A wonderful trick to make the day to the open source project maintainer

Shreds of appreciation can play a huge role in the life of the maintainers. The following is a way you can express your appreciation and that will make someone a day, taking you less than five minutes.


Any coincidences of this Docker image found on the Internet are random.

The most wonderful trick

1. Remember the open source project you use often.
2. Open your browser's GitHub Issues (or their equivalent on another platform).
3. Create an issue with the thanks of the maintainer (s).

That's all! Wonderful, isn't it? And now let me deal with some frequent questions ...

How to choose which open source project to thank?

This is elementary: just think what you have recently used in order to achieve a result. There is a chance that it was an open source project! Libraries are even simpler: look at package.json, Gemfileor Cargo.toml find in it a dependency that has made your life easier. And business!

What to write in the topic issue?

I suggest “Thanks!”, But creativity is welcome.

What to write in the issue?

Tell us how long you have been working with the project, how it has helped in life, why you think it is wonderful, etc. There is no need to write a whole book!

I also like to mention that it is supposed to close the issue immediately, so as not to waste time thinking about whether to keep it open indefinitely.

Do I have to use issues at all?

Of course not! Write them a tweet, an email, but at least send a message by mail pigeon. It is not at all important what method will be chosen. It is important that you find a way to express your gratitude.

The author, and you do it yourself?

Yes! Although not as often as it should. From the last: I realized how much time I save thanks to the excellent HTTPoison library , and thanked the author. Gratitude made him a day, which in turn made the day to me! How wonderful it goes, huh?

Bonus Trick

If you want to go even further, the JS Party podcast member with the nickname Feross has a cool npm package called thanks . He will receive package.jsonand display a list of maintainers accepting donations. If the said gratitude can make someone a day, then the gratitude given is another level.

Another bonus (from translator)

The author of the original publication, of course, is far from the first to be given the topic of gratitude expressed to the authors of Open Source projects. In particular:

• In November 2016, the Say Thanks project appeared , calling for the spread of gratitude in the world of Open Source and offering a button / link that can be placed on project sites.
• Last November, a special website, Thank You Open Source , appeared, allowing you to leave thanks to the projects hosted on GitHub using a simple web interface.

Hey, did you also notice that for some reason all this happens in November? .. The answer is quite trivial - let's poplish for him the one who is the first to guess in the comments.