Someone fussed at me today about “sending a mob” after the devs for making a change to the Mastodon ecosystem that will have negative consequences for all small or single instance hosters (like myself). While I can completely understand from the perspective of “we're closing a loophole” and “this should never have happened to begin with,” to “it's a security issue,” (I disagree) I had to consider a few other positions from a point of dispassion to see all sides. Here's some rambling if you're interested.
Mastodon merged a change back in March that removes unauthenticated access to the StreamingAPI. Totally their right. But it was done so in a way that didn't take into consideration a vibrant ecosystem that was relying on that capability. As most didn't know about it till it was brought to my attention and I amplified it, I felt the spirit of an open source community was missing – dialogue. So, I suggested folks comment on what that means to them on the GH ecosystem where the merge took place.
I certainly didn't send a mob, and I was frustrated by that comment, and this is how I process frustration so, here's my rambles.
Where would one have a discussion with the developers on changes, if not on GH? Is there a more appropriate forum? I've not seen one, but would be happy to move my comment there. But to say that giving feedback, even late feedback, is unwarranted misses, a key driver of open source – the community it impacts.
Another piece of the comment from the author: (paraphrase) No one that's piling on understand the problem, therefore it's not helpful to pile on, or, as the author said, “mob the devs.” Couple of thoughts come to mind – first, if they don't understand the problem, perhaps someone could explain it in a way that resonates with those impacted. What these folks that don't understand the problem “see” is that a key, perhaps unintended, but totally documented, capability is being turned off. Second – the solution to the now introduced fix is to point back at the community and say “figure it out.” Again, that misses the value of the community and the very real impacts even small changes can have. Absolutely their right to do so, they're the devs. But to not even bother to hear from the community?
Open source is messy. People are passionate. One of the smartest people on the planet recently left the entire fediverse ecosystem because of those passions. That doesn't help anyone. I personally need thicker skin, but it'd also be helpful for people to assume the best intent and the eagerness of folks to grow the community through dialogue and change. Sometimes tough changes need to be made – perhaps in the guise of security even. So, teach us. But using strong words like “mob” and diminishing the value of what these folks are saying, even though they don't understand the technical nuances, that seems contrary to the spirit of open source. Again, just me. To anyone that was offended by me suggesting folks chime in, I'm sorry you thought my intent was malicious.