Comment by teddyh

> What about volunteer charity workers? Is it OK for them to just not show up whenever, just because they aren’t paid?

I have some friends whose profession is running charities (i.e. they actually get paid). Volunteers not showing up is exactly what happens, all the time. And my friends expect it, plan for it, because the volunteer is not getting paid to be there. Without that tangible incentive, a volunteer time competes for all the other intangibles competing for time (e.g. "I'm tired", "the kids need something", "friends are going to do something fun at the same time"). They build it into planning: some percent of the people who signed up aren't going to show up...if the weather bad, a bigger percent aren't going to show up. And so on.

They don't get all ranty or judgmental about it, they're just smart enough accept that reality and to plan for that eventuality. Just like anyone using an open source project without paying for it should be.

> What the license says and what image the project presents can be very different. Pointing to the license and reasoning that nobody has legally promised anything contractually is not very useful.

It is quite useful, because the license is the legal document that comes included with the software, and that specifies what things you agree to if you use the software. And it explicitly specifies that you cannot assume any contractual obligations from the "image the project presents", or anything of the sort.

> That’s a very mercenary view of the world. What about volunteer charity workers? Is it OK for them to just not show up whenever, just because they aren’t paid?

I would say that if someone promises to do some charity work and doesn't show up without a good reason is breaking a promise, and is thus being a shitty person. People should keep to their word. Open source authors promised us nothing and owe us nothing. More often than not, we owe them.