If you are familiar with ESR's writings you will know that the primary motivator of a lot of people writing code in the gift economy is recognition.
When it comes to recognition and proper attribution therefore, there are no 'just mistakes'. It is like if you go on holiday and come back to find that the bank has misplaced all of your money, foreclosed on your mortgage and now there are a bunch of smelly windows developers living in what used to be your house.
... and when you go to complain to the bank they say "I don't see why you're so upset, it was just a mistake"...
... except that, in this case, every time you ask the bank to put it right and give you your house back, the bank is saying "sure, no problem, but can we talk about you doing us a little favour first?"
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I won't apologise for the extremity of the above dramatisation either - stealing someone's credit is just about the worst crime in open source.
When it comes to recognition and proper attribution therefore, there are no 'just mistakes'. It is like if you go on holiday and come back to find that the bank has misplaced all of your money, foreclosed on your mortgage and now there are a bunch of smelly windows developers living in what used to be your house.
... and when you go to complain to the bank they say "I don't see why you're so upset, it was just a mistake"...
... except that, in this case, every time you ask the bank to put it right and give you your house back, the bank is saying "sure, no problem, but can we talk about you doing us a little favour first?"
----
I won't apologise for the extremity of the above dramatisation either - stealing someone's credit is just about the worst crime in open source.