Re: [Python-Dev] altruism
Brett Cannon brett at python.org writes: Trust me, if you are doing open source for anything other than altruistic reasons you are bound to be disappointed. I'm surprised by this statement but perhaps it's a matter of vocabulary. Having fun and doing things you like to do does not strike me as altruistic. Being involved in a FOSS project is not the same as participating in a charity. See this quick presentation about motivation of FOSS developers (second slide says: Altruism? Not really): http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/papers/20030619/index.htm The full study is at: http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/index.htm (Part IV: Survey of Developers) (but of course there's the question of whether altruism exists at large, or is a political and moral fiction) Regards Antoine. ___ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Python-Dev] altruism
Antoine Pitrou wrote: Brett Cannon brett at python.org writes: Trust me, if you are doing open source for anything other than altruistic reasons you are bound to be disappointed. I'm surprised by this statement but perhaps it's a matter of vocabulary. Having fun and doing things you like to do does not strike me as altruistic. Being involved in a FOSS project is not the same as participating in a charity. I'd agree that 'altruism' isn't quite the right word - there's also the fact that plenty of folks these days contribute to open source because someone is paying them to :) However, Brett's basic point that good input may sometimes go uncredited through no fault of the poster's remains valid. Patches and particularly good bug reports/suggestions get credited in commit messages and sometimes NEWS items and the What's New, significant patches generally earn a mention in the ACKS file and each PEP usually has an acknowledgement section that lists major contributors to the associated discussion and reviews. Posts (even well-thought out ones) on the various discussion lists? Not so much - it's too easy to lose track of who posted what in an involved discussion. The highest respect you can really earn in those is to make a valid point clearly enough that you convince others to adopt your point of view. Although sometimes you can still persuade others even when you later turn out to be wrong* ;) Cheers, Nick. * See a couple of the footnotes to PEP 343 if you want to know what that smiley is about :) -- Nick Coghlan | ncogh...@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia --- ___ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Python-Dev] altruism
On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 04:36, Antoine Pitrou solip...@pitrou.net wrote: Brett Cannon brett at python.org writes: Trust me, if you are doing open source for anything other than altruistic reasons you are bound to be disappointed. I'm surprised by this statement but perhaps it's a matter of vocabulary. Having fun and doing things you like to do does not strike me as altruistic. Being involved in a FOSS project is not the same as participating in a charity. See this quick presentation about motivation of FOSS developers (second slide says: Altruism? Not really): http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/papers/20030619/index.htm The full study is at: http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/index.htm (Part IV: Survey of Developers) (but of course there's the question of whether altruism exists at large, or is a political and moral fiction) Ignoring the temptation to pull out my philosophy degree and devolve into a ridiculously involved conversation, I meant altruism in regard to not expecting to get anything from others for what you do. I do think you should only do open source work if you have fun and enjoy it, but I also think you should not do it for anyone but yourself unless you are drawing a paycheck. -Brett ___ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
