Roughly summarizing my personal take on this: "Am I the indended audience for this instance of the email address being public?" - If there's an "obviously" be

Roughly summarizing my personal take on this: "Am I the indended audience for this instance of the email address being public?" - If there's an "obviously" better forum, prefer that (e.g. a public issue tracker for non-security bugs) - If I'm likely to have my own git clone (e.g. I'm another developer or security researcher actively interested in the project), go for it! I tend to be fine with inqueries from this audience even if it's not necessairly project related, although bonus points if they are. - If you were specifically trying to hunt down a point of contact for me and me alone, that's probably fine too. No untargeted and untailored recruiter spam! And likely not as part of a wider recruitment drive, even if you're "tailoring" your recruitment pitches. ...if you're offering me a job specifically to continue working on one of my many abandoned FOSS side projects that you, personally, as another developer have been using - or because we've worked together in the past and want to again - that might be OK ;) - The recipient might redirect you to other channels they see as better fitting - obviously, respect that if they do.