You’ve put so much work into your open source project, the last thing you want to do is to give users a reason to avoid it.
Alas, this can happen unknowingly to a lot of open source projects. Amid all the things that must be taken care of in order to properly set up a project, developers can become unaware of those aspects that are actually keeping users away.
What are these user-repelling aspects you ask? Here they are:
Poor Documentation
If you’re a programmer more often than not documentation may take the backseat to coding. But you need to keep in mind that no matter how wondrous a piece of software you’re developing, no one will notice if no one knows how to use it.
Good documentation is one of the most important ingredients to a successful open source project. It is what enables users to understand, take interest in and use the software.
Haphazardly written documentation won’t cut it. You need quality documentation if you want it to effectively attract users to your project.
Poor Execution
Just as you wouldn’t buy an item that looks cheap and shabby, users won’t gravitate towards projects that are not presented in the best way: projects that are poorly coded, use dated technology or are difficult to install and use.
Unwelcoming Culture
There’s no hard-and-fast rule that says you have to welcome every single inquiry or contribution that comes your way, but ignoring them or treating them unkindly will have negative consequences. Such actions may paint your project to be a highly restrictive, uncaring or unwelcoming one, which will most likely discourage users from using and contributing to it.
Selective Open-Sourcing
This often occurs with open source companies that choose to open source only some of their code, and not all. While this may be a good move business-wise, this not-entirely-open approach to open-sourcing can be discouraging to many potential users.
Falling Behind Competition
It’s good to think through every possible change in the code before implementing them or choosing to skip them entirely. But you need to be aware that skipping or spending too much time on such changes may cause your project to fall behind. Not being able to keep up with changes requested by users may cause them to switch to a far superior competing software.
If your project seems to be lacking user support, you might want to look into these details and make sure that you’re luring users instead of driving them away.
Are there other aspects that have turned open source users away in your own experience? Share them with us in the comments section below.