The Minimally-nice Open Source Software Maintainer

Brian Anderson shares a few thoughts on how to appear as a minimally-nice Open Source Software maintainer.  Maintaining Open Source Software projects is a demanding job.  And the more popular the project is, the more demanding it is.  Brian shares the following practices that minimize the effort while you still maintaining a positive atmosphere for the project’s contributors:

In summary, do these things if you want to appear to be nice, and also if you want to actually be an effective open source software maintainer:

By consistently exhibiting a few simple behaviors, one can at least look like a kind and decent person. Maybe someday we all actually will be.

The trolley problem

The trolley problem is an ethical and psychological thought experiment. In its most basic formulation, you’re the driver of a runaway trolley about to hit and certainly kill five people on the track ahead, but you have the option of switching to a second track at the last minute, killing only a single person. What do you do?

Kottke has some thought-provoking variations.  I’m sure this has been turned into a drinking game somewhere.

Vera Drake

Vera Drake (2004)I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about “Vera Drake“. Accidentaly I’ve got my hands on a copy of this film, so I watched it.

Directed by: Mike Leigh
Genres: Drama
Cast: Imelda Staunton, Richard Graham, Eddie Marsan, Anna Keaveney, Alex Kelly, Daniel Mays, Philip Davis, Lesley Manville, Sally Hawkins, Simon Chandler, Sam Troughton, Marion Bailey, Sandra Voe, Chris O’Dowd, Adrian Scarborough
IMDB raintg: 8.0
My rating: 4.0 [rate 4.0]

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