[notdiaphone]

What struck me is this:

> I can't help shake the feeling that somewhere, the software I use is being developed solely by volunteers who would rather quit, but don't have the ability to say "no".

I've witnessed a number of developers similarly burn out in the last years. This suggest either the opensource movement attracts people prone to such burn-outs or that it produces them. The general reaction tends to be a bit of sympathy mixed with a hard-nosed "Well, it's difficult. Some make it, some don't" attitude. Yet given the trend we seem to ignore a fundamental flaw in how we're working, interacting, consuming, supporting, and rewarding one another. Even Shuttleworth cited a kind of opensource community fatigue when he killed off the phone project. It disappoints me to think that the opensource world talks a lot about freedom at the same time we have Omar's suggestion that those working in it really are not free.

[hinkley]

This is a risk of volunteerism in general. I think this is why you often see age gaps in organizations. You have a lot of young people who can’t pace themselves, and 3/4 of those who decide to stick around are gone in 2 years. I suspect that it’s a small but not insignificant contribution to young people moving somewhere else and starting over. I just need a change of pace...

Someone just a couple years ago wrote up an opinion piece in which they asserted that the standard oath for volunteers should be “I promise not to burn out”.