core-js

It will be interesting to see the uptick in stars if any. The real gold in this thread however is the link to https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02... Seriously, it's a wild (and heart-breaking) story about js-core maintainer adding a similar line for funding, receiving many hateful answers, while in debt and even going to prison, then not being able to leaveRussia, just for the sake of continuing to maitain his FOSS lib. I've posted it as a separate entry because it definitely needs more visibility.

Just use the polyfill https://github.com/zloirock/core-js#jsonparse-source-text-ac...

I looked into the core js author's story and there's nothing off about him to me. He just played a role in the post-install messages being curtailed. https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/commands/npm-fund?v=true As for that other thing, this puts it well: "I won't get into details - no one knows the full story - so I let you make your own opinion". https://www.izoukhai.com/blog/the-sad-story-of-denis-pushkar... I read the story (the link in that post is old) and I ended up giving him the benefit of the doubt. https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02... Also in that post is that Babel didn't fork it. That's another thing to take into account when making your own opinion.

Don't forget that the author of core-js, a library not a service like polyfill but with almost the same goal, is tired of open source as well https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02...

This is surprisingly common. The other example off the top of my head, a single maintainer of a very popular project who had to temporarily abandon it due to lack of funds, is Denis Pushkarev (zloirock) and core.js (https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02...). The majority of OSS projects have most of their contributions by one person (the project leader), and the vast majority of OSS contributors don't do it for their job. It seems nearly every single popular OSS project is like this (one unpaid, maybe sponsored, volunteer doing most of the work); it's not even worth listing projects and names, because you can just pick a couple projects you know and I bet at least one will be an example. Fortunately, most of these people seem to be well-off (probably in part due to the quality of programming jobs), but every once in

Funny you say that, I was just thinking earlier today back to the core-js drama. In short: the creator of a NPM package that is used by approximately everyone, everywhere, was facing a legal battle. He had been developing this package full time for years and did not have the cash on hand to hire a lawyer. He added a console log that ran on installing his package that said something like "If you're using core-js please consider donating". Queue an absolute shitstorm of people screaming at him in the GitHub issues and him eventually going to prison for around 10 months. It can be a rough world out there for the folks building for the "focus, productivity and anti-distraction" platform. Luckily he seems to be back on the grind nowadays, with a decently robust cross-platform donated slush fund to boot (~200k USD across Pateron, Open Collectiv

Open source developers are not being paid. They published under licenses that allow zero cost and businesses won't pay. If you want to write open source code for living, you have to find a business model that works. In this case, it is even under permissive license. * code freeze - code is under open source license only a certain time after commit/release. Maybe add "support", aka you get security fixes in timely manner. * open core - put some features behind commericial door. * go ImageSharp way of split license. That one is fun, because MS deprecated/killed (throws exceptions on attempt to use) official image/font library and that was was intended replacement. Rather blatant offloading of costs. This has been rehashed several time (core-js recently https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02...). The gist of it is: Com

Why stop at Gemini? You could bring internet navigation back to a CLI-only interface and someone would find a way to show ads. Heck, NPM of all things had ads until they sent out a community-wide request to stop that: https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/issues/635 The problem isn't the permissibility of a web browser. It's that we live in a capitalistic world; someone somewhere will always be trying to figure out how to post a bill on a wall that reads "POST NO BILLS".

> A lot of companies would pay actual money for some semblance of supply-chain security. After the core-js debacle[0] earlier this year, it was evident that alot of companies actually do not care care about supply-chain security. Those that do will happily roll their own hosted repositories that provide little to no guarantees. [0] https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02...

Yes, ask for money. Don't end up like the corejs maintainer. (https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02...) It's ok to be paid for work if you want to.

I don't think we will receive enough donations to cover infrastructure costs, let alone maintainers' salaries. Even core-js sole maintainer failed to raise enough donations to feed his own family, despite the library is used by at least half of the top 1000 Alexa websites. [0] People (and also big-techs) just won't pay for anything they can get for free. [0]: https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02...

This reminds me of the recent core-js blog post [1], however Magit is extremely actionable with clear steps to donate or even receive a bill for your employer. What we need is a system where we can all pull from a common pool of FOSS donations. For example if my projects were registered and I made commits during a donation cycle, I could receive a fair portion of donation revenue. Something similar to residuals [2] [1] https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual_(entertainment_indu...

There are court documents detailing the case available online, and zloirock himself admits it in GitHub comments after being pointed at it (although his tone is somewhat passive-aggressive): > and where did I write that it was not in the zone of action of the pedestrian crossing sign? > https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/issues/1179#issuecomment... There is also no reliable information whether the accident happened inside a city or on a highway, but multiple witnesses are mentioned, and I doubt that there are many people on highways at 3 AM.