Hackers in the Bazaar "blog" posts 😎
In Homesteading the Noosphere, ESR describes the culture of hackers involved in open source, which although is nowhere to be explicitly specified, somehow manages to be followed uniformly in the groups of any given open source project. Apparently, open-source culture is a gift culture, a system where one’s status is determined by what you give away.
Through the mists of many big words and verbose analogies, my takeaway is that the desire for reputation and prestige is what drives people to contribute to open source. And sure, some people claim they might be doing it moreso for delight or altruism it gives them, but that in the end those motives can be traced back to self-interest (Nietzsche?). And on top of that, hackers are generally full of humility and love to crack self-deprecating jokes, which sounds contradicting but also might not be.
How could hackers want fame-like reputation, yet still be humble? Well, I’d say that I would fall into that category. Of course I’d like to be respected and appreciated, well known. Who wouldn’t? But then if I’d actually get that sort of attention, I think I’d sink down in embarrassment over it. It’s like I’d like reputation, but not directly. I’d like to be the “main character” who people gossip about in a good light. But I’d run away if announced in front of an audience or talked to directly. I think, or rather, hope this is what other people may also feel, and in particular those who consider themselves introverts. The desire to be respected and looked up to, though not to an extreme. Even further, it makes me think - and hold the phone - because I’m going to make a generalization. Maybe certain intellectuals have just been raised in that light of humility. They’ve witnessed the theatrical cliche of blatant pride and subsequent downfall. Maybe they understand that to maximize one’s reputation is to demonstrate their ability through showing, rather than telling. Certain somethings are so artfully crafted that a lack of explanation regarding it will suffice, and I think that’s a gold standard when it comes to creating cool things.
As for ESR’s list of taboos, well, I don’t find anything wrong with that. They all seem justified, and I admittedly don’t have enough experience in the open-source world to even make an attempt at challenging the standards he’s lying out. Forking is allowed, just frowned upon if its done without sufficient explanation of reasoning. Makes logical sense. Making changes to a project under moderator’s cooperation makes sense too, because there should be some form, at minimum minimal, of hierarchy to keep a large-scale project on topic. The exception would be if appointed moderators are unjust, and from there it seems like a fork of the project would be justified. Finally, removing a person’s name from the credits without their permission is self-explanatory, since that’s really just robbery.
I’d like to end this by saying I don’t consider myself a hacker. ESR has mentioned that to truly be a hacker is to be called one by someone other than yourself. In my case, I’ve never even considered myself one anyway so I’m unaffected. But it’s something nice for the future. Maybe one day I’ll be an actual hacker that understands more than the curriculum that college courses have provided us. Until then, I’ll keep cracking self-deprecating jokes that aren’t even ironic because I’m that self conscious.
Some notes
“…you seldom want to give the impression that a project is `done'. This might lead a potential contributor not to feel needed. The way to maximize your leverage is to be humble about the state of the program.”
Really like this. I think I have the humbleness down because I know my code is never perfect, and I’m more than grateful for someone to take a look and improve it, as long as they keep the roasting to the code and don’t directly attack me. As for the impression of a project to be “done,” I like this point because it really makes sense with what an open source project is all about. How will there be contributors for a project that’s 100% complete? Impossible, because there’s no such project that’s 100% complete.
“…And this is why projects with web pages seem more `real'.”
Wow, is that why we have to make a webpage for our project? Don’t like the fact that it means more work, but I do like the fact that it means we’re forced to do something beneficial that I’d probably be otherwise too lazy to do without a zero hanging over my head.