Software Freedom Takes a Lot More Than Coding

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jun 06, 2026

Days ago: Slop Prompting is Not a Coding Skill and Slop Deserves Shunning | Coding is Not a Quantity Game (It Never Was!)

Having just argued that "Sharing is Loving" (comparing animals being helped to Free software enthusiasts helping one another), and having watched the "best" assists whose givers don't get enough credit (compared to those who score goals), let's consider some of the roles in the Free software community that don't receive (m)any grateful words even if they get a great deal done:

Documentation people
Blogging authors
Packagers
Moderators (e.g. of forums or lists that receive spam)
Organisers
People who convert/upload multimedia

There's a lot more to Free software than just development. Many of the above are coders who can develop; yet they devote their time to other tasks, sometimes systems administration (their 24/7 role was so under-appreciated that a whole day was devoted to them, along with a day for backups). █

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