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I find it quite interesting how much of the public face of React that Dan Abramov has become. I really like the openness with which he speaks via his blog, but

by icc97 8y ago

I find it quite interesting how much of the public face of React that Dan Abramov has become. I really like the openness with which he speaks via his blog, but it feels like all the important React announcements come through him and I'm sure there must be some other very senior FB developers who created React before he arrived who might not be so happy.

jzelinskie 8y ago
>I'm sure there must be some other very senior FB developers who created React before he arrived who might not be so happy. You might find that not everybody wants to be the face of something. It can be very stressful and people often dehumanize you in their communications as they associate you and the project as the same thing. Think of all the trouble that Lennart Poettering has dealt with as a result of the pushback to systemd.
- icc97 8y ago
  Yes, a double-edged sword. It's to the credit of the React developers that they've welcomed him. I was just curious as to how the internal politics work there.
  - danabramov 8y ago
    People on the team who like to have presence on social media do that. People who don't like it that much, don't. I don't see much politics in this but maybe I'm missing something.
    - icc97 8y ago
      My apologies, I'm guess I'm just too used to seeing internal politics everywhere.
    - Rapzid 8y ago
      It's an interesting day when Github issues on an official project are considered "social media". I think that can be taken many ways and most of them interesting to ponder.
      - TeMPOraL 8y ago
        Yes, but then again, the whole selling point of Github is that it's social media attached to git repositories. That's the reason it's the open source code dumping ground.
acemarke 8y ago
The truly important announcements come from the whole React team on their actual blog at https://reactjs.org/blog/ https://reactjs.org/blog/ , and are written by various team members (such as the "Async Rendering" and "Derived State" posts recently written by Brian Vaughn). But yeah, if you want a heads-up on where the team is headed and what they're working on, it's worth following them on Twitter, and Dan in particular.
mleland 8y ago
Dan has been so cordial in every interaction I've seen with him. He can be more conscientious than many devs, so I'm sure it is a talent that the React team likes to showcase.
danabramov 8y ago
We generally post on our blog when something is _ready_. Blog has to be very high signal/noise ratio so we don't announce something that might be experimental or has a risk of changing significantly there. Because it creates a lot of churn. Announcements about work in progress (which might be interesting to spectators but doesn't affect anyone's day-to-day usage of React) typically comes from people working on those things. So you might hear from Brian (https://mobile.twitter.com/brian_d_vaughn https://mobile.twitter.com/brian_d_vaughn) on the Profiler work he's been doing, or from Andrew (https://mobile.twitter.com/acdlite https://mobile.twitter.com/acdlite) on scheduling. I happen to have a large following so I understand why it seems like I'm the only one "announcing" things. Twitter also amplifies it so it kinda feels that way. I encourage you to follow all folks who are currently on our team (see links e.g. in https://wpcouple.com/interview-react-team-facebook-wordpress-gutenberg/ https://wpcouple.com/interview-react-team-facebook-wordpress...). And keep in mind that announcements directly from me that aren't on React blog/twitter are just that -- things that keep me busy. They're not things you need to know as a React user. When there's something ready that you need to know, the information will be on one of the official sources: * https://reactjs.org/blog/ https://reactjs.org/blog/ * https://mobile.twitter.com/reactjs https://mobile.twitter.com/reactjs Hope this makes sense! P.S. I'm trying to not mis-represent my role. I do happen to be a "developer advocate" of sort because I enjoy that kind of work in addition to programming. As far as I know my team is supportive of that. Sometimes I make mistakes and they point it out. AFAIK Jordan (who created React) and past contributors also don't mind my active presence. Jordan is currently busy with Reason — you might want to check that out!
- icc97 8y ago
  Thanks for your reply and your openness. It's great that you find the time to answer random guys on HN. Since you're here... I do wonder, how much of the React documentation did you write? The 'style' of the writing seems to match yours, e.g. when discussing Immutable JS.
  - danabramov 8y ago
    I wrote some pages in the Main Concepts section. Maybe a few others. Hope it's not bad.
spicyj 8y ago
I manage the React team at Facebook. Only a couple of us have been on the team since before Dan, and I don’t think anyone resents his public persona. Quite to the contrary – Dan does a great job representing us. :)
- icc97 8y ago
  Thanks for the reply. Good to hear.
- peterhunt 8y ago
  I echo this sentiment!
  - dvdhnt 8y ago
    Sweet last name you got there.
madeofpalk 8y ago
> and I'm sure there must be some other very senior FB developers who created React before he arrived who might not be so happy. From the very little I know about some of the developers at FB working on React, but I would be very surprised if this was the case. Just because you might feel bothered by Dan Abramov talking on your behalf, doesn't mean those that worked with him do.
sebmarkbage 8y ago
I think this misses the point of what a senior developer is. Nobody builds a huge thing by themselves better than multiple people can. Being a senior developer is enabling a few other people to do their best work.

by icc97 8y ago

jzelinskie 8y ago

>I'm sure there must be some other very senior FB developers who created React before he arrived who might not be so happy. You might find that not everybody wants to be the face of something. It can be very stressful and people often dehumanize you in their communications as they associate you and the project as the same thing. Think of all the trouble that Lennart Poettering has dealt with as a result of the pushback to systemd.

icc97 8y ago
Yes, a double-edged sword. It's to the credit of the React developers that they've welcomed him. I was just curious as to how the internal politics work there.
- danabramov 8y ago
  People on the team who like to have presence on social media do that. People who don't like it that much, don't. I don't see much politics in this but maybe I'm missing something.
  - icc97 8y ago
    My apologies, I'm guess I'm just too used to seeing internal politics everywhere.
  - Rapzid 8y ago
    It's an interesting day when Github issues on an official project are considered "social media". I think that can be taken many ways and most of them interesting to ponder.
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      Yes, but then again, the whole selling point of Github is that it's social media attached to git repositories. That's the reason it's the open source code dumping ground.

acemarke 8y ago

The truly important announcements come from the whole React team on their actual blog at https://reactjs.org/blog/ https://reactjs.org/blog/ , and are written by various team members (such as the "Async Rendering" and "Derived State" posts recently written by Brian Vaughn). But yeah, if you want a heads-up on where the team is headed and what they're working on, it's worth following them on Twitter, and Dan in particular.

mleland 8y ago

Dan has been so cordial in every interaction I've seen with him. He can be more conscientious than many devs, so I'm sure it is a talent that the React team likes to showcase.

danabramov 8y ago

We generally post on our blog when something is _ready_. Blog has to be very high signal/noise ratio so we don't announce something that might be experimental or has a risk of changing significantly there. Because it creates a lot of churn. Announcements about work in progress (which might be interesting to spectators but doesn't affect anyone's day-to-day usage of React) typically comes from people working on those things. So you might hear from Brian (https://mobile.twitter.com/brian_d_vaughn https://mobile.twitter.com/brian_d_vaughn) on the Profiler work he's been doing, or from Andrew (https://mobile.twitter.com/acdlite https://mobile.twitter.com/acdlite) on scheduling. I happen to have a large following so I understand why it seems like I'm the only one "announcing" things. Twitter also amplifies it so it kinda feels that way. I encourage you to follow all folks who are currently on our team (see links e.g. in https://wpcouple.com/interview-react-team-facebook-wordpress-gutenberg/ https://wpcouple.com/interview-react-team-facebook-wordpress...). And keep in mind that announcements directly from me that aren't on React blog/twitter are just that -- things that keep me busy. They're not things you need to know as a React user. When there's something ready that you need to know, the information will be on one of the official sources: * https://reactjs.org/blog/ https://reactjs.org/blog/ * https://mobile.twitter.com/reactjs https://mobile.twitter.com/reactjs Hope this makes sense! P.S. I'm trying to not mis-represent my role. I do happen to be a "developer advocate" of sort because I enjoy that kind of work in addition to programming. As far as I know my team is supportive of that. Sometimes I make mistakes and they point it out. AFAIK Jordan (who created React) and past contributors also don't mind my active presence. Jordan is currently busy with Reason — you might want to check that out!

icc97 8y ago
Thanks for your reply and your openness. It's great that you find the time to answer random guys on HN. Since you're here... I do wonder, how much of the React documentation did you write? The 'style' of the writing seems to match yours, e.g. when discussing Immutable JS.
- danabramov 8y ago
  I wrote some pages in the Main Concepts section. Maybe a few others. Hope it's not bad.

spicyj 8y ago

I manage the React team at Facebook. Only a couple of us have been on the team since before Dan, and I don’t think anyone resents his public persona. Quite to the contrary – Dan does a great job representing us. :)

icc97 8y ago
Thanks for the reply. Good to hear.
peterhunt 8y ago
I echo this sentiment!
- dvdhnt 8y ago
  Sweet last name you got there.

madeofpalk 8y ago

> and I'm sure there must be some other very senior FB developers who created React before he arrived who might not be so happy. From the very little I know about some of the developers at FB working on React, but I would be very surprised if this was the case. Just because you might feel bothered by Dan Abramov talking on your behalf, doesn't mean those that worked with him do.

sebmarkbage 8y ago

I think this misses the point of what a senior developer is. Nobody builds a huge thing by themselves better than multiple people can. Being a senior developer is enabling a few other people to do their best work.