Re:No More Free Work from Marak: Pay Me or Fork This
by bcrosby95 on Monday November 09, 2020 @01:49PM
(#25038163)
It's an interesting situation. I've often pondered what I would do in this scenario.
I have some hobby projects that I do purely for fun. Feeling an obligation to work on them because other people find them useful would really drain me. The point is to get away from work and rediscover the joy of programming, not add more work on top of work.
I guess I can just keep them private. But if someone really happens to find them useful, I would be happy if they forked them for themselves. Maybe a giant disclaimer at the top of the readme so I'm clear and upfront how the projects will be managed (they won't be).
Regardless, I'm sure it's a problem I'll never have.
Re:No More Free Work from Marak: Pay Me or Fork This
by jopsen on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @02:57AM
(#25043700)
> One where people contribute code instead of money and its supported by its users in that way?
I suspect this is really hard to do. You can get contributions now and then, but to get someone to take long term ownership is hard.
I think its a legitimately weird thing specific to software where people release something interesting as open source and free, it gets used, they feel an obligation to make building it their job, and then they feel anger when they don't make money from it. I understand the feeling of being slighted when there are billion dollar corporations using your software, but it was also a situation you opted in-to in the first place, with no expectation of reciprocity until now.
I support the idea of asking people to pay for your time. That's totally fair. I think its also a little icky to say "pay me six figures or fork it"; so, is there no intention to actually make this an open source project? One where people contribute code instead of money and its supported by its users in that way? This project has over 100 contributors.