Here is an interesting recent discussion on Hacker News initiated by a user who asked
Have you ever regretted open-sourcing something?
As the user points out, many things about open source are seen as positives, including exposure, learning, and interacting with a community of like-minded developers. But, as the discussion shows, there are a lot of negatives associated with open source.
This response certainly made me feel for the commenter:
To be honest, I do regret it. After 20 years of working on FOSS projects, I've invested enormous amounts of time, effort, and money into these and other free/open-source initiatives. It was enjoyable initially... But years later, when the people closest to you are no longer around – you pause and reflect on how much energy you devoted to random strangers instead of those who shared your life. If I had invested even 1% of the time and effort I put into FOSS projects into my relationships with loved ones, they would have been so much happier.
Of course, many make a living off open source, by using the GitHub Sponsors feature or a similar platform. So in some cases, it serves as a real paying job. But if you end up like the commenter above, it can be difficult to overcome the effects. Something to think about if you decide to invest time in open source.
Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!
