[5e92cb50239222b]

Blame the interviewers who require OSS contributions. Same with DigitalOcean and their "hacktobefest"¹, or whatever it's called. LKML is full of attempts at these. For some reason I remember a particular exchange (but it's quite typical) between Linus and some random 16 year old ESL student, who bugged Linus for days to accept his "typo fixes" (most of which weren't really typos), and Linus's replies in the manner of "lemme get right on that". From what I understand it's just something you have to deal with as a prominent OSS figure.

1: https://drewdevault.com/2020/10/01/Spamtoberfest.html

[KyeRussell]

I am subscribed to the mailing list used to discuss development of the Django project. This is a very frequent occurrence. There is a constant stream of wannabe contributors that feel somehow inclined or compelled to ask the mailing list for a primer on contribution instead of reading the myriad disclaimers and existing documentation. It’s often obvious that they’re incredibly green behind the ears and barely know what Python or Django are, let alone how to use it. I personally find the combination of hubris and dishonesty jarring, though I appreciate that at the core of it is a cultural difference that I just don’t understand.

[ratww]

Bullshit. The number of jobs that require OSS contributions is minimal, and I've never seen that requirement for anything close to an entry-level job. This is people doing resume padding and making it worse for everyone: OSS contributors, interviewers and future candidates that don't engage in this spam.

And Hacktoberfest, before those incidents, was something for real OSS contributors. Not for spammers wanting a free T-shirt.

Blame the channels on Youtube that are teaching people to make inane contributions to game the system, the people spreading lies like "you need OSS contributions to get a job" and finally the people doing it. This is the reason we can't have nice things.