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jr conlin

@hyc @mhoye

I'm asking that developers be aware of skills that may not be code based, yes.
I'm asking that developers recognize a failure state and work to find solutions for it, yes.
I'm asking that the industry generally get over itself and understand that they may need help in certain things instead of presuming that they're good at it.

1 Nov 2023 at 16:08 | Wall-to-wall | Open on soc.jrconlin.com
5 comments
Shauna GM replied to jr

@jrconlin @hyc @mhoye the solution to "there is a big gap between what maintainers provide and what users need" is not to ask overworked/underpaid FOSS maintainers to take on more responsibility. nor is it to deny the need exists.

the solution is for the broader community to recognize the value of user-facing, newcomer-friendly docs and dedicated user support, and to help maintainers provide them. that requires investment. it's part of the broader open source collective action problem.

1 Nov 2023 at 16:25 | Open on social.coop
Ed W8EMV replied to Shauna

@shauna @jrconlin @hyc @mhoye

I can think of a couple of categories of things beyond the core code itself that are needed for the long-term health of a project:

- an accurate and detailed man page
- a "getting started" guide that deals with building, installing, and running some kind of "hello world" code to validate the install
- architecture documents that describe how and when to use the code
- a conference presentation aimed at a knowledgable audience
- full-length book

Rare to get all.

@shauna @jrconlin @hyc @mhoye

I can think of a couple of categories of things beyond the core code itself that are needed for the long-term health of a project:

- an accurate and detailed man page
- a "getting started" guide that deals with building, installing, and running some kind of "hello world" code to validate the install
- architecture documents that describe how and when to use the code
- a conference presentation aimed at a knowledgable audience
- full-length book

1 Nov 2023 at 16:57 | Open on hachyderm.io
jr conlin replied to Ed

@w8emv @shauna @hyc @mhoye

I think it's also somewhat important to note scale. A tiny package used by a few folk probably doesn't need much more than what folk already do. This would probably not overburden that one guy in Nebraska.

Once a project "graduates", takes on devs, and grows in use, then documentation becomes more important, just like security updates. Large projects should help by reaching down to smaller ones that they depend on.

1 Nov 2023 at 17:01 | Open on soc.jrconlin.com
Nik replied to Ed
robertmx replied to jr

@jrconlin

@hyc @mhoye

It would be more appropriate if you stopped asking and started doing, at least in the context of open source.

The developers of any OS software have exactly zero obligation to fulfill random wishes of random dudes who happened to find their software useful. If you want to get it done, do it yourself or pay somebody to do it instead of wasting time to whine about it on the public internet instead of using a bug tracker.

#dramaqueen

2 Nov 2023 at 9:24 | Open on mastodon.online
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