Re: No Emails for Sports Prediction Program, only Downloads

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   >    I just released my Sports Prediction Program under the GNU GPL
   >    last week.  I mentioned it on two newsgroup posts and so far
   >    have gotten about 25 hits on the website, but zero courtesy
   >    emails.  Is it common for people to just take the software
   >    without so much as a thank-you email?  If GNU is in part a
   >    community of like-minded folks, then why is this behavior so
   >    prevalent?
   >
   > Well, think about how many peoples software you are using on your
   > average GNU variant.  Thanking each and single author of a
   > program you use on a even daily basis is just not feasible, it
   > might even be impossible to find who wrote what.

   Alfred, you raise an interesting point.  Along the same thought,
   does a singer worry about who listens to the song?  Does an author
   get all worked up about who reads the book?  No, they just create,
   publish, and then create some more.  So that is what I will do.
   Thanks for your perspective.

As a programmer and wannabe musician, I sure do get worked up when
people use my software or enjoy my playing.  I might even write
something for someone else, since they would like that something but I
might not particularly care about it.  So I don't think it is about
worrying about getting worked up, but just that it is impossible to
thank every person for the nice and good things they do.