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Ask HN: How do you personally measure the success of your open source projects?
I been running an OSS project for almost a year now and I feel like it’s been fairly successful for a small project. We have had quite a few contributors - especially during hacktoberfest that have given us high qualilty PR’s. While the contributions have been better than ever expected we’re not as strong on some other “metrics” such as stars, forks, watchers, etc. Looking through discussions some people only value those things while others completely disregard them. I’m curious how other maintainers determine the success of their OSS projects. Outside of “metrics” and contributors is there anything else to consider?
6 comments
h2odragonover 1 year ago
Does it work for me? Then is a success.<p>Increasingly uninterested in releasing code, past that point; it now seems to imply obligations and goals I do not want.<p>One of my projects is maintained by others now (largely untouched i think). I had "begware" solicitations in it: in 5 years its drawn 8 donors to give $55 total. That counts as a <i>fantastic success</i> for that approach.<p>That one is a 3d printing / OpenSCAD library: the week after i released it, there were purchasable versions on all the "paid 3d library" sites with other peoples names and payment info on them. One of them did a takedown request on the original posting, even. That was certainly an indicator of positive reception, but dunno if one could call it a measure of success.
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mikeravkineover 1 year ago
Receiving a PR is a massive success in my books, it means someone not only found it useful but also improved it! The win-win of open source.
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simneover 1 year ago
Sorry, I will say about money.<p>I think, it is really good, when people respect you, for your work, but better if they respect and pay money.<p>In normal economy, most important metric, is how much people pay with free will.<p>This metric, sure could have correlation with likes, testimonials, good wishes, etc, but to measure these things correct, need much more effort, at least need to make good actual (not outdated) market research and know very good your niche, and compare with concurrent products, with comparable interfaces, etc, so you will not compare carrots with apples.<p>If you have questions, ask, I will try answer.
bravetravelerover 1 year ago
If either I or someone else benefits from it. That's it!<p>Evaluating it based on the money it makes is a recipe for disappointment.<p>Seeing a PR is always nice. That tells me someone is finding a use for it and is invested enough to help make it better.<p>I quickly abandon something if I have no use for it. Contributors will tell me if I should keep something around
mtmailover 1 year ago
When users start to answer other users questions, either in issue or discussion boards.
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shyn3over 1 year ago
Did you learn something new?