The blog post, “On Being a Free Software Maintainer“, is resonating with me right now as are some of the comments on the Hacker News response.
You will be demanded to fix your software. You will be shouted. Sometimes, the line may be crossed, and you will be abused. “How dare you not (use your free time to) fix this ultra high priority bug that is affecting me?” or “This is an absolutely basic feature! How is it not implemented yet (by you on your free time)?!” or even “You made me move to Software Y, and you need to win me back” are going to be realities you will have to face.
Unfortunately, being a free software maintainer may have a high price to your psychological and emotional health.
