this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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Asklemmy

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Disclaimer

Not trying to blame anyone here. I‘m just taking an idea I‘ve read and spinning it further:

Intro

A lot of people use free open source software (foss), Linux being one of them. But a lot less actually help make this software. If I ask them why, they always say „I don’t have the coding skills!“.

Maybe its worth pointing out that you don‘t need them. In a lot of cases it’s better to not have any so you can see stuff with a „consumer view“.

In that situation you can file issues on github and similar places. You can write descriptions that non technical people can understand. You can help translate and so on, all depending on your skills.

Other reasons?

I‘d really like to know so the foss community can talk about making it worthwile for non coders to participate.

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[–] megane_kun@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago (5 children)

It takes a certain kind of a skill set and experience to be able to translate this "consumer view" into something that can be acted upon by a developer.

Sure, the skill set can be developed, the knowledge (about software development, the available technologies, and having an idea of what is and isn't feasible in the first place) can be built up, and the experience (communicating with developers) can be accrued, but that really stops a lot of people from even thinking of contributing.

Perhaps a subset of the (open-source) community can help in developing these (skills, knowledge, experience) among interested people. Teach people how to look for issues, bugs, or come up with feature requests; teach them how to put these into a form that's easily understood and appreciated by the developers, and finally, teach them how to communicate with developers without losing the "non-techie user POV" which makes their feedback valuable in the first place.

IDK though, having read what I've just written, it seems to be quite a task.

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[–] Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because FOSS devs think the "consumer view" is wrong and the software should correct it, not the other way around.

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[–] bear_delune@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have a background in Games, UX, Service and Product design and I would really like to contribute to FOSS projects but have no idea how to

I’m unfamiliar in the etiquette of GitHub and how I could contribute my skills

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[–] mnglw@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

because a lot of foss devs, contributers and even users are so extremely hostile when suggesting ux improvement/report bugs/etcetc for end users not like them that frankly I dont wanna bother. Same reason I don't report bugs

maybe first tackle that situation before you ask people to throw themselves into what effectively is a lion's den to mauled by fossbros who can't get over themselves

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No. First I ask people for feedback and the feedback you‘re giving now is important and valuable. Thank you for that.

I‘m not asking peeps to do anything. I ask why not. Then I take that feedback and try to implement it. :)

Have a good one.

[–] mnglw@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

you're right, I kinda let past experiences cloud my judgment for a bit there, and missed that you were doing the right thing,my apologies for that

sadly the fact that I did does point to the very problem I described.

that said I hope you can get somewhere and improve things, my apologies for the mix up

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