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Martin Owens :inkscape:

Had to explain to another user why asking a volunteer project to fix an issue is inappropriate.

And I get that's it's a really subtle point here between saying "I also have this problem" (fine) and "Please fix this issue" (not ok)

i.e. You can only ask people you have a relationship with to do work for you. You can NOT ask strangers to labour for you for free, even if you think it's important, or appropriate.

@doctormo I add one caveat to this: in the limited case where an innocent third party is harmed by a piece of software, I think it's not unreasonable for that third party to ask the person actively distributing the software to do something about it, especially if the harm comes about from many people using the software in its default form.
Personally I find this bug report hilarious but I can imagine being mad about it if it happened to me: github.com/kawamataryo/sky-fol

GitHubStupid matching algorithm · Issue #67 · kawamataryo/sky-follower-bridgeBy Creelers

@doctormo The "You can NOT ask strangers to labour for you for free" would bring to a halt the whole #ScientificPublishing industry.

@albertcardona @doctormo a very fine reason for academics to adopt the same mindset IMO, ethics and all that aside.

@doctormo I'm an open source dev myself & ran several projects in the past.

I don't entirely agree with your statement..

It's definitely NOT ok to be rude or threaten (happened to me), but "Can you please fix this?" or some such is perfectly fine IMHO. 😊

As long as they accept we are not required to do so in a timely manner (or at all).

Language is a cultural thing & I understand not everyone means what they write in the way I might perceive it, so I generally cut people some slack. ❤️

@doctormo
Paying is a partial solution. But there is also the case where the software really is a hobby or scratching a personal itch, and money just isn't welcome.

People have to accept that sometimes all you can do is report an issue or suggest an improvement, and if it's rejected or ignored then that's it.

@doctormo 100% in agreement. I ended up abandoning an open source project I was working on by myself because the lack of politeness and making it seem like I "had" to add features for the sake of making the app more useable for a few people was exhausting to deal with

@doctormo I have noticed an increase in toxicity in issue trackers lately. I saw someone attempt to counter this by citing the behavior as entitlement from this paper: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9

Examples:
* github.com/restic/restic/issue
* github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issue
* What was github.com/WinampDesktop/winam

@doctormo I mean "please fix" doesn't bother me as long as they're not being rude and demanding about it. It's fine to want and ask for things. Just as long as they recognize that an ask is all it is and we're under no obligation to cater to them.