[notanaverageman]

Not that I regret it, but I found out that creating a community around an open source project is not like what you expect. I've been working on a tool for a very popular project for more than two years, adding features, refining it etc. since I had my time. Reading many comments on HN and Reddit on how people don't like current dominant tool or its alternatives, what features they expect etc. I thought I've got one that people would like to use.

I have open sourced it and shared it on a few places and got zero traction. Ok, I thought, I can talk about it here and there, so it would get more visibility. People don't like it much since I'm promoting my own tool. I posted a blog post about some technique on tool's website and people seemed to like it on Reddit. A few people wrote comments like "interesting" or "amazing" and I was happy for the first time. Then someone wrote that you should not make your friends/alt-accounts comment on your posts, it's cringe and that happiness went away.

I've been a lurker on social media nearly whole my life. Putting myself out there feels like an unpleasant experience. I'm still deciding whether to continue or just go back to lurking and keep my tool to myself.

[qiine]

I am starting to threat this kind of people like cosmic background radiation noise.

[jraph]

> I'm still deciding whether to continue or just go back to lurking and keep my tool to myself.

I'd be inclined to suggest not to let the 1% annoying people spoil it for everyone else if you can help it.

Most people know to see through and recognize these annoying people and their toxic comments and know to appreciate the good work.

Sharing your work as open source is still an amazing thing to do despite the annoying vocal minority and many people appreciate it even if they don't say much.

Of course, your own sanity and health is the most important thing.

Thanks for having shared your work as open source until now and good luck for the future, whatever path you end up choosing.

Also: write your open source stuff for yourself. Share it but don't wait for validation. That's bonus but your motivation should come from inside. IMHO.

[latexr]

> creating a community around an open source project is not like what you expect.

> (…)

> Then someone wrote that you should not make your friends/alt-accounts comment on your posts, it's cringe and that happiness went away.

Respectfully, if you’re that easily discouraged you should not in any way attempt to “create a community”. Having a popular open-source project isn’t glamorous, it’s extra work for you. It’s entitled users making demands and opening crappy bug reports, punctuated by the occasional decent contributor and even rarer exceptional one.

Make your tool available and let it be. Mention it only when relevant, and even then think twice. Make it clear the tool is for yourself and you may accommodate respectful requests which make sense for your vision of the project, but make no promises. Do what’s enjoyable, don’t try to chase fame and notoriety.