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Dec 14, 2012 at 4:19 comment added cHao @EvanPlaice: And by the way, when i mean "complain", i mean "file a bug report outlining what's broken and how", not "whine randomly about how bad the software is".
Dec 13, 2012 at 23:54 comment added cHao @EvanPlaice: That "attention is...currency" thing works both ways. If you want people to use your app, it has to work, and it has to solve their problem. A broken app isn't immune to criticism just because it's free. I'm not saying you need to do everything users ask for; you should dismiss outrageous requests. But if you don't solve real users' problems, you end up losing users.
Dec 13, 2012 at 23:05 comment added Evan Plaice (cont) And yes, OSS devs really do care. But it's a slippery slope. Wasting time on bad (ie complaining) users can eat up significant amounts of time where that time would be better spent developing fixes and/or garnering support from good (ie contributing) users. There's a very good reason OSS projects are hostile to certain users. Development time is a finite resource that needs to be protected. I'm not trying to attack you personally, just pointing out that OSS devs usually handle things in a certain way for good reasons; even if you don't like the outcome.
Dec 13, 2012 at 22:57 comment added Evan Plaice @cHao You should never feel entitled to complain about OSS software. Complaining is worth less then nothing because it's counter-productive (ie a waste of time). OSS is a meritocracy where attention is the most valuable form of currency. If you want some, earn it. Whether that be through a well-thought-out bug report, a code contribution, etc. I think OSS devs are perfectly justified when they say, "of you have nothing of value to offer, do everybody a favor and go away." Try creating an OSS project sometime and tell me how much fun it is when people feel entitled to waste your time.
Dec 13, 2012 at 22:41 comment added cHao @EvanPlaice: My "sense of entitlement" to software that doesn't blow up is staggering. Gotcha. (See, i can twist words too.) Yes, i am fully entitled to complain about brokenness. I know a lot of those guys actually care. But if they don't, guess what? Most users can't and won't fix software. They may file a bug report, which some schmuck blithely closes as "your real-life issue is not a real issue". They may call your app a steaming pile of crap in every public forum they can think of. Hell, maybe they'll do both. In either case, they might also just go find an app that works.
Dec 13, 2012 at 22:27 comment added Evan Plaice @rwong Exactamundo! That's probably what I'll end up doing.
Dec 13, 2012 at 22:24 comment added Evan Plaice @cHao Those dastardly OSS developers! Investing all that time and effort to produce code that is free of cost and free for modification without thinking of you first. Please... your sense of entitlement is staggering.
Dec 13, 2012 at 19:12 comment added rwong because it's open source, you can write an open letter to all users that you will accept any patch to fix it.
Dec 13, 2012 at 13:25 comment added cHao @Evan: Of course it's open source. If it weren't, your boss would have told you "I don't give a shit that 'nobody' uses CR anymore! Customers are complaining. FIX IT!" :P This is the big thing about OSS that pisses me off: the lack of attention to the real cases that users have complained about. Whether you think it's obsolete or not, someone is still using it.
Dec 13, 2012 at 9:41 comment added Evan Plaice Good points, support definitely comes with a time cost. For this particular case 'sales' isn't an issue (ie it's open source) but it's worthwhile to consider the bigger picture. Likewise, I could also throw an exception in the code when a CR is encountered indicating an invalid/unsupported character.
Dec 13, 2012 at 9:07 history answered mouviciel CC BY-SA 3.0