Definitely OK motivations.

From what I've read, the majority of kernel contributors get paid by their employers, that is, they fix things that affect them.

And, I'm guessing that getting credited for their work is important to them too, for career reasons if nothing else.

My point (which I didn’t convey properly) is that the combination of the two isn’t all that productive, ie “I’ll only work on problems that affect me and only if you give me credit”. I get that true altruism probably doesn’t exist, but I’ve contributed to dozens of projects where I haven’t received credit, and I didn’t care because I helped fix problems that affected thousands of people, which I felt was more important than whatever label was placed on me (or not).

> I’ve contributed to dozens of projects where I haven’t received credit, and I didn’t care because ...

This seems a bit weird to me. Not the contribution-without-credit thing on your part, but the trying to denigrate the article authors contribution because their motivations were different from yours. Even though their motivations were just as valid as yours. :)

It seems it was quite productive, no? An important bug was fixed. Next time, it probably won't.

> I get that true altruism probably doesn’t exist

It does exist, but unfortunately people who practice it are not believed by those who do not, because they cannot fathom it.