Thoughts from the abyss

This is definitely a rant about something I saw today that really irritated me. I’m a member of various open-source forums, with mainly the tools and software I use. I become a member of the mailing lists in case I have a problem, it easily becomes the first stop when troubleshooting. Chances are there’s someone that has already posted a solution, or at least some form of help to point you in the correct direction to resolve your issues. Keep in mind, mostly all open-source mailing lists are maintained by a very small group of individuals, and on top of that, they are only keeping above water due to donations and kindnesses from others.

I’m reading through a particular forum today, sharing some information about my wireless card, because someone on the list was having issues with the particular brand. I run across a particular thread where after following it awhile, I wanted to reach through the screen and choke the guy for his comments and shear rudeness.

Basically, the original post was a person asking for a CD release of a certain ISO. He kindly asked if one was available, if so, where would he locate it. One of the developers, whom I recognized as such, answered his questions and said it wasn’t yet released mainstream yet. He said he had released a test version some time ago, but hadn’t had any responses yet, and so therefor the update had fallen through the crack, so to speak. This particular developer, along with the others, are always quick to respond to almost anything you ask them. They are much appreciated in this project’s community, at least I appreciate them anyways.

Well, here comes the part I have a problem with. Someone comes along and wants to pick an argument over nonsense. I think to myself, OK, no big deal. You get this all the time in almost every forum I’m part of. Mostly, you ignore these people, delete their correspondence, and go about your business. This guy, however, is a real tool. One of the developers answers back with his usual, don’t give me shit reply (which is wonderful in my opinion). That wasn’t enough to shut this guy up, so he posted back again. This went on a few rounds, each time his rudeness factor increasing until finally one of the developers basically said enough. Either donate your time, cash, help, or hardware, or shut up. The perfect response.

Anyways, back to the point of what bugs me about these kind of people. Take a project like this, and you get only a small handful of developers and maintainers. These people do not get paid, they do not make money, and most just do this kind of stuff as a hobby. Why? Because they are geeks and enjoy Linux and the open-source community that much. So you take this small group of folks and instead of thanking them, you berate them. You belittle them and lecture them over something you are getting for free. Instead of asking if you can help them out, you pick an argument and basically waste their time. These kind of people really piss me off. They make themselves look like complete asses, and in return waste the time of others when they could be doing helpful things to keep the project(s) moving forward. Short of mental illness, or inheriting jack-ass syndrome, I can’t understand for the life of me, why you would act this way towards someone else. Especially, someone else that is providing you with free service, bandwidth, and a project at no cost to you.

I enjoy a good argument frequently, but in a fun way. If you’re one of these types of people, do yourselves and the open-source community a favor, and a) stop and think before you start pecking at the keyboard, or b) just keep your traps shut completely. You’re not helping anyone, and you are especially not helping the hard work that many folks put into providing something free…need I say more. If something is free and it doesn’t suit your needs, go find something else. Don’t act like an ass to dedicated respected and respectful to others person or persons. Ahhh, I feel better.