[ChrisMarshallNY]

I’ve had some experience developing an infrastructure-level system for use around the world.

I had to maintain it, almost completely alone, for ten years, before it was taken over by a competent team, and I could finally walk away.

One of the most important things I did, in that decade, was say “no” a lot.

Some folks were not happy about it, and Godwin’s Law was invoked on my ass, multiple times.

A lot of requests were ones that would optimize for a specific use case, but it was a generalist system, so it had to remain “imperfect.”

In the end, it all worked out well, if not “perfectly.” It’s now a worldwide system, being run by hundreds of organizations, and used daily, by thousands of people.

[jddil]

> I had to maintain it, almost completely alone, for ten years, before it was taken over by a competent team, and I could finally walk away.

No you didn't.

Younger folks reading this, you don't owe anyone free labor. If you want to donate your time to open source that's ok but just know there are thousands of people in this industry that don't care about your mental health and will continue to take advantage of you because you enjoy coding and don't understand how valuable your time is yet.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Sometimes, we do stuff for reasons that folks, these days, can't relate to. I'm truly sorry that you've never had a Cause to which you could dedicate that kind of effort.

No one ever "took advantage" of me. I'm actually kind of hard to hoodwink.

Yes, I did "have to."

If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand.

[kiddico]

I think folks these days can relate just fine. That particular guy a bit less so.

[AlexeyBelov]

> If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand.

It's not that I don't agree with you, but this sentence is very strange. It can be used to "support" anything and everything at all.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

But it’s true, nonetheless. I’ve had it said to me, and it applies.

If you are unable to comprehend that people will do something for altruistic or deeply personal reasons, then we live in entirely different worlds, and it’s a waste of time, trying to explain ourselves.

[latexr]

I get the impression the OP isn’t saying they “had to” in the sense of “being forced to by outside forces” but rather “wanted to for personal satisfaction and pride”. I understand the feeling: you create something you’re proud of and which means a lot to you, and before you let it go you want to ensure it’s in good competent hands which will care for it and make it flourish the same way you would.

That is very different from being exploited or taken advantage of.

[NegativeK]

I agree with the quoted commenter's point that sometimes shit matters enough to put up with the suck, but I also agree with your point that people need to understand that walking away might be the right thing to do.

Finding that balance can be very hard.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

This is true. I knew what I was getting into. I didn't expect it to be ten years, but I did expect at least five, before I could get folks to pitch in. I knew the character of the folks that would be trying to force the system into shapes that would not last, and how they would react to me.

In this case, it was for an organization that I've been involved in, for decades. I'm incredibly Grateful for what it's done for me, and I'm simply paying it back a bit.

The system was required to help them improve their discoverability, which could be life-saving.

It's not hyperbole to say that the system has probably saved many lives, and will continue to do so, for the foreseeable future.

It's also pretty much worthless, monetarily. No one would be willing to pony up a fraction of what it would have cost to build, if it were paid.

I'd do it all over again, if I had to. Fortunately, I don't have to. The team that took it over have done great things with it. It's a ship of Theseus type of thing. There's probably not much code I wrote, left. I write apps that now leverage it.

[obk0943t]

can you share what system is it ? is it public ?

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I don’t really mention it in public, but it’s no secret. It’s managed by a team, these days, and it’s not really appropriate for me to draw much attention to my role. They are doing a great job.

It is public.

Happy to share it one-on-one.

[Seattle3503]

Seems like you are saying the same thing as OP, but with a more cynical framing. He set boundaries because he did not in fact have to accept those PRs.

[squigz]

One might argue that programmers owe something to all those maintainers who so nonsensically donated their time and money to furthering a free software ecosystem that every single one of us - humans, not just programmers - benefit from. Maybe it's money, as you seem to imply, but maybe it's more time and labor to continue to further that cause.

[AlexeyBelov]

> Godwin’s Law was invoked on my ass

Can you elaborate?

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I was called a Nazi.

People can get pretty upset, when you say "no."