[frankdejonge]

This I would strongly dispute. I’ve seen it first hand many times that developers who ignore such things are definitely finding the negative consequences of it. It takes very careful maneuvering not to get burned, either by reputation damage or to burn out.

[carlosjobim]

So your "reputation" among a bunch of parasites takes a hit? Who cares about what they think? They're not giving you any money anyway. They're just using you.

It's like if a group of bums in the park think I'm a cool guy because I give them cigarettes when they ask. Great. And if I stop giving them free cigarettes then they say amongst themselves "man, that guy is a real jerk". Ok, should I care about what a bunch of free loading bums think?

Of course I understand that I will be down voted for this. Because people who love being victimized hates when people point out that they're being taken advantage of.

[frankdejonge]

While you might see them as parasites, their community reputation may be very different. To fit into your scenario, you may need to get work from the other bums.