[yareally]

Sadly, this is a typical thing that goes on in the Android User development community. Lots of casual attitudes by hobbyists that modify the Linux Kernel and rattle off some sort of excuse for not posting their sources while distributing binary copies.

Others end up "relicensing" similar to the guy on github, thinking that because they changed a few lines of code, they can claim to own the license to the software now. I'd say that is probably much more prevalent since there's a general assumption by many that the license most Android based software uses, Apache 2.0 means "do whatever you want".

Even worse is the fact that many users in the community are also quick to defend them blindly because they know little of development and why following licenses matter (even after all the facts are laid out and explained).

[jlgreco]

The last point you raise is one of the reasons that I think the drive to bring as many "proverbial grandmothers" to Linux presents a very serious concern.

Imagine if Linux distros started getting treated like Android does? Android got those legions of "regular" users and participants that everybody seems to want and it is not a pretty scene because of it.

[yareally]

Great point. I've had more than one conversation with friends in the Android community where we try to understand exactly why the Android development community is as toxic as it is at times.

Part of it definitely has to do with the end users getting too close to those doing the development and the result is chaos. It ends with users totally disrespecting real developers--stirring up unnecessary drama and fanboyism. Then there's users that compiled Android (or worse, added a few apps into a ROM by opening it in 7zip) and are suddenly an Android development expert (and users that believe it by defending them and donating money).

I'm just glad that most other development communities on the web are much more civil (though I'm sure there's outliers). Even with Ubuntu's rise in popularity, it comes nowhere close to matching the appalling behavior I've witnessed with Android. I've seen people belittled by users for simply trying to post an honest bug report to a developer in their forum thread. Though with the way users spam up those threads with offtopic discussion, one is just as likely to have their bug report missed/ignored.

[pnathan]

> Part of it definitely has to do with the end users getting too close to those doing the development and the result is chaos.

I don't understand what you mean. Shouldn't a close relationship between developers and users be a key goal in development?

[jevinskie]

I think the point is that the relationship isn't getting useful work done. In a ROM thread on XDA developers there are no good bug reports with reproductions, expected results, etc. It is a bunch of people saying "this doesn't work" and "no of course it should work for you because it works on my phone" and especially off-the-cuff performance evaluations ("much smoother, no stuttering or lag"). It is difficult to figure out who knows their shit and who is just bullshitting.

[Svip]

> Others end up "relicensing" similar to the guy on github, [...]

Hmmm...

https://github.com/rxrz/exfat-nofuse/issues/5#issuecomment-2... :

> And I don't need any permissions from anybody, I'm a big girl.

Fun fact: Females also do stupid stuff.

[vog]

Among all aspects of that discussion, the author's gender is about the most uninteresting detail. "Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not criteria such as degrees, age, race, sex, or position."

[yareally]

Agreed. I didn't even take the time to find out what their gender was since it's not any related issue. "Guy" was just used in a generic sense[1].

[1] http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/generic-s...

[Svip]

I apologise, I am not familiar enough with the usage of 'guy' to know it is generic in singular (I know it is in plural).

[yareally]

No worries :). I just think of it as another way of saying "dude".

[ars]

Bad example because officially dude is also male. The female is dudine, dudette, or dudess.

But like like guy, dude because gender neutral in common speech.

[skore]

> Fun fact: Females also do stupid stuff.

Nah, pretty sure the "I'm a big girl" is just fratboy posturing.

Otherwise I agree with the commenter next to me: Breathtaking inanity is the interesting aspect here, not gender.

[dbaupp]

> I'm a big girl

I believe the key part of this is the "I'm a big X" pattern (i.e. "I'm an adult"), not that the person is female.