The Glory of Open Source

You have the ability to make things happen

March 20, 2021


So, as some of you may remember, I've uploaded some things to based.cooking but I also like to browse the issues people put on its Github repository. I do not at all claim to be heavily involved in the project (I only look at things there briefly once a day or so) but I do feel as if I am familiar with the overall intention of the site.

Today a vegetarian opened in issue on the project's Github asking for tags to be made on the recipes labeling them as vegetarian, vegan, nut or gluten free, ets. Disregarding my views, along with those of the website's creator, on this guy's dietary choices, his suggestion is not all that objectionable, the problem with it is the fact that there is likely nobody other than him (on Github) who would actually care enough to do it.

This is the problem with small scale open source projects like this, you can't force anyone to do anything since the people working on them are merely volunteers with their own interests. But this is also one of the biggest strengths of a project like this, if you have an idea that you really feel should be in the project, and it fits within that project's scope, you can put in the work necessary to make it happen. Realistically it wouldn't take this guy much more than an hour to do the thing he was asking, if he really wants it to happen he could easily clone the project, make his additions, and put together a pull request to potentially have it added to the main branch.

This is really how anything gets made at all. based.cooking was made by somebody who saw something he wanted, saw that he had the power to make it, then put in the work to bring it to life. This is also the story of the creation of any product. Nobody creates something new that they don't want, and nobody who asks for others to create something for free should expect it to actually happen.

And that's really all I have to say there, if you want something to happen, and if it is within your skill, make it happen, don't wait for someone else.