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February 28, 2007

burnout and the late night rant

I've been thinking about this for a while now. The OSS burnout is a bit high right now. (Pardon my French.)

23:54  zenspider : ARGH!!! I'm so fucking close to giving up on open
                   source and telling all you fucks to bite me.
23:54       evan : zenspider: what happened now?
23:55       evan : people again?
23:55  zenspider : yes. as weinburg points out, it is ALWAYS a people
                   problem
00:02  zenspider : I'm just sick of the fucking leeches and their
                   incessant drain. take everything, offer nothing,
                   and bitch about the results.
00:02  zenspider : what they don't realize is that I didn't write ANY of
                   my code for them. I wrote it for me because I love
                   coding. I _happened_ to release it all simply because
                   I can and like to share, but I still didn't write it
                   for them.
00:03  zenspider : but lately I've been tempted to pull it all and walk
00:03       evan : zenspider: so just ignore them.
00:03  zenspider : it gets hard
00:04       evan : or make friends with someone that will take care of
                   that crap for ya
00:04  zenspider : it was easier back in the day, but the railz0rs come
                   in droves
00:04       evan : yep.
00:04       evan : it's all PHP's fault.
00:04       evan : really.
00:06  zenspider : honestly, I blame it not on technology, but greed.
                   it was the dot-com bubble that brought people to the
                   scene who weren't there for the love of code or the
                   love of creating, but for greed.
00:06  zenspider : and the greed of the suits made them lower the bar and
                   bring in less qualified people which forced us all to
                   compromise and slow down, release crap slower instead
                   of quality faster
00:06       evan : i agree 100%
00:07  zenspider : lower the standards so we kept them even when they
                   couldn't perform
00:07  zenspider : and now it is just happening again, web2 is simply
                   rebranded greed
00:08  zenspider : none of it has changed my love for coding
00:08  zenspider : but it has changed my desire to contribute

Posted by zenspider at February 28, 2007 12:38 AM | Bookmark This
Categories: Ruby , Thoughts / Misc

Comments

So what kind of projects would you like people to do with your code?

I got halfway to extending your ruby2c into a ruby2java, but got annoyed with Sun's evil C API.

Posted by: GrEp [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 28, 2007 11:57 AM

GrEp,

Ouch! I can feel your pain wrt sun's C API. ruby2java wouldn't be too fun, esp with all the things that we can do that just doesn't fit in the java object model (singleton methods).

As far as what kind of projects I want people to do with my code goes... that isn't the type of expectation I have. Do what you want with my code, but be ethical and kind about it. I'm mostly tired of people with this bitchy tone and a false sense of entitlement that they use just to be rude.

Posted by: zenspider [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 28, 2007 2:38 PM

Ryan, it is often too easy for us to allow too much time to pass before expressing our gratitude. Thank you, thank you for sharing your code.

I think for many of us, we would like to contribute. For others, sadly they are ungrateful.

Hang tough.

Posted by: Ken Barker [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 28, 2007 6:17 PM

Do what you love, Ryan, and let the leeches go. Although I have not directly used your work, I know that open source coders like you have changed the world in ways that most people do not realize.

You are the unsung heroes of virtual freedom.

Posted by: Michael Brooks [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 1, 2007 4:15 AM

I agree with your comments about the web and the internet in general being all about greed. The "Web 2.0" shit is all about greed. Everything up to then has simply been a learning process about how to implement greed into the everyday workings of the internet. Web 2.0 has most of the "greed kinks" all worked out, they know how to implement their greed flawlessly. As a user of open source software (as appossed to a contributer) its all about not having to reinvent the wheel. No matter what you do, it is likely that someone else has already done it, so why create it all over again. Thats the lure of using open source software but appreciation is duley noted and in some cases compensated for as well as supported. You have to grow a thicker skin when dealing with people who do nothing but bitch and complain about your work. You have to know that there always will be f**ks like that wherever you go and with whatever you do. You just have to tell them to not use your stuff and create it themselves if they can do such a better job, come on "sticks and stones...".

Posted by: Doooh_Head [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 1, 2007 4:48 AM

Totally agree with the issue at hand ;)

Posted by: Constantin Baciu [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 1, 2007 5:00 AM

Dude, reply to all bitching with:

Hello, I banged you mom last night but she needs a lot of work. Would you teach her how to give a proper BJ before I nail her again? Thanks.

That is all :-)

Posted by: rushonerok [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 1, 2007 9:32 AM

Ryan,

I constantly deal with many of the same issues you face and what keeps me going is my enjoyment of the "craft".

So:

  1. Code for you, period.
  2. Do what YOU think is right.
  3. Omit the bad language, it only hurts your credibility.

Item #3 seems silly at first, after all it's your blog, and you SHOULD be able to say what you want to the way you want to, but (like e-mail) once you post something in cyberspace you can never take it back.

Many of the "business types" that give us daily headaches look for ways to diminish our (IT guys) influence so that they may increase their own, and the vulgar language an easy way for them to do this.

Posted by: wwwjames [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 1, 2007 10:53 AM

It might seem a rather contrary posiiton to take, but those guys who never contribute and just bitch the whole time? They're your users.

If the only people who use the code you're writing are your co-contributors, then you're not really 'sharing' your code in any wide sense - you're just developing something for yourselves.

They're a mirror - admittedly, a cracked, distorted, and whiny mirror, but a mirror nevertheless - use them wisely...

Posted by: scofflaw [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 4, 2007 5:47 PM

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