Open Source Maintainers Have No Obligation to Users Beyond Providing Code
By
doubleg
A good honest bake. Not flashy, but you'll finish the whole bagel.
Summary
The article argues that open source maintainers have no obligation to users beyond providing their code. It emphasizes that users are not entitled to contributions, features, attention, or having their complaints valued. The core message is that open source is about the maintainers' freedom to run their projects as they choose, not about user entitlements.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledThe only people entitled to say how open source 'ought' to work are people who run projects, and the scope of their entitlement extends only to their own projects.
Just because someone open sources something does not imply they owe the world a change in their status, focus and effort, e.g. from inventor to community manager.
As a user of something open source you are not thereby entitled to anything at all. You are not entitled to contribute. You are not entitled to features. You are not entitled to the attention of others.
You are not entitled to having value attached to your complaint
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