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0 pointssokoloff5y ago0 comments

There’s a community aspect to consider though. You and I could both decide to continue some open-source project. The community will (reasonably and maybe even “rightly”) look to the original maintainer for guidance on which 0, 1, or 2 forks they suggest to continue.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

gmueckl5y ago· 2 in thread

It's even worse with other patterns, e.g. when the original project is suffering from some bit rot, the maintainer is unresponsive for months, independent forks spring up to fix that rot and suddenly you get a bout of activity in the original project and then another lengthy period of silence.

josephg5y ago

Yep. I think its important for project maintainers to be clear about the maintenance status of a project. You don't have to maintain a project forever, but if its not maintained its good to be clear about that.

Eg: "This project works but will not be maintained. Github issues & PRs will be ignored. If you want changes, fork the project. If your fork is being actively maintained, let me know and I'll link to your fork from this readme."

beckingz5y ago

This is truly frustrating, and happens in organizations as well. It is admirable when people actually make decisions.

icoder5y ago

Sure, one thing (it being OK to drop an already open source project) doesn't exclude the other (suggesting a fork if there happen to be any).

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