The hardest part is not knee-jerk reacting to the vitriol and trying to get to the root of the complaint. So instead of saying "Some jerk wants us to open sourc

The hardest part is not knee-jerk reacting to the vitriol and trying to get to the root of the complaint. So instead of saying "Some jerk wants us to open source project x" we try (and sometimes it is harder than you think!) to say "Okay, should we open source project X." and go from there. From what I've seen in companies large and small: Outrage works against the outraged, most of the time.