Have you ever been scared or hesitant about reporting flaws or bugs to a community with a strong staunch fanbase ??
Obviously there are different ways of reporting and starting discussions, but I brought up the courage to report a flaw on a subreddit (not to be named) that I knew is very sensitive to criticisme, and I was flooded with downvotes and even was subject to gaslighting, so I gave up on that software and became even more hesitant about reporting problems on other FOSS communities .
Is this mindset very prevalent among all open source communities? have you faced something similar ?
Do I get scared? No, not really.
People do dog pile on threads and issues screaming “It’s not an issue” and “you are just doing it wrong, it’s simply doing exactly what you asked it to do.” which is common in FOSS and frankly, most Linux distros. Even something as simple as video card drivers don’t work a good portion of the time. Or you’ll get them working and you’ll upgrade and the upgrade bricks your computer because the upgrade software didn’t do the driver update to the kernel.
Realistically, with any OS or app, people want the full package. If the software doesn’t deliver the full working solution so that people can continue on with whatever they were trying to use their computer for in the first place, then it’s broken and should be fixed. If you are getting in the way or making excuses for that then you are the type of person holding up FOSS software from progressing. No ifs, ands, or butts. Don’t make excuses for broken things. It’s never helpful and it really just hurts the software you are defending.
That said, yes this mindset is widespread in FOSS and gaming. It’s because people make close connections to the software, not the developers but to the software itself. People feel like they need to defend the software. They see people pointing out flaws or bugs in it as damaging the software or the integrity of those who use it. In reality, those pointing out the flaws are trying to make it better for them. It’s the opposite of damaging. It’s one of the first things you learn as a software engineer. Bug reports aren’t attacks on you, your code, or the software. They are simply things that are broken that need to be fixed. It happens and that’s life. Just fix it and move on.
Anyways, clearly, it annoys me that this is a problem.