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Discussion on: How can open source contributors and maintainers engage in a respectful ongoing relationship?

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stereobooster profile image
stereobooster • • Edited

I had been in both camps:

In user camp

  • When you get annoyed that some bug is not fixed for years (there are famous tickets, like 7 years old)
  • When you with the best intention open a ticket to improve something and it is got rejected
  • When you solve the problem yourself and provide PR, but it's not got merged for months
    • Then you close some of your PRs, so the author could focus on most important one for you and author get mad because you closed PR too soon
  • When you decide to fork some open-source to introduce your fix and end up maintaining it yourself

In maintainer camp

  • When people open tickets without reproducible details, even when your template asks for it
  • When people ask you to solve their problem for them (which is out of the scope of your project)
  • When I don't have time or moral powers to answer tickets or review PRs

Solution

I have no idea, but some thoughts:

  • sometimes maintaining is way too much work for one person to do on their free time
  • code of conduct
  • understanding that open-source is not when somebody is doing something for you for free. Open-source is life philosophy - you can use somebody's work and ask for help, but you need to give away something in return. Nobody owes you a thing, the author may decide to help you, but as well can refuse without any explanations.
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cescquintero profile image
Francisco Quintero 🇨🇴 •

Open-source is life philosophy - you can use somebody's work and ask for help, but you need to give away something in return. Nobody owes you a thing, the author may decide to help you, but as well can refuse without any explanations.

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