Hug an OSS Developer or just don't be a dick

I spent a good many years managing and developing a popular open source project.<p>While most of our users were/are good individuals, there were certainly some nasty ones in the bunch. I remember being cursed at many a time simply for politely refusing to implement whatever random feature a user requested.<p>If a bug were to come up in the software, there were times where threats and/or demands were made that I fix the bug or modify something to the user's liking. (Never physical threats as far as I can recall, but still unwarranted aggression.) They absolutely refused to believe that I didn't directly "owe" them anything. It was a bizarre entitlement feeling some of the users had. It's not like I worked on the project for a living. I had a day job as well.<p>I finally started transitioning away from the project and handing it off to someone else when I started getting phone calls at my home. A user managed to track down my cell phone number and started calling me in the middle of the night (3am - 4am.) He wanted to talk to me about his "ideas" that I should implement in the code.<p>That's not to say all of our users were jerks. In fact, it was a very small minority. Out of the hundreds of thousands of users we had, only a handful were dicks. Unfortunately, some took it to creepy levels.<p>On the other hand, many warm e-mails were received and even on occasion cases of beer for our coding efforts. I still hold a lot of fond memories of that time. Hell, even the legal issues were a learning experience, though the majority of that occurred around the time I was bowing out.<p>I really don't even know what point I'm trying to make here. I just wanted to share a few brief stories.<p>`Tis a strange world.

If you find a problem with open source code and you can't fix it and provide a good patch, at least identify where in the code is at fault.<p>If you can't find the fault, provide a fully formed test case that shows the problem.<p>If you can't create a test case, be polite and extremely specific when reporting the bug.<p>If you can't be polite... well the bug is probably less of a problem than your attitude.

I have found that most people don't even realize they're being dicks when submitting bug reports or feature suggestions for OSS. I recent wrote an article about this phenomenon and what to do about it. [1]<p>For example, it can be demeaning to OSS developers who have spent much of their time (often unpaid) to build this software for you to use, when you open your bug report with the attitude that it must be broken simply because it doesn't do what you want it to do.<p>I prefer to start every conversation (bug report, etc), not with the purpose of fixing something that's broken, but to expand the both project's applicability and the community's understanding of the project. For example, consider<p><pre><code> This software is broken on IE. </code></pre> vs<p><pre><code> Can we make this software work in IE? </code></pre> You're not starting a conversation because the software is broken in IE, you're starting it because it's an opportunity to make it applicable to the IE use-case.<p>This is also why I encourage everyone who's having trouble with any of my projects to <i></i>open an issue ticket<i></i>. I often get emails or tweets from people asking for help with some problem, and the first thing I tell them is, open a ticket. Their aversion to opening a ticket is because they're not sure if it's an issue with the software, or if they're just doing it wrong. But I say it's ticket-worthy either way, because a ticket isn't made to fix broken software, it's made to increase the project's applicability <i>and the community's understanding of the software</i>. If you're having the problem, chances are someone else is or will have that same problem, and now they can find the solution.

I've contributed to a few small open-source projects myself in the past and can only remember polite, well-mannered people in the associated communities. However I think the key point is that those were very small projects, with equally small communities.<p>When you get to the Mozilla / Selenium level of popularity discussed in the post, it must be a near-certainty that you will also attract your fair share of uninformed and/or plain rude people posting bug reports and comments. In that sense, it can be viewed as a good thing: your project is a success, otherwise it wouldn't be attracting all the bad vibes!

No, people should not be mean or rude to developers - or anyone really.<p>However, Mozilla is getting paid for the software. Just because it is open source, does not mean that people don't get paid.<p>Mozilla takes money for their software in the form of donations. So some users are actually paying directly to Mozilla.<p>Also, Mozilla makes most of its money by selling private information to Google (searches etc). Users are paying through giving up some of their privacy, by doing searches through Firefox, and google.<p>Also, the Mozilla foundation is a non profit organisation which means all the US tax payers give it money indirectly through government support. If it was a company, then it would not get certain privileged treatment.<p>Finally users contribute to OSS through at least testing products - if not in documentation and many other ways.<p>Anyway, my point is that you can't really use the excuse that it's free to the users, so they can't expect anything - because it certainly isn't entirely free.<p>People should try and not be rude - on either the developers side or the users side. I've seen a bunch of rants from Mozilla people about this, so I think their community needs work. They should consider watching how their developers communicate with people as well. Calling people 'dicks' and such is pretty harsh. They should also consider making Bugzilla nicer. Things like WONTFIX, and other communications with bug reporters can really make people angry, and can make Mozilla come across as being rude too.

I agree with <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3295720" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3295720</a> . It would be nice to be in a world where people treated each other well. I have seen the inverse as well though, some person politely pointing out a deficiency in an open source project and getting derided by a maintainer. Reminds me of this HN post: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2267885" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2267885</a> .

The best way I have found is to not look at the child and not talk to the child.

To me an open source project is 1% about the code and 99% about the community. Without a good community, you might as well not bother open sourcing the code.

...or try not to get into the situation where your financial/employment status is in the hands of volunteers. (Don't use OS for important things that require diligent support)