I think we need to stop seeing open-source development as a form of free-as-in-beer labor, and start seeing it as a form of professional empowerment. Nothing -

I think we need to stop seeing open-source development as a form of free-as-in-beer labor, and start seeing it as a form of professional empowerment. Nothing -- nothing! -- stops you from forking my code and making the changes yourself. You don't need to ask me to make the changes for you; you are not helpless. I've already solved 99% of one of your problems, and now I am empowering you to solve yours with 1% of the effort. Just because I release my code under an OSS license doesn't mean you're entitled to my time and attention. My labor is not free-as-in-beer, and I take a very dim view on wage theft. If you want me to care about your issues, you will pay me my consulting rate. If you harass me about it, I'll block you. Framing OSS development as empowering developers I think would remove a lot of the toxicity from OSS. Being involved in OSS should be about improving your effectiveness, not working for free for entitled Internet strangers. You owe it to yourself and the OSS development community to demand that you be paid for your time.