4 ms·

Building small scale open source software, my time is even MORE valuable since I'm not even being paid to read your prose.

kenny11 6y ago
Perhaps adding some prose along the lines of "Thanks for spending your time on this, I really enjoy using it" to these bug reports is the payment.
altano 6y ago
"All these 'thank you's and 'please's are annoyingly adding to the verbosity of the bug reports!" said no small-scale open source software maintainer, ever.
- orangecat 6y ago
  I would absolutely say that if I were receiving several bug reports a day with paragraphs of fluff.
- chungy 6y ago
  I would say that. I don't want to hear "thank you" -- I just want a clear bug report. "Thank you" often comes across as disgenuine, a plea to try to raise the priority of the bug. I don't really know if it effects me in a major way, but if it even effects me at all, it probably would make me less likely to want to fix a bug.
  - vcxy 6y ago
    Wow. I always say thank you and have never meant what you think, and it has never even crossed my mind that it could be read that way. I doubt it means what you think very often.
    - austinjp 6y ago
      In a team I worked in many years ago, there was a general consensus that a manager saying "thanks" didn't come across well. It implied that the dev was doing a favour for that person and wanted to do so. Instead, they preferred something along the lines of "good work" or "great job" or similar. This indicated that the work was of value. This was in person and in a single company, so is a bit different from issues raised by a stranger over the internet in a bug tracker. Personally, if I don't know the person I say/write "thanks" because I mean it, especially if it's an open source project. People are wonderfully complex :)
- lmm 6y ago
  Plenty do. I've even seen one include that in their email signature.
marcinzm 6y ago
Thank you's are literally the only form of payment small scale open source developers tend to get. If no one cares about your project or likes it or shows appreciation then why bother with it or at least why bother responding to issues?

kenny11 6y ago

Perhaps adding some prose along the lines of "Thanks for spending your time on this, I really enjoy using it" to these bug reports is the payment.

altano 6y ago

"All these 'thank you's and 'please's are annoyingly adding to the verbosity of the bug reports!" said no small-scale open source software maintainer, ever.

orangecat 6y ago
I would absolutely say that if I were receiving several bug reports a day with paragraphs of fluff.
chungy 6y ago
I would say that. I don't want to hear "thank you" -- I just want a clear bug report. "Thank you" often comes across as disgenuine, a plea to try to raise the priority of the bug. I don't really know if it effects me in a major way, but if it even effects me at all, it probably would make me less likely to want to fix a bug.
- vcxy 6y ago
  Wow. I always say thank you and have never meant what you think, and it has never even crossed my mind that it could be read that way. I doubt it means what you think very often.
  - austinjp 6y ago
    In a team I worked in many years ago, there was a general consensus that a manager saying "thanks" didn't come across well. It implied that the dev was doing a favour for that person and wanted to do so. Instead, they preferred something along the lines of "good work" or "great job" or similar. This indicated that the work was of value. This was in person and in a single company, so is a bit different from issues raised by a stranger over the internet in a bug tracker. Personally, if I don't know the person I say/write "thanks" because I mean it, especially if it's an open source project. People are wonderfully complex :)
lmm 6y ago
Plenty do. I've even seen one include that in their email signature.

marcinzm 6y ago

Thank you's are literally the only form of payment small scale open source developers tend to get. If no one cares about your project or likes it or shows appreciation then why bother with it or at least why bother responding to issues?