
The secret life of open source developers [video] - chippy
https://media.ccc.de/v/bucharest-322-the-secret-life-of-open-source-developers
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tonyjstark
I once got a mail for a free software I published: "You're product sucks, I
don't like it, why are you even doing this? There are much better alternatives
out there.".

So what to do with that? I have to admit that this mail really stung for a
while. Maybe I should have asked, why it sucked for this person, but then, why
should I care about someone rude?

It didn't take me long to learn that some percentage of people tend to behave
badly, especially on the internet and I can't do anything about it. I don't
even exclude myself, I also wrote things to support addresses that I regret
now. Overall, when I release something in the open now I do it because either
I don't care, it's good for my image or I hope that people like it. I ignore
rude comments and enjoy the happy ones. You would hope that people that know
about OSS would be more considerate but they just aren't, free-loaders exist
everywhere, it's a human problem, but it's also no reason to not stay
idealistic.

EDIT: typo

~~~
fenomas
I got a weird reverse one a few years back, to the effect of "your result is
great, best I've seen, but the code is awful and I think you're not a good
developer". What can you do? I just said something like "thanks, if you have
any specific feedback please open an issue".

One thing that's nice about getting this via GitHub is, at least the rude
comment maybe gets a couple of :thumbsdown:s on it, which can help you brush
it off.

~~~
hnlmorg
I used to really care about my own code quality in OSS but these days I just
think it's a miracle if I manage to write _any_ code (for the same reasons
described in that video: full time job + family and other social obligations,
eg I also do volunteer work most weekends).

The way I see it, writing working code is more important than writing "good"
code most of the time. That's not to say I don't try and follow some degree of
standards. My code usually contains a crap load of tests, definitely tries to
follow the language idioms, etc. But I just don't try and get clever where I
don't need to. Sometimes this means code isn't well optimised - however I can
pick that up in a subsequent bug fix if that particular feature proves useful
/ popular.

Thus I have had one or two people comment before saying "it's not very well
coded" and I usually just reply "it's very much living project where some code
is working POC and other code has been rewritten and improved (sometimes many
times over). However if you have any specific concerns or tips, I'd welcome
them. Or better yet, chuck me a PR"

~~~
noonespecial
Funny thing about that: Complainers always seem to think that the code that
they could have written but didn't is better than the code that you could
write and did. The trifling fact that theirs does not, in fact, _exist_ never
seems to register with them.

------
jchw
There are many reasons why I use open source, but far and away one of the
biggest reasons is simply the power it gives you as a user. I know it’s a
cliche but if there's a problem you want fixed, you really can go and fix it,
and everyone else benefits. Once you have a full community, this becomes
extremely powerful.

The thing is, though, I really only work on things in a more selfish manner.
For example, I’ve been contributing a bit to a very cool project called Kaitai
Struct. But as cool as it is, I’m contributing for myself, on things I
personally care about.

If you work at a company and you are bickering with open source maintainers,
you’re really missing the point of open source. If it’s costing you money,
then it was _making_ you money. Give a tiny bit of effort back, and you
benefit yourself and incidentally everyone else too. It’s a win-win, and you
won’t get blocked on Twitter. If you/your company genuinely can’t spare the
expense of spending a few engineer hours a week on FOSS, but also can’t afford
to buy support contracts or pay for commercial software, that really seems
like a problem, doesn’t it?

Disclaimer: I probably do not do enough open source work to really speak with
authority. If you want to judge for yourself, I am jchv on Github.

------
wiz21c
Hmmmm I dunno...

You make software available to other people, for free. But it's for them to
use it (else, what's the point ?). So you're exposing yourself to _users_ and
users behave like users.

It's not because you give away something for free that its value (and the way
that value is recognized, for example, by being polite) is any different.

The only thing you get by making it is the right, as a creator, to make it the
way you want. That's the freedom you get (and what a beautiful one). But it
doesn't give you any power on those who'll use it (well, except for the
license); in particular, you have no power to make the users polite.

Now, of course, I prefer to talk with people who are polite and who express
gratitude for the work I do for free. And of course I don't like rude people.
But making FOSS doesn't change the human nature of you users. Even if you put
hard work in it, you sacrifice a bit of your life...

So, the overall tone of the presentation seems a bit off to me. I would have
preferred something like : here's why we do it, what motivates us, the
success, the failures,... But the user, well, they just are what they are,
software can't fix that.

(in case you wonder, yes, I've made some open source projects, one success, on
failure and guess what, the success, at least to me, was measured by the
number of users).

~~~
notacoward
> it doesn't give you any power

The mistake is thinking it's about power. It's about aligning goals. A lot of
the individual motivation for OSS is about making the world (what the
developer believes is) a better place. Things that contribute to that vision
are welcome; things that distract from it are not. The first category includes
detailed bug reports and feature requests consistent with the software's
existing direction. The second includes vague bug reports and requests for
features that the developers don't believe in. Try demanding that security
software should include a back door and see what kind of reception that gets.

The problem isn't that asking developers to do things for you is rude by
itself. You can ask politely, they can decline politely, end of story. It's
not even that _pestering_ developers after such a refusal is rude, even though
that's obviously the case. The problem is that such an approach isn't very
_effective_. If you can convince the developers that fixing your problem is
consistent with their own vision of how to make the project fulfill its
existing goals, that's much more effective than mere badgering. If you want
someone to do something for you, in _any_ context, it's better to have them
think of you as a collaborator than as someone who just makes demands.

~~~
shashankp
Right, so once you start "aligning goals", the concept of power and power
itself just snaps out of existence, and the contributor ceases to be a human
being and transcends into a divine roadmap.

------
neves
I'm curious: where the "secret life of" comes from? The earlier example that I
could find was "the secret life of plants" a Stevie Wonder music.

~~~
pramsey
I'd guess "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", which is actually about his
daydreams, his internal secret life, not some real world life behind closed
doors.

------
lsofzz
Definitely a good refresher video. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind
that its important to re-visit what we take for granted every single day and
at the least be appreciative of all the amazing value open source software
community brings.

