this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Sounds to me that some maintainers need to learn how to say "no." I get that certain people use their software in critical applications, but sometimes a "fuck you, no. I'm not doing that right now" is well deserved or even necessary. You can even go a step further and cite their belligerence, if that's warranted.
The beauty of open source is that people can fork software if things aren't getting fixed or moving in a direction they like. And if they don't and still complain, bring out the ol' "fuck you, no."
I disagree that it will take money. If you're a maintainer, it's your passion project. Tell people to fuck off once in a while. The people who really care will either join you to improve things or make something better out of spite.
I'm not sure if you've ever had a public project, but for most people, be it YouTube, twitch, github, whatever, its not so easy. Negative comments grate on you, and, over time, can really take a toll.
William Osman interviewed a bunch or creators about this: https://youtu.be/DVCpKfedfok?si=_7Y13T00rfoSQPDN
Its not as easy as to call people out. Some people go great lengths out of spite, doxx you, send you death threats.. Is it really worth it? Not that a "fuck off" will work anyway.
You say people will join you but they really don't. The reality is there are a ton of crucial open source projects being run by one person on the edge of burnout. See curl, xy, etc.
Money absolutely would help and I wish the EU would put additional funding into this.
It's also a security risk. Wasn't there just a recently discovered backdoor in some widely used library that was put there by someone who fooled a burned out/depressed maintainer?
Yes, XZ the compression library that everyone uses.