[npsimons]

I think you're reading too much into that, or have a chip on your shoulder, or both. "Patches welcome" is an invitation, a smiling, friendly, we-think-you're-good-enough-and-want-your-help, open-handed gesture that is meant to encourage cooperation and evoke the deeply human drive to help others.

[nemothekid]

nknighthb is completely right. It is user hostile. It even makes a huge assumption, that clarry is programmer in the first place. With "Patches welcome" you might as well be saying "If you don't like it, spend a year learning [Language] to fix this issue." How is that anything other than user hostile?

If my mom can't open a pdf in pdf.js, I'm not going to tell her "Well mom, patches welcome."

[Turing_Machine]

Give that clarry is a) posting on HN and b) apparently at least contemplating writing his/her own OS at some point, the assumption that he/she is a programmer is anything but "huge".

[derrida]

"My mum writes optimizing compilers."