On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 8:43 PM, Zachary Uram <netrek@gmail.com> wrote:
quoted text
> You get lost. You seem to think the project exists as an end unto
> itself.

And why can't it?  Seriously, please explain this.

quoted text
> Develop the most wonderful kernel and userspace in the world
> but if no one uses it what is the point?

The point is to keep hacking on something you love and enjoy.
Honestly, do you think "the point" is to acquire a large user base?
Do you think the developers invest their time and effort hoping to
kick-up the numbers reported by people like netcraft?

They spend their time and effort doing what they love, and kindly make
it freely available for others.

I've created and maintained a few (very) small open source
applications, and I can honestly say that I only created them for me.
I needed/wanted something that either didn't exist, or did but had
lousy documentation.  I don't track the number of downloads each get.
I could care less.  I'm not interested in that.  I just put them
online in case anyone else was interested.  To help out any such
interested people, I took the time to create some documentation that
at least tries to be adequate for a non-developer.

...and when I get an email from a new user asking a question that's
clearly answered in the documentation (or could be easily answered by
just *trying* some small test/experiment), I don't even bother
responding.  Why should I?  So I can hold their hand for a few days?
So I can increase my precious "user base"???  I didn't create the
programs for them.

OpenBSD, as an OS, is huge... there are *tons* of questions people
could ask.  The dev's would rather hack than hold hands, and most
(serious) users would rather they do that too.  I like new features,
new hardware support, and fewer bugs... I could care less if you get
help with a question that you could easily answer yourself.

And the devs really have invested tons-o-effort in good, useful
documentation.  It's actively maintained along with the code, not as
an after-thought or "when they get around to it."  They take it
seriously, and that's rare.

quoted text
> Since your attitude to new
> users is "get lost" that reflects very poorly on yourself and
> indirectly OpenBSD.

No, Stas's "attitude" wasn't towards new users.  It was towards new
users who cannot help themselves.  There's a huge difference, and that
seems to be what you're missing.

-Ryan