Contributing to free software requires privilege. Even regular contributors might sometimes find themselves without it.
Time, focus and money. You might find yourself lacking in one of these at various points in your life.
While software projects from startups move like streams, most free software projects move like glaciers. They move slowly but they keep moving for decades.
Being away from a project doesn't mean you have to give it up. You can join back later.
@njoseph Just because I'm seeing a lot of public push-back: I agree. Reminds of a quote from this article: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2021/the-oss-bubble-and-the-blogging-bubble/
"A surprising amount of OSS is made by former big tech developers. They can afford to subsist on meagre revenue—for a time—because their pay and stock options have left them free of debt and with well-stocked savings accounts."
Dunno why people seem triggered by the word "privilege" TBH. I've got gobs of it myself. Take responsibility for it. It's a form of power.
@josemanuel @njoseph Prevailing material conditions mean that not everyone *will* have equal opportunities to contribute. Being able to perform a significant amount of un-or-under-compensated work without suffering economic hardship necessarily comes from having at least some degree of economic privilege. I'm not saying OSS or FOSS propagate inequality.
@ryan Again, is contributing to free software un-or-under-compensated work? Yes, in most cases. But so is having a hobby. Do you consider having hobbies to be a privilege?
And nobody’s forced to «perform a significant amount» of work. You can just contribute a patch, a bug report, a translation, an improvement to documentation, etc. Or simply fork an existing project for your own personal purposes or to learn and improve yourself.
Moreover, contributing to (or just using) free software can help one land better paid jobs that will get them more time and better material conditions to contribute more significantly if they so desire.
So, again, I fail to see where the so-called privilege is.
> can help one land better paid jobs that will get them more time and better material conditions to contribute more significantly if they so desire
In other words, not just privilege, but privilege with leverage! Having the resources to invest in free software is the digital global analogue of landed gentry.@clacke Ok. I understand your point now and I disagree.
Do you call people who give their time to any NGO dedicated to help others privileged? Because I’d feel insulted if I was one of them.
“Hi, I donate my free time to work for social justice and to reduce inequality.” “Yeah? Well, check your privilege, asshole.”
@josemanuel I don't think you understand. Are these people able to help because they're privileged? Yeah, no shit they are. But *having* privilege is no cause for someone to tell you "check your privilege, asshole." *That* response is generally reserved for people who are blind to their privilege and so expect *everyone* to be able to do what they are able to do. Many forms of privilege are not at all under a person's control. E.g., being able-bodied, or being light-skinned.
@josemanuel
Interesting. I don't personally feel negatively about the word "privilege," FWIW, but what word for that concept would you feel more comfortable with? "Advantage?" Or...? Like, I don't think we're going to get everyone to move to another word or anything, but maybe this will help me understand your perspective better. I'm guessing my experiences around this concept have been wildly different from yours.
@clacke @njoseph