anyone else feel about software the way someone feels about being the only person in a household to do the dishes and take the trash out because nobody else will do it

@mia yea

@lanodan @mia my software grows when i smoke on trees

@mia i dont get it
the only person to refactor?

@saxnot the only person to do something about the things everyone else only complains about. who fixes the bug that’s been sitting on the tracker for months, where every other day somebody new comes in and says “guys this isn’t working” and everyone is like “yeah we know”. who builds better tools when everyone else is just putting up with 30 year old crutches. who knows that free software doesn’t happen without volunteers and will die without activism.

@snacks @saxnot it’s not about finishing. it’s more about empowerment. like, i want better tools and comfy spaces so people feel like they can make a difference no matter how small their contributions are, because that is extremely valuable especially at a time like this

@snacks @saxnot part of what i tried to express with the OP is also that this seemingly insignificant thing someone is quietly doing behind the scenes is sometimes all that’s standing between the collective and a conflict that would lead to its total collapse

@mia @snacks@netzsphaere.xyz this is the first visible toot in this thread

is there a context I don't have access to see?

@saxnot @snacks just snacks lamenting his inability to finish anything

which is a thing that happens to the best of us, and i think a lot of people need to undo whatever corporate brainwashing made them believe they have a product to deliver and that unfinished work is wasted time, an embarrassment, and not worth showing at all

to me it’s all a work of art, and art is for those who appreciate it. that pile of unfinished projects isn’t something to be ashamed of, it’s something to look back on and be proud of because all of it is experience that helped you grow and shows how passionate and creative you are.

looking at it like this has made writing software a whole lot more fun and a whole lot less frustrating, and so much more rewarding that it’s hard to tear myself away from it because other things in my life demand attention. when something stops being fun, i don’t try to crunch and grind to completion, i just pick something else from my endless supply of ideas and TODO items.

that’s something i wish i could pass on especially to those who want to contribute to free software but are holding back, or who get very passionate about a project, say they’ll publish it once they’ve cleaned it up, and then burn out on it without ever getting to that point.