4 ms·

If they're paying me (or if they're contributing in some way), I'll accept a certain level of belligerence. It's the assholes who think I'm gonna put up with th

If they're paying me (or if they're contributing in some way), I'll accept a certain level of belligerence. It's the assholes who think I'm gonna put up with their crap for free that most chap my hide, and I suspect OSS is unique in just how entitled people can be for something they got for free. What's interesting is that people who pay or people who contribute are, on average, nicer to us than the people who don't.

js2 9y ago
> What's interesting is that people who pay or people who contribute are, on average, nicer to us than the people who don't. This should not be at all surprising. It's often mentioned on HN that you get rid of the worst customers by charging more. This is not peculiar to OSS either.
redler 9y ago
It being "free", in a certain sense, makes it invaluable—a blank canvas on which the ungrateful have the opportunity to each paint their own vision of its worth. Something priced at one dollar is worth a buck, but at zero it's priceless, so there's no specific psychological cap on the well of entitlement for a certain kind of unreflective user.
- dennykane 9y ago
  This is just a poetic, very well thought out comment. Nice syntax, too, with the long dash. The only quibble might be the comma outside of the quotations, but that seems to be more of a regional, stylistic thing than a hard-and-fast rule. Also, it might make more sense for there to be "no specific psychological floor in the well of entitlement" rather than the way it is currently worded. But overall, very, very nice indeed!
kartan 9y ago
> It's the assholes who think I'm gonna put up with their crap for free that most chap my hide, and I suspect OSS is unique in just how entitled people can be for something they got for free. Some people is entitled. Period. They have the same attitude when they pay, when they get something for free, when they are right and when they are wrong. And these people are the ones that ruin it for everyone.

js2 9y ago

> What's interesting is that people who pay or people who contribute are, on average, nicer to us than the people who don't. This should not be at all surprising. It's often mentioned on HN that you get rid of the worst customers by charging more. This is not peculiar to OSS either.

redler 9y ago

It being "free", in a certain sense, makes it invaluable—a blank canvas on which the ungrateful have the opportunity to each paint their own vision of its worth. Something priced at one dollar is worth a buck, but at zero it's priceless, so there's no specific psychological cap on the well of entitlement for a certain kind of unreflective user.

dennykane 9y ago
This is just a poetic, very well thought out comment. Nice syntax, too, with the long dash. The only quibble might be the comma outside of the quotations, but that seems to be more of a regional, stylistic thing than a hard-and-fast rule. Also, it might make more sense for there to be "no specific psychological floor in the well of entitlement" rather than the way it is currently worded. But overall, very, very nice indeed!

kartan 9y ago

> It's the assholes who think I'm gonna put up with their crap for free that most chap my hide, and I suspect OSS is unique in just how entitled people can be for something they got for free. Some people is entitled. Period. They have the same attitude when they pay, when they get something for free, when they are right and when they are wrong. And these people are the ones that ruin it for everyone.