Ben StewartI should really do a talk about the abysmal state of opensource documentation and UX in general. It's unacceptably bad, for so many important projects.
All I have now is a rant with receipts but I feel this can be polished into a talk.
This isn't a silly made up non-issue that affects whatever super niche usecase is applicable to only me and my tiny homelab. There are undocumented hoops to jump through in apps and services we're recommending to our friends and family.
Worse, there are undocumented breaking commits with single-line references in public email distribution lists in projects we're recommending to our employers, governments and businesses to support for the betterment of our communities on a level we can never hope to achieve as individuals.
If I, a reasonably technical, highly motivated and somewhat capable enthusiast have difficulty dealing with this, what hope do my parents have, or my nieces' and nephews' educators? How do I convince my CIO and CISO to stick with this and not pull out their billfolds and just buy something off the shelf that by and large either works or includes a resource that will make it work?
I get you're afraid of AI training on your documentation so your site traffic goes down so people miss the fact you have paid support and donation options.
And hey, businesses relying on opensource, I get it, I'm in a more similar boat here than you could currently realize, but come-on.
The more hoops I have to jump through, the more you show me you both can't keep your house in order and put up obstacles to keep me from running and trying your thing, the quicker you'll drive me and likely more people away.
I should do some investigation on this and try to quantify it somehow.
I know there's an audience for "angy brit on stage with funny rant" but I'm not aiming to be a comedian here, I genuinely want my friends and family to use the apps and services I like.
I genuinely want my employer and local government to support platforms that will improve the communities I am a part of rather than rob them of their resources and data.
But this current hellscape of "will-it-won't-it?" "is the documentation complete and up to date?" ain't it.
This is detrimental to what we're trying to achieve.