Give it Back - Getting Involved in Open Source

Great! Let's do this! Pay it back or pay it forward. That's what Open Source is all about.

A well-deserved scolding.

Strictly awesome! Why and HOW to contribute back to the open source community that makes your life better.

Tip top, thanks Elizabeth.

Excellent advice on how to help drive the PHP Community Forward.

Everything I wanted out of this keynote presentation, I got, and then some. References to relevant reading materials, HUGE lists of ways every developer can contribute (9-5 or otherwise), reminders about the many rewards - fiscal and otherwise - of giving back (with reminders to stay away from drama) and plenty of links to get one started. Perfect way to end the conference.

I like contributing to open source; this talk made me less likely to ever consider contributing to PHP. I don't think shaming people into contributing is an effective technique, nor do I think people are going to get very excited by somebody saying we need you to do the grunt work that's unpleasant. Also, the story told of somebody's contribution being turned away, not because it wasn't a good technical improvement, but because he wasn't trusted yet, painted a very political picture of the PHP community. Yes, it's good for people to get involved at a low level and work their way up, but if somebody has a good idea, it's a good idea that others can work together on improving. This talk had some good basics on the benefits of contributing to open source and some tips on being successful, but if I wasn't already contributing, I don't think this would have made me interested in doing so.

Excellent and impassioned pitch for contributing to the open source community. Good to know more about the state of PHP as a living and breathing software project. Clearly you have much experience in the trenches.

Only complaint: what's with the potshots taken at Richard Stallman? I think if you're going to call someone a terrible human being (paraphrase) in a talk, you should include material backing up that accusation. I'm not saying he's beyond criticism or worried about his feelings. Is there a horrible hurtful thing he did that everybody else knows about? I'm ignorant of it (I did google "richard stallman terrible person" FWIW). Just seemed weird and a bit offputting to start a talk about contributing to OS with an ad hominem condemnation of Stallman. If he did do something worthy of that it's probably for the better to tell me/audience about it.

You own appreciation and passion for open source was palpable. You gave us all plenty to think about and no excuse not to find a way to give back to the people and projects we depend on. Wonderful keynote.

Love it. This is why I LOVE open source software and the communities that it brings about. Everything about this rang so true to me and was very encouraging towards learning more and getting outside of your comfort zone. As someone who owes his livelihood to open source software and ideals, I feel very strongly about this topic and was glad to see it represented so well here.

A great talk about why open source is important, and why it is important to give back.

I liked the list of ways someone can contribute to open source without having to actually write the code. Some of those things I hadn't even realized were an option.

A well done talk. I did walk away feeling guilty. I promise I will find an open source project and contribute some documentation effort to it.

I particularly liked hearing about what the maintainers of PHP really value. for instance all the "small" (easier) ways people can help and how they need code maintainers they can trust. Once it was said, it all seemed obvious but there were several things I hadn't considered before.

I appreciated both the passion and the perspective. I really appreciated the story on taking a year to build the trust. That can be a hard message to hear, but it INCREASES my respect for the PHP community. It's this talk which has inspired the most after-conference discussions, and indeed the most direct calls to take action.

Shaming us into doing something? I don't see it that way at all. Elizabeth has clearly earned the right to express these things. Not everyone is going to contribute to Open Source. Nevertheless this was the right time and right place for the message to be heard. Thank you.

I am glad this talk was given as a keynote rather than a regular session. This content is important for all developers to hear, not just the PHP community. I think it would have been better to have this keynote in the morning rather than as the last session to make sure more people were in attendance. Elizabeth was just as engaging in this talk as she was in her session on extensions, though I would suggest the be careful to avoid comments that may be seen as condescending or overly judgmental. Calling someone a "terrible human being" for example. Also, while I think it is a good message to this audience to "ignore the drama" it would be nice to hear that effort is being made to reduce the drama if you want people to contribute to PHP specifically. To me drama = instability. Overall the slides were great and I would definitely attend another talk by Elizabeth.

This as a good talk and had some great information about contributing. I had no idea it would help out to spend just 15 minutes a day clearing out some of the, for lack of a better term, crap. I would suggest a less judgmental approach in introducing this to people. I would imagine that most of the people who weren't already contributing simply didn't have the information provided in this talk.

The variety of ways presented showing how one can contribute to open source are helpful in finding workable options for the regular-person to give back.