| I've written two articles on this topic over the last few years: https://medium.com/neuml/grow-your-open-source-project-5b439... https://medium.com/neuml/grow-your-open-source-project-2-0-5... In 2024, it's hard to get anyone to know you even exist. You can work all you want on GitHub but it likely will be a couple star project unless it trends on a site like this. With how many developers oversell what they've built, everyone is generally skeptical with any new project. People are even more skeptical if a project mentions "AI". Then you have VC-backed companies who have their ways to get their projects noticed. They'll get stars, articles and publicity but there is no direct correlation with project quality and funding. People use these projects, they're terrible and the cycle of disillusionment continues. Given all that, it takes a certain resolve, belief in what you're doing and commitment to keep pushing forward. There will be little carrots along the way to re-energize you. Perhaps that is good enough, perhaps it's not. It's not for the faint of heart. I fully agree that when an open-source maintainer doesn't want to do it anymore, it's like anything else in life. We have free will and the right to decide to move on to other endeavors. Just like one does with any other job. |