4 ms·

Ah, the passive-aggressive old school OSS defence. That's not an argument, that's basic herd mentality and can literally apply to any kind of critic legitimate

• kelnos 9y ago
  I think the parent's dismissal is unfortunate in its nonchalance, but ultimately is correct. Look, open source maintainers don't owe anyone anything. It behooves them to behave in a positive manner in order to encourage people to contribute, and, well, just because being nice tends to give you a good reputation. But that doesn't mean they're not still people. Sometimes they'll be curt or terse after someone asks a question about a decision that has already been beaten to death because they're just tired of talking about it. Maybe they just had an argument with a friend or family member and aren't in the best frame of mind. Maybe they're just having a bad day. And that's ok. That's just human nature. As long as the majority of interactions with users is positive, everything's going to be fine. A few people might get their feelings stepped on here and there, and that's truly unfortunate, but I'd also hope that those people give the maintainers the benefit of the doubt and recognize that one bad interaction should hopefully not sour all the positive value they've gotten out of the maintainer's work. Sure, if there's a huge pattern of abuse, that's a problem. But I submit that a one-off issue submitter is not qualified to assess if there's a pattern or not, especially right after they've just been rebuffed and still feel bad about it.