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Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by ahelwer on Thursday January 28, 2021 @09:33AM (#25942258)
Reading code is harder than writing code. It is also not very fun. So when someone files a PR against your project, it means a bunch of not-very-fun effort. It also comes with a social obligation, because someone presumably put a lot of effort into the PR and you don't want to have wasted their time. Obligation + not fun work on a side project that you're probably doing to help stave off burnout turns that project into just another source of burnout. Project management in general just isn't very fun.

If you feel a large degree of ownership over the codebase, you'll also be irritated at including someone else's code/design style. Like having someone else's voice in your head. You could go through the PR and request changes to conform to your code/design preferences, but that would take a lot of your time and also a lot of the contributor's time (and be very likely to frustrate the contributor). It would probably just be easier to rewrite it yourself in your own style. Or just let all that stuff slide. But then your project is less "your" project, and you might not get the same sense of gratification working in the codebase.

Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by afarrell on Thursday January 28, 2021 @09:44AM (#25942439)
Suppose you go to clean up your local park and a monk walks up to you and hands you a book. They then ask you for a small donation. If this kept happening, would it discourage you from cleaning up your park?
Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by Igelau on Thursday January 28, 2021 @11:52AM (#25944735)
The next week, the cleaner returned. The monk offered him the book again, whereupon the cleaner held out his trash bag, that he might toss it in. At this moment, the monk was enlightened.
Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by cutemonster on Friday January 29, 2021 @12:27AM (#25954340)
And the cleaner collected many such books, from various monks, in his trash bag, until eventually he had enough books to start a reasonably large fire, burning the park down, his cat enjoying the heat from the fire
Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by imtringued on Thursday January 28, 2021 @10:52AM (#25943765)
If the monk constantly talks about how the park isn't clean enough [0] then yes. It certainly would.

[0] Your software is missing feature X = your park isn't clean enough

Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by afarrell on Thursday January 28, 2021 @01:31PM (#25946519)
Even if the monk wasn't doing that, I'd be annoyed.
Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by Ensorceled on Thursday January 28, 2021 @07:09PM (#25951491)
I'm trying to figure out HOW this is an analogy for the comment you are replying to and can't. Can you explain?
Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by afarrell on Friday January 29, 2021 @05:53AM (#25956049)
The person going to clean the park is the maintainer of some Open source software, offered for the public good.

The monk handing over the book is the person who has done the work to write a pull request and gift it to the maintainer.

The request for a donation is the cultural expectation of reciprocity. A maintainer now feels pressure to accept the work of reviewing the PR. Yes, they can say no, but it feels bad and can motivate someone to stop maintaining open source software.

Re:Open-source, not open-contribution by Ensorceled on Friday January 29, 2021 @08:03AM (#25956805)
That makes no sense, the analogy is wrong on all counts.

An open source project I initiate is not a "public good". I'm sharing it; I still own the copyright.

The monk handing over the book in the park has done no work on the park, they are a user NOT a contributor. In fact, probably a bunch of the trash I'm picking up are those pamphlets. I'm an atheist so the pamphlet is equivalent, at best, to a spam pull request.

> The request for a donation is the cultural expectation of reciprocity.

This is a completely different expectation that the open source expectation. I, personally, feel no guilt at all for telling people proselytizing to go away as I've done nothing to give them the expectation that their proselytizing would be welcome and most people proselytizing expect to be rejected constantly. Contributing back to open source is expected and usually desirable so the expectation that the contribution will be accepted.

Also, the monk is ASKING FOR A CONTRIBUTION not giving one.