

Don't feel guilty about not contributing to open source - jvns
http://jvns.ca/blog/2014/04/26/i-dont-feel-guilty-about-not-contributing-to-open-source/

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dmethvin
Why do people always focus on the _code_ part? Even when the code is written
in a language you don't understand, you can contribute by making the
documentation, install process, or general community better.

In the article one of the questions asked is, "Is the documentation good?" If
it's not, but you use and like the project, _that_ is your opportunity.
Perhaps you can see there are a lot of bugs filed, but nobody is triaging
them. Even when you don't know the programming language the project uses,
getting or making reproducible test cases for bugs is something you can do.

I completely agree with the "relatedness" aspect. If you're not using a
project in your day-to-day work it's hard to stay involved with it. The best
Open Source developers are those who understand the perspective of the users,
because they _are_ a user.

~~~
davidy123
It seems "just" using open source code is unglamourous in this industry.
Everyone wants to create it, which leads to too many solutions to the same
problems and not enough support for any one. Organizations that simply use
open source need to receive more respect.

~~~
nkurz
_Organizations that simply use open source need to receive more respect._

Could you explain? While there are other ways of contributing than just
supplying code, to gain my respect organizations must contribute something
back. I don't see how the world as a whole benefits when a company uses "open
source" instead buying something commercial or developing their own solution.
It may be a smart choice, but not one that should garner additional respect.

