💎 ｖｖｓ 💎 @voidvoidsystem@kolektiva.social

FOSS is amazing and important. But the FOSS community as it currently stands is toxic to an insane degree.

News flash: Not everyone who uses FOSS programs is technical enough to make their own.

If someone complains about something they find inconvenient or inaccessible about a program they otherwise enjoy using, the correct answer is NOT to respond with "Why don't you just code it yourself?"

To only offer that response is to willingly ignore the fact that plenty of users (ourselves included) don't have the technical know-how to build something so complex, even if they fork your code. Whether intentional or not, you're implicitly gatekeeping so that the only people who can enjoy the same programs you do are the ones who can build their own.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but that's leaving out a HUGE portion of potential users.

If you really do care about FOSS becoming mainstream, then it's in your best interests to make it as accessible as possible to everyone, not just the people who think like you do.

The only way to dismantle Big Tech's de facto monopoly is to work together to find a better solution. And refusing to objectively improve your precious source code is not the way to do that.

And guess what? Thanks to the Steam Deck, soon there's gonna be a bunch of non-techie people trying out Linux. You can't keep gatekeeping forever. If FOSS is to survive, it must adapt. Not exclude.

If you disagree with any of the above, YOU are the problem with the FOSS community. YOU are the reason FOSS isn't mainstream yet.

The block button's right there. Save yourself some time and use it. Nobody wants or needs to hear your rebuttal. Goodbye.