Infernal_pizza3d ago
Dave Rahardja

If your answer to anyone who doesn’t like something that an open source project is doing is “then fork it yourself”, you’re a piece of shit.

First, not everyone who uses #FOSS is a coder. This is a feature, not a bug. Second, not everyone who is a coder is a maintainer, and they shouldn’t have to be to have their voices heard. Third, when someone is intentionally worsening a project, and you harass the people complaining about it, you are reinforcing a power imbalance in favor of the abuser.

Check your privilege. YOU, a rich person with technical skills and time to spare, may be willing to bear the cost of forking a popular project, but others can’t. Think beyond your selfish self.

Mar 21 at 5:14pmWeb
Show threadcognitively accessible math3d ago
@drahardja YEa, when folks who actually teach math criticize Khan Academy (for little things like saying 2 + 2 is 2) we get told "Make your own, it's free, you should be GRATEFUL!!!"
How about listening?
SO many folks in tech have savior attitudes. It's like charity: Hey, even if these clothes we put in teh charity bin have holes and stuff, we imagine you being grateful for the warmth. Let's do better and ... do soemthing about the inequities while we're at it.
Show threadDave Rahardja3d ago
@geonz Right. The same people who argue that more things should be free (anticapitalist) will sometimes also argue that free things should not be held to any quality standards (capitalist). You can’t have it both ways, leftie.
Show threaddatarama3d ago
@drahardja How many people who respond "fork it yourself" has forked anything themselves?
Show threadDave Rahardja3d ago
@datarama Not that it should matter, right? It could be someone who is adept at it, or is even actively maintaining a large project. The fact that THEY can do it doesn’t mean that EVERYONE should do it.
Show threaddatarama3d ago
@drahardja Not in principle, obviously, but my own experience is that pretty much everyone making that suggestion can't or won't do it themselves anyway.
Show threadLisa Melton3d ago
@drahardja This. 💯
Show threadEduCoder3d ago

@drahardja the entire point of FOSS is that it serves the best interests of the user and community. If you don't value feedback from your users, then you've missed the entire point of building something free and open.

Big Tech wants to trap us to exploit us. Devs with a saviour complex are cut from the same cloth.

The value of FOSS was never the code, it has always been the community. Developer ego is a footgun when you really care about building something worthwhile.

Show thread🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑3d ago
@educoder @drahardja
I fight for the users!
– TRON
Show threadbitsavers.org3d ago

@brouhaha @educoder @drahardja

How 20th century...

Show threadbitsavers.org2d ago

@brouhaha @educoder @drahardja

21st Century "TRON" is your AI goes rogue, says "fsck the user" and disappears. Flynn is "The Dude" w/o his Moscow Mule.

Show threadsleet013d ago
@drahardja And how many people who say, "fork it yourself," have ever actually *done* so?
Show threadLars3d ago

@drahardja FOSS projects need to value user feedback, otherwise you might as well be serving just yourself. Yes.

But I'd be very hesitant to call maintainers.. abusers? Often there will be legitimate disagreements about the direction of a project, and then it is completely fair that those who do the maintenance get to have the final say.

If a user doesn't like that, they'll have to keep using older versions or a fork. That's just how it is.

Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)3d ago

@drahardja

This goes doubly for a lot of big projects that actively adopt engineering practices that make maintaining a downstream fork difficult.

Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.1d ago
@drahardja But don't forget as Robert Heinlein said in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress": TANSTAAFL: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.