Thoughts on so called "hostility" of the devs

[ZitromMusic]

Hey people,
Ive been following quite a few bug report discussions, and while I did not participate in any myself, I think I see a concerning development in regards of the users interacting with each other, but more importantly with the devs.
At first, lets be clear to be on the same page: When you are reading this, you are most likely interested in a free, private, ad-free and indipendent youtube client. So we (that is: all of us, most of all, the devs) aim for the same goal. And the line between "devs" and "users" is quite blurred in a open source project like this. Everyone can participate, if they want to and have the skills. And vice versa, I assume, most of the so called "devs" are just users themself, trying to support this project, that would not exist if not for the free and immense labour put in it.
So when I read the discussions in the bug reports, I stumble upon many demanding and agressive - id even call them "hostile" - posts. But none of them are from people, who are actually working to get this party started again, yet only by people, who are used to profit from this immense free labour and are pulled out of their comfort zone all of a sudden, when they cant get the same service as with huge companies, spending millios of bucks into it (and btw: there have been issues with youtube, even google could not fix four hours). This is a open source project, so get your ass off of youtube (or freetube), learn how to code and participate in solving these issues, instead of complaining, that these issues are not fixed the day they appear. You dont have the time? You dont have the skills? You have to work, go to school, have a family? Guess what: The so called "devs" do and did so too! None of them knew how to code, did not have the skills, before they learend how to. Im sure, all of them have alot on their plate besides this project. They have their families and friends to care about (and if not so, thats even more of an issue), they propably got to earn a living (and if not so, thats even more of an issue) and have other hobbies they want to invest time in (if not so, thats not that much of an issue, you do you).
Yeah, some of the posts in the bug reports might be helpful. But I'm sorry to break it to you, but its not on you, to decide whats helpful and whats not. If a person involved in solving these issues reads your post and says to themselves: Yeah, not helpful, they are propably right! You might be a dev of other apps yourself, but it does not matter, since you dont have the insight in this project. And in addition to that: When a dev or mod deletes or hides a comment, it usually means, they read it before. So why would you consider it a hostile move, if they delete or hide it? They obviously took their time to value this comment. What is so important about your comment, that everybody has to read it, not just the devs, who can decide, wheather your comment is useful or not. Why does the whole world need to know, when you are upset about something? This ist not facebook in 2009.
Do you have something new to contribute to solve an issue? Amazing, try to find the right issue and add your comment. Your comment gets deleted or hidden? Dont worry, someone read it and considered it being either already known or irrelevant. Thats great news, cause now you know, they have been working on this issue already.

I apologize for the long rant, but I hope, at least one or two of you folks get, what Im saying. This is not a company that works for you, it is some guys and gals fighting against one of the biggest and wealthiest internet companies of the world. Fighting the devs wont help anyone, but Google/Youtube, since you'll just add more stress to the devs' plate. So if you like this project - and we already found out to be on the same page about that - you should think about, if your actions help the people actually solving stuff.

One last word towards anyone working for this project: Thank you oh so much! Ive used your app for a few years now and am inexpressively grateful for your amazing work. Keep it up, but more importantly: take care of yourself. :)

Cheers.

[efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc]

Thank you for your kind words :)