One day I got a pull request for one of my GitHub projects. It was unexpected. The project is an encrypted backup solution, written in Rust. It's very WIP (h

One day I got a pull request for one of my GitHub projects. It was unexpected. The project is an encrypted backup solution, written in Rust. It's very WIP (https://github.com/fpgaminer/preserve https://github.com/fpgaminer/preserve). The pull request was unexpected because I haven't really advertised the project; it's very rough around the edges. This wonderful fellow added additional backend support to the code; it's a rather huge diff; lots of work on their part. It made me feel really good to know that someone thought my project was worth that effort. I let the requester know that I was quite busy and wouldn't be able to get around to reviewing and merging the pull request for awhile. That was ... I dunno, several months ago now. I feel really bad. Every time I go over my TODO list I see it and just ... just feel awful about not having gotten 'round to it yet. Part of me feels bad because, for me, when I make pull requests against projects, I check the status of the pull requests obsessively. It's a bit of vanity I suppose; validation that someone else likes my code and work enough to fold it into their grander project. It's silly, because I don't ultimately need the validation. I accomplish enough in my career, but ... I still get a thrill from having my pull requests merged, silly or not. So I feel bad, because I figure this person probably feels the same way and is wondering why, after all this time, I couldn't be bothered to merge the request. Part of me feels bad because I want to cultivate a healthy open source presence for myself. Why? I'm not sure, actually. But regardless, having pull requests sit open in my repos for months on end is not really helping foster any sort of reputation for myself; at least not a good one. And part of me feels bad because that project ... I care about that project. It's actually really useful for me. But I haven't worked on its code in forever. Outside of my professional work I have the hardest time finishing projects. I've always been like that, always jumping from one idea to the next. The "Archived Projects" folder on my computer is probably 1000+ thick now with half finished things. All cool, interesting things. Unlike the article's author, I don't have an excuse really. It used to be that I was too busy. I worked at a startup, and I'm sure most people here on HN can appreciate how much free time that left me. But now that that startup is behind me I've taken some time off to recharge my batteries. I don't have an excuse not to work on the things I want to work on, other than when I sit down at my computer and ask myself "What should I work on today?" my mind jumps to whatever the flavor du jour is in my litany of ideas. Always something new; never anything completed. I'll get around to reviewing the pull request and merge it one day. I really will. But it won't make me feel better, because it sat there rotting for months. And I don't think the pull request's author will be happy either. They'll probably be surprised I even remembered. "[I]t's OK to neglect a project for a while" doesn't make me feel better. Knowing that it's charity doesn't make me feel better. I put way too much of my value into these projects...