakness in thinking.

"Should" is also the easiest way to create a clickbait headline to argue about because there are so many individual interpretations and following justifications of "should".

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#232

Post by lolsal »

simonw wrote: post #172
matkoniecz wrote: post #90

I have deep aversion to "Open source projects should run office hours" title. Maybe "Office hours may be a good idea for open source projects"? This would not suggest obligation. In general, fact that someone created or maintains or supports open source projects should not be considered to create any obligations beyond lack of malice and abuse. I am not obligated to support any bugs, create any features and it is per…

Headline changed to "Open source projects: consider running office hours"

Hey you responded to my comments elsewhere, but I just saw this - this definitely changes the tone for me, thank you!

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#234

Post by kjrose »

simonw wrote: post #219
kjrose wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a clickbait title. That being said the real idea is the freemium consulting concept. Basically open source Devs give free consulting for a short time and then upselling to full on consulting for extended periods at full price. In theory it could be a way to fund open source dev.

It's actually not so much about free consulting where I help them, it's more the other way round: they help me figure out how to improve the software by showing me what they've built or talking about what they want to achieve. It's more of a market research exercise than freemium consulting. That's not to say it couldn't also turn into a profitable exercise through up-selling consultancy, but that's not the primary g…

Oh, I get the idea that the market research has a benefit as well. However, a major issue with Open Source development is funding it so that it becomes self-sustainable, especially for situations where the code requires significant work to keep it up to date.

I feel the gem in this article is the freemium idea for consulting on open source development.

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#235

Post by siegecraft »

cookiengineer wrote: post #15

Isn't this kind of a paradox? Most open source maintainers work in their free time on those projects, and have an additional fulltime job to cover the bills. Assuming that everybody has the luxury to have additional office hours available is a bit far from reality in my opinion. I mean, if you can offer office hours for an open source project you probably are already so popular that you are able to work on it fulltim…

I assumed this was written from the perspective of someone trying to turn an open source project into a paying gig by attracting sponsors, patrons, etc.

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#236

Post by carols10cents »

throwawinsider wrote: post #193
C4stor wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to the HN rule of "interpret everything with the most positive interpretation possible", when this is the top voted comment ? It seems pretty obvious that the author doesn't intend to coerce anyone into doing anything.

It seems pretty obvious to me that should means should. Pro tip: if you don't mean should, don't write should.

Pro tip: the best RFC is 2119 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#237

Post by alex-mohr »

Something similar is one reason early Kubernetes was successful: many of the core people in the project were in an irc/slack channel available for anyone with questions.

That direct two-way communication both unblocked adoption for users and was a source of feedback for the devs.

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#238

Post by carols10cents »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #3

I've had massive success with this in ML. My twitter DMs have become almost-daily office hour sessions with people trying to solve hard ML problems. The last fellow was so happy he venmo'd me $250 after I merely asked for "pay whatever you thought that was worth." Apparently putting "DMs open" in your twitter bio is an excellent way to meet new people. Also, tweet (often!) about what you're working on. Post lots of q…

"DMs open" in your twitter bio as a woman is an excellent way to get lots of "hello" messages from randos...

Re: Open source projects should run office hours

#240

Post by ghaff »

Supermancho wrote: post #231
throwawinsider wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems pretty obvious to me that should means should. Pro tip: if you don't mean should, don't write should.

Another pro tip: Never use the word "should". Avoiding reasoning about the nature of your beliefs (and why others might be subject to those beliefs) is a weakness in thinking. "Should" is also the easiest way to create a clickbait headline to argue about because there are so many individual interpretations and following justifications of "should".

Depending upon the context, "should" can run the gamut of "here's an idea that you might want to consider" to "you have a serious moral failing if you don't do things this way."
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