[jsmailes]

It saddens me to see the communities surrounding free software projects going dark because of the threat posed by AI tools, but I don't know what other solutions there are that would mitigate the threat, particularly when browsers are such a compelling target. Perhaps some kind of trust system a la arxiv.org, where existing users have to vouch for new submissions before a user is themselves trusted? Definitely still vulnerable to abuse, but perhaps less so.

[JimBlackwood]

I think a trust system is the only way. Ladybird will need new/different maintainers at some point in the future. How are you going to find them now?

I don’t disagree with their choice, but it’s not sustainable in the long term.

[dvdkon]

Closed-source projects have been dealing with this forever, by having a mostly-static pool of employees replenished through job listings and interviews. A FLOSS project adopting this model would certainly feel weird, but could work if there were enough willing candidates. The question is, who will take on effectively a job without the monetary reward?

[samtheDamned]

My understanding is that the people working on ladybird are compensated for their full time positions, so I would also expect any future positions to be similar.

[stuaxo]

This is needed for more projects than just ladybird, and I'm sure will be worked out.

For now this makes sense.

[MarsIronPI]

Maybe it is, if they can somehow vet potential new contributors in-person at e.g. conferences.