[time-nuts] Releasing sources (was Re: Brooks Shera)

[Chris Albertson]

On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 12:11 PM, Alan Melia <alan.melia at btinternet.com> wrote:
> Hi John Please dont take it down! remember there are more of us who quietly
> appreciate sites like yours. I once suggested to a query the answer was in
> the help file and background by googling or using wikipedia, and was told it
> was a lot easier and quicker to play dumb and ask.!!

The way around that trick is to be firm.  Make a policy of ONLY
answering questions there the person states what he has already tried
and where he has looked and then say you will only post links to
answers.   Really, this works.  You post a "ReadMe" on a four with the
rules of "how to ask a question" and you refer all poor questions to
that.


>
> I also suggest you do as some do and say "This is not a beginners project.
> If you do not understand the requirements or have the construction skills,
> please dont expect support for a freebie"
>
> It prob wont stop it but it will give your a clearer conscience when you
> decline to reply :-))
> Alan
> G3NYK
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "NeonJohn" <jgd at neon-john.com>
> To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement"
> <time-nuts at febo.com>
> Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 6:16 PM
> Subject: [time-nuts] Releasing sources (was Re: Brooks Shera)
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> On 03/25/2013 09:36 AM, Jim Lux wrote:
>>
>>> One reason is that if one DOES release source, one will wind up
>>> supporting it, because generally, we all nice people and helpful, and
>>> it's hard to tell someone no when they send an email asking how to get
>>> it to compile on Version N+3 when you used version N, etc.  This can be
>>> a real distraction from whatever else you are doing.
>>
>>
>> Boy, you can say that again.  And open source hardware is even worse.  A
>> couple of years ago I put up an open source induction heater on my site.
>> Everything included - schematics, board layouts, CAD files, theory of
>> operation, how to wind the transformer - in short, everything I could
>> think of.  There's even a kit available from Fluxeon.com.
>>
>> Yet I probably spend an hour a day responding to emails about that
>> project.  Approximately 100% of the questions are either answered on my
>> site or by a little googling.  It's getting to be enough of a burden
>> that I'm considering taking the page down.
>>
>> I'm a dedicated supporter of Open Source but this experience has
>> tempered my enthusiasm a bit.
>>
>>> And then there's the folks who argue with you about your implementation
>>> or coding style.
>>
>>
>> Or electrical design style.  I think that the people who want to argue
>> design, especially "what if I did this?" type arguments are more
>> tiresome than the software know-it-alls.
>>
>> People need to really think and do their Google homework before hitting
>> the email button on a project site.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>> --
>> John DeArmond
>> Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
>> http://www.fluxeon.com      <-- THE source for induction heaters
>> http://www.neon-john.com    <-- email from here
>> http://www.johndearmond.com <-- Best damned Blog on the net
>> PGP key: wwwkeys.pgp.net: BCB68D77
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>
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-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California