Clojure Creator's Viral 2018 Rant: 'Open Source Is Not About You'
A legendary open source rant resurfaces, challenging everything you think about community entitlement.
Deep Dive
A 2018 blog post by Clojure creator Rich Hickey titled 'Open Source Is Not About You' has gone viral again. Hickey argues open source maintainers owe users nothing—no features, attention, or responses. He defends Cognitect's conservative stewardship of Clojure, stating it's a 'no-strings-attached gift' funded by their consulting work. The post rejects the 'mythology' of community-driven development, asserting creators have the sole right to run their projects as they choose.
Why It Matters
This foundational debate defines tensions between maintainer freedom and user expectations that still rage in AI open source today.