Comment by em-bee
13 days ago
exactly this. FOSS was always driven by those who could code and did so driven by their own intrinsic motivation. those people won't disappear. there may be less people because some are more driven by quick results and while in the past they had to code to get there, now they don't, which means they won't discover the joy of coding.
but for others coding will become an art and craft like woodworking or other hobbies that require mastery.
People wrote code in the hopes that others would read it think positive about them and maybe improve things. Those projects are going away
having been involved with FOSS for more than 30 years, i never came across that sentiment. not that it didn't exist, but i'd guess it is a small minority. people who write code to feel good about themselves likely don't make good project leaders anyways. they won't be missed.
People write code for a variety of reasons but the ones who stop coding and spend time trying to publicize their project generally want people's attention. They find pleasure in sharing.
People will still write code for a variety of reasons but why bother sharing if no one is listening.