What are Open-Source Happiness Packets?
People are generally much more loved than we think we are. But while it's easy for many to complain when they don't like something, we're often fairly silent when things are good. Open-source communities are no different, especially when our main communication channels are textual and virtual.
However, the feeling that you made a difference, that your work matters and has value, and that the people you work with are happy to work with you, is an awesome and important feeling. With Open-Source Happiness Packets, we're trying to spread that feeling.
How does it work?
Openly expressing appreciation, gratitude, or happiness to other people can be difficult. This is especially true when you don't know them very well. Many of us come from cultures in which people are not open by default about such feelings, and naturally feel uncomfortable or even creepy to share them.
Open-Source Happiness Packets is a very simple platform to anonymously reach out to the people that you appreciate or to whom you are thankful in your open-source community. Your message can be sent anonymously if you feel uncomfortable to share your name with the recipient. Of course, we encourage you to share your name, but it's completely optional!
Happiness Archive
If both the sender and the recipient agree, we can publish the Happiness Packet on the website. With this, we're building an archive of open-source happiness that people and communities can use to draw inspiration.
As an example, here are two random messages from our archive:
From Benjamin Bach to Jonas Obrist
Hurray for one of the longest-living most useful django applications ever done! I have it in all my projects! Thanks for always paying attention to issues and keeping up to speed with changing upstream django releases. Your work is greatly appreciated!!
Anonymous message
It is surprising how you still maintain Fuzion. I want to thank you. Thank you for everything you did to this community. Fuzion saved many people before and mostly after the original AimTux devs left.
Your contribution to the community as being the lead-dev of Fuzion, being a generally friendly guy and being helpful, also your tries to keep Fuzion VAC-undetected (Preload, XorString) are what makes this small Linux cheating community what it is, even thought it gets more dead every day.
I also want to thank you for teaching especially me many things I didn't know in before. You are a very good teacher.
Thanks for making Fuzion and keeping it alive.
Thanks for helping the community.
Thanks for your tries to keep Fuzion secure.
Thanks for keeping it updated with the newest Sigs and thanks for being a friendly human being.
I'm glad you are a part of this community.
With love,
Kisak.