[sharmi]

Even if the open source contributor does not intend to monetize (not that there is anything wrong with that), even in it's core idea, it is still essential for open source contributors to know marketing.

1. As someone below said, even if you give away for free, people need to know what it is and where to find it. If you do not market, then you are just singing a beautiful song into the Void.

2. For an open source contribution to live and be useful, it needs to be maintained and evolve with the time and needs. That needs a healthy community around the project.

3. Open Source contributors are also living lives and there will come a time when they need to step back. This should not have a debilitating effect on the continuity of the project.

4. Also having a healthy community that supports in dev, responding to issues, documentation etc will have a positive impact on the contributor's mental health in the long term.

[xyzzy_plugh]

I'm confused by this comment. What does marketing have to do with open source at all? I don't care if anyone ever uses my software. It succeeds by virtue of being open source.

Open source software does not require a community to form around it. Software can be "done" and in low to no maintenance mode. It doesn't need to evolve with the time. It just is.

I welcome the discourse around healthy community building but I really dislike this trend of conflating community with open source as if somehow it's a property of free and open source software. It ain't.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

> What does marketing have to do with open source at all? I don't care if anyone ever uses my software.

You just answered your own question!

If you care about people using your own software, then the best approach is to market it. Otherwise, why bother?