"Poor guy doing open source takes dumb decision because they need money" is a sorry excuse I've been hearing too much lately.

And quite distasteful when many people have collaborated on your software. If you deserve some compensation, what about all of them? Will you share whatever you earn from it?

> And quite distasteful when many people have collaborated on your software. If you deserve some compensation, what about all of them? Will you share whatever you earn from it?

Most contributions are from drive by contributor's that may not even use the project.

Neither those nor the maintainer are entitled to compensation, but open source is a cruel environment where people want to use what you made but they wouldnt give you a dime unless they had to

Maybe it’s time we re-examine the value prop for open source authors

Everyone knows their value prop going in: unless you are able to monetize the complement like RedHat or Google, payment is in experience, reputation, and a fun challenge.

Very idealistic people might not realize this as they start working on their project.

I wish it was otherwise, people, but it's usually "build it and they WON'T come" ("they" being the funds needed to make a living.)

Payment can also appear in the form of collaborators helping improve a tool you want for yourself, especially if you choose the right license.