Mailing List Archive: Python: Dev

Re: altruism

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solipsis at pitrou

Sep 23, 2009, 4:36 AM

Post #1 of 3 (388 views)
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Re: 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.

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ncoghlan at gmail

Sep 23, 2009, 5:22 AM

Post #2 of 3 (344 views)
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Re: altruism [In reply to]

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 | ncoghlan [at] gmail | Brisbane, Australia
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brett at python

Sep 23, 2009, 10:57 AM

Post #3 of 3 (337 views)
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Re: altruism [In reply to]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 04:36, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis [at] 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.
>
> 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
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