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> thanklessly maintaining for decades with no pay. This is clearly an issue Why is it an issue? This is an assumption. Not everyone who creates and maintains
by tomxor 5y ago
> thanklessly maintaining for decades with no pay. This is clearly an issue
Why is it an issue?
This is an assumption. Not everyone who creates and maintains FOSS expects to be paid in money. Many of us got to where we are off the backs of previous FOSS authors freely given efforts and feel that it's our way of giving back to the world.
If there is one critical dependency, relied upon by many, where the single author/maintainer is literally crying for help - in that they are unable or unwilling to continue giving their free time - then fine, maybe _that_ project needs outside help or outside funding... but that is entirely subjective.
- Mediterraneo10 5y agoI suspect that the majority of project maintainers who are hurting, do not “literally cry out for help”, especially if they regularly read news fora like this which underscore how meagre an amount of donations rolls in even when the maintainer cries out for help.
- mark_l_watson 5y agoI agree, it is a bad assumption. Not everything has to be about money. In the last 15 years, I have averaged over 15 hours a week writing Creative Commons licensed eBooks and the open source code that goes with the books. Even though a few people choose to buy my books rather than take free copies, I do this with no expectation beyond hoping to meet interesting people and improve my networking.