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Free Software ecosystem is not black and white (i.e. Build a community or don't share). I put my software in the open with a license which I think is fair, be

Free Software ecosystem is not black and white (i.e. Build a community or don't share). I put my software in the open with a license which I think is fair, because I hope someone might find it useful, with a completely neutral stance. On the other hand, I set my expectations with the license I assign to my codebase. If nobody cares about what I do, I'm also fine with it. At the end of the day, I wrote that thing for myself in the first place. If somebody decides to contribute something back, my primary responsibility is to act as decently as other party allows me. They can report a bug, send in a fix, or ask something. If the proposed change is favorable to both of us (i.e. it also fits into the design/role I have in my mind for that codebase, or doesn't disturb it), why not work together and make something better? If the change makes the software unfit for me, but fit for the other party, they're free to fork and maintain their fork as they fit, as long as they honor the license. This is why is this thing is in the open. But, if the requester wants me to implement their changes to make the software fit for themselves, while making it unfit for me, and want to pass the burden of maintenance on me, then sorry, we can't cooperate. Plus, who decides which codebase I open to the world, and in what way?

ozim 2y ago
That's not what I wrote *Build a community or don't share* I wrote that if you build community you have responsibility. If you don't want to build a community be clear about it. My beef is with people who build community for "fame" and for "money somewhere along the road" - that are getting burned out because money are not there. Where we have loads of libraries by genuine people.
- mariusor 2y ago
  > My beef is with people who build community for "fame" and for "money somewhere along the road" Can you give out some examples of projects that function(ed) on this principle?
  - sureIy 2y ago
    If you look at 2015 node tools you’ll find plenty of such examples. Literally every build tool from that time is dead now, except webpack.
- sureIy 2y ago
  I think you just have to accept that projects are not evergreen. Some popular tools we used 10 years ago are gone for the most part, and it’s no one’s fault.

ozim 2y ago

That's not what I wrote *Build a community or don't share* I wrote that if you build community you have responsibility. If you don't want to build a community be clear about it. My beef is with people who build community for "fame" and for "money somewhere along the road" - that are getting burned out because money are not there. Where we have loads of libraries by genuine people.

mariusor 2y ago
> My beef is with people who build community for "fame" and for "money somewhere along the road" Can you give out some examples of projects that function(ed) on this principle?
- sureIy 2y ago
  If you look at 2015 node tools you’ll find plenty of such examples. Literally every build tool from that time is dead now, except webpack.
sureIy 2y ago
I think you just have to accept that projects are not evergreen. Some popular tools we used 10 years ago are gone for the most part, and it’s no one’s fault.