Author: Ben Cotton

2024-11-20

ccTLDs are bad for your project

Using a ccTLD puts your project’s infrastructure at the whims of geopolitics. There are plenty of other TLDs to choose from.

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2024-11-13

Communities aren’t an accidental collection of strangers with a common interest

Community implies a degree of commitment to stick around, and the bonds of friendship can make the project a more enjoyable place to be.

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2024-10-09

Open source is not consent for experiments

You can do whatever you want with the code you download. But once you’re writing instead of reading, you need to be a good participant.

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2024-10-02

Building a community still means giving up control

Reddit’s new rules protect short-term value, but creating a community that’s sustainable in the long term still means giving up control.

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2024-09-25

Code style guides are for cooperation, not preferences

If you’re leading a project, document your style. If you’re joining a project, set your style preferences aside.

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2024-09-18

It’s okay to not do things

Just because you had the idea to do something, that doesn’t mean you’re obligated to do it. Some tasks can be skipped or delayed.

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2024-09-04

The future of first-party open source events

The way first-party open source events are typically setup does not fit the world in 2024. A new approach splits talks, social, & workshops.

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2024-08-28

Strategic use of bikeshedding

Painting a bike shed can be an excellent icebreaker when getting a group to review a document draft.

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2024-08-21

Companies: make sustainable contributions

We learned over the past year or two that corporate participation in an open source project is not guaranteed. The contributions a company makes need to be sustainable long after the company stops participating.

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2024-08-15

Volunteers can’t be blockers

Figure out which processes are truly critical and accept that the non-critical ones may get missed from time to time. If you have paid contributors, they should be responsible for the critical processes.

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