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CLA == Contributor License Agreement "You can think of a CLA as somewhat of a “reverse open source license”. Whereas open source licenses are a copyright grant

CLA == Contributor License Agreement "You can think of a CLA as somewhat of a “reverse open source license”. Whereas open source licenses are a copyright grant for users to use the project, a contributor license agreement, at its core, is the right for the project to incorporate a contributor’s code." CLAs are bad because: * "CLAs create a contribution-hostile developer experience" * "CLAs require significant administrative overhead" * "CLAs shifts legal blame to the party least equipped to defend against it" You're welcome :)

warkdarrior 5y ago
> * "CLAs shifts legal blame to the party least equipped to defend against it" I don't really get this one. The argument in the post is that the contributor does not the money/knowledge to make the legal decision required to sign the CLA. But typically the CLA requires the contributor to confirm that the contributed code is theirs to give away. The contributor should be able to make that determination!
- derekp7 5y ago
  The contributor could fully believe that they have the rights to the code, because they wrote it using their own computer resources, on their own time (on vacation, etc). However a number of organizations claim ownership over all IP created by any employee at any time. And a contributor may not realize that because it is often a 2 line paragraph buried in an inch-thick stack of new-hire forms that you don't get to see until after you've left your previous job and started the new one.
  - thrashh 5y ago
    Sure it might be hard for the contributor to be sure, but it’s even harder for the repository owner.
  - corobo 5y ago
    I get it's a meme but are you lot really signing contracts without reading them? Honestly this post+comments has tipped me over to add a CLA haha. I'm not legally vouching for someone who doesn't even know their employment contract D:
    - derekp7 5y ago
      On the first day of showing up at a dream job (compared to what I had before, and after terminating my employment with the previous job), you sit for the whole first day going through new hire orientation. Along with a big stack of paperwork. And it isn't that you don't read the document, but there is a difference between reading and understanding the full implication of it, depending on how they word the one phrase out of a 10 page document that looks like it contains mostly common sense items that you are agreeing to.
      - corobo 5y ago
        Each to their own. I wouldn't sign something I don't understand

warkdarrior 5y ago

> * "CLAs shifts legal blame to the party least equipped to defend against it" I don't really get this one. The argument in the post is that the contributor does not the money/knowledge to make the legal decision required to sign the CLA. But typically the CLA requires the contributor to confirm that the contributed code is theirs to give away. The contributor should be able to make that determination!

derekp7 5y ago
The contributor could fully believe that they have the rights to the code, because they wrote it using their own computer resources, on their own time (on vacation, etc). However a number of organizations claim ownership over all IP created by any employee at any time. And a contributor may not realize that because it is often a 2 line paragraph buried in an inch-thick stack of new-hire forms that you don't get to see until after you've left your previous job and started the new one.
- thrashh 5y ago
  Sure it might be hard for the contributor to be sure, but it’s even harder for the repository owner.
- corobo 5y ago
  I get it's a meme but are you lot really signing contracts without reading them? Honestly this post+comments has tipped me over to add a CLA haha. I'm not legally vouching for someone who doesn't even know their employment contract D:
  - derekp7 5y ago
    On the first day of showing up at a dream job (compared to what I had before, and after terminating my employment with the previous job), you sit for the whole first day going through new hire orientation. Along with a big stack of paperwork. And it isn't that you don't read the document, but there is a difference between reading and understanding the full implication of it, depending on how they word the one phrase out of a 10 page document that looks like it contains mostly common sense items that you are agreeing to.
    - corobo 5y ago
      Each to their own. I wouldn't sign something I don't understand