[peter_l_downs]

Extremely anodyne — given that the author has maintained FreeDOS for longer than I've been alive, I was hoping for slightly more interesting ideas than "have a website and be nice to people." Not that I disagree with his advice!

[xarope]

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

[paulryanrogers]

Nostalgia. Many FOSS projects feed on collective or obsessive nostalgia. I should know having contributed to some and following many. DOS is also sister project to retro gaming, a deep well for those fuzzy feelings.

That said, Hall does offer good and sensible advice to keep the community together and civil.

[DaoVeles]

It is astounding just how much gets done via nostalgia, especially in the gaming space. Just look at the emulation scene to see the best of this.

[II2II]

I think it is better to summarize the article with: open and positive communication is at the core of collaborative open source software. While the message may seem trite, it is also a message that many open source developers need to hear.

[emmanone]

Great ideas are often simple, the main problem is that people consider them too simple, neglect them and then fail.

[suprjami]

You'd be surprised how many widely used open source projects still fail one or both of those conditions.

[CoastalCoder]

> I was hoping for slightly more interesting ideas

Sometimes there's a lot of value in reiterating core concepts.

Maybe doubly so if they're validated by his long experience in the OSS world.

[badgersnake]

Sure, but building a community is not easy and it’s good to reinforce that there are no shortcuts.

I think I would pretty a suspicious of a blog akin to “Linus Torvlads wants this website banned - build an enthusiastic and productive OSS community in just one week with this one neat trick.”