Ask HN: Thinking of leaving open-source project

[dominicrice]

I'm involved with an Open Source project that has recently been attracting a lot of media attention. I do really like the project but I'm thinking of leaving for the following reasons:

* A lot of people in the project who do little to no work (coding or organisational) seem to have a lot of influence, mainly these are people who were involved in the project from the very start. They email the list with their opinion a lot or give interviews to the media but do nothing in terms of actual work.

* A lot of the real (coding) work being done by a couple of members is very questionable in terms of long-term goals. Nobody feels comfortable calling them out. This would generally be fine but it is affecting the whole direction of the project.

I'm not sure what to do, I feel very uncomfortable discussing this with the other members, I've been involved deeply in the project for 2 years but now I'm thinking it's time to move on. Sorry I can't give any more details on the actual project.

I hate to abandon the project and my friends, but at the same time the stress is starting to affect me negatively. Has anyone been in a similar situation and have some advice to offer?

[bcambel]

* Are you happy ? ( Seems like you are not ) * Do you love what you do ? ( You were ) * Do you see yourself with the project within the next 3 months as they are right now ? * Can you or your friends take charge in the project ? Are you gonna be able to make change ? * Is there anything else important you might want to spend your energy & precious time ? Learning another language/ framework etc ?

If your answers are ( No, No, No, No, Yes); move on my friend. I'm so sure you will find something else to work on.

[dominicrice → bcambel]

(No,Yes,No,Maybe,Yes,Yes)

[davidgerard → dominicrice]

If others feel as you do, it might be time to work on a (cough) feature branch and worse-is-better that sucker.

[bjourne]

Yes. Don't do boring or stressful work for free is my advice. Also, you could receive some more insightful and tuned feedback then that soundbite by telling us who you are and what the project is. For example, if you have written 90% of the code, then you could perhaps fork your own project and retain the contributors you feel are worthwhile.