Presumably, the maintainer wants the best for the product and its users. So they have a definite interest in documenting a todo list.
Presumably, the user wants the best for the product and their ability to use the product. So they have a definite interest in documenting a todo list.
It doesn't make sense for the two to be at war with each other. It is no big deal for the maintainer to ask a favor. It's not too big of a deal for the user to decline. There's no need to attack.
I have often dropped a note to the maintainer of a project I bumped into. I'm sure they would prefer a bug report in their official forge. But I don't really use their software except for this one time. I'm not willing to jump through the hoops to create an account in yet another SaaS just to file this one report. Just dropping them an email was a courtesy. But often they don't interpret it that way. I'm perfectly un-insulted if they just delete my note and never "fix" the issue because it didn't come through proper channels.
No attacks. No war. Just well wishes. But I might very likely avoid the product if I'm ever back in those woods. Not out of anger or retribution. Just because I'll remember that the product had at least one sharp edge for my use case and the maintainer was a bit overwhelmed by the weight of supporting my niche use case. That doesn't make the maintainer a bad person or even a bad maintainer.
If the maintainer is trying to write something RFC-compliant, and someone reports a violation of the RFC, it sure seems reasonable for the maintainer to want to track that.
If they don't want to, that's certainly their right, but it also tells us something about that project.
Someone reporting an RFC violation doesn't automatically mean there is actually an RFC violation. That's why they are asking for a minimal repro, not a dump of the reporter's stream of consciousness. If your teammate at work. came to you and dumped something like this on your desk, how would you react?
If they're doing this and bothering to interact with tickets at all, presumably they've willingly taken on a duty to the software's quality and all that that entails.
Maintaining an open-source software project is frequently a hobby that’s performed out of a labor of love. There’s no duty owed to anyone, nor should one be implied by past behavior. The open-source community is not a slave trade.
I don't see how that changes anything (and you didn't say "voluntarily"). Volunteering does not create a duty. One can volunteer to pick up litter and give up halfway through; the only consequence would be disappointment.
Volunteering to maintain a project literally does create entail accepting duties, that's what taking on the role of maintainer entails. They are of course free to give up that role at any time, but those duties exist while that role has been adopted.
Let's suppose for the sake of the argument that while you are a volunteer, you take on some duty. What is the nature of that duty? And how do we enforce the execution of said duty? What are the consequences of it not being performed?
You can't really say someone has a "duty" without also implying that they have a "responsibility," and thus liability if they fail to execute those duties properly. I don't see how this fits at all for a volunteer. Very few people are going to volunteer for no pay if they're taking on a risk of liability.
Maybe you mean a civic duty? That would make somewhat more sense, but the problem is that there’s no objective standard against which to test performance. It’s completely subjective and will be forever argued—much like this thread. :-)
Presumably, the user wants the best for the product and their ability to use the product. So they have a definite interest in documenting a todo list.
It doesn't make sense for the two to be at war with each other. It is no big deal for the maintainer to ask a favor. It's not too big of a deal for the user to decline. There's no need to attack.
I have often dropped a note to the maintainer of a project I bumped into. I'm sure they would prefer a bug report in their official forge. But I don't really use their software except for this one time. I'm not willing to jump through the hoops to create an account in yet another SaaS just to file this one report. Just dropping them an email was a courtesy. But often they don't interpret it that way. I'm perfectly un-insulted if they just delete my note and never "fix" the issue because it didn't come through proper channels.
No attacks. No war. Just well wishes. But I might very likely avoid the product if I'm ever back in those woods. Not out of anger or retribution. Just because I'll remember that the product had at least one sharp edge for my use case and the maintainer was a bit overwhelmed by the weight of supporting my niche use case. That doesn't make the maintainer a bad person or even a bad maintainer.